KTS Saving and Credit Society:
managing communication
Anne Christine Wanjiru Kabui
Anne Christine Wanjiru
Kabui is based at
Department of Business
and Entrepreneurship,
South Eastern Kenya
University, Kitui, Kenya
and Department of
Business, University of
Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.
The growing trend in the Savings and Credit societies in Kenya has been tremendous and
necessitating of new approaches to management and governance issues. Moving away
from a small and personal business, to an elaborate modern business that requires
professionalism has been a big challenge for us as an organization especially in the
domain of communication among staff members, communication with the board, with the
members and with other key stakeholders’, said Mr Cyrus, the acting CEO of KTS in May
2015. He went on to explain that the balance between time for work, meetings and
individual consultations to ensure that none had been overdone at the expense of others
and that none were overlooked. This balance was faced with the challenge that, when
members do not feel listened to, or that their opinion does not count, the whole essence of
communication and smooth management facilitation is lost:
Substantial effort is being made toward these ends, especially following results of a recent study
ecause, if all the members in KTS do not communicate, make themselves understood as well
as understand relied messages, then managing the organization will be impossible so will be
the achievement of its core mandate, he said.
KTS visit
On a beautiful and warm afternoon, Anne walked into the premises of KTS and was
welcomed with a smile from the guard in charge. “Sir, I haven’t been here before, could you
kindly assist me find my way to Mr Cyrus’ office? “Gladly, Japheth the guard walked Anne
through the co
idors explaining what each of the offices we walked along hosted. “Here we
are”, Japheth resounded when we got to one of the offices and the far end of the co
idor.
“Feel at home and walk in once ready”, he said before he walked away. Cyrus was very
usy with a stack of papers in one of his hands and a calculator in the other and, as Anne
walked through the door, the secretary ushered her into his office. “Welcome, madam
Anne, we have been expecting you”, Cyrus greeted. As they were about to progress, the
phone rang and on the other end was another member of staff in need of his immediate
attention. “The visitor we were expecting is already here. Allow me a few minutes with he
and I will be right there”, Cyrus explained to the caller:
Thank you for taking an interest in our organization and for wanting to review us for case study
analysis for academic purposes. I am promising you our best cooperation and we also hope to
learn from you about one or two thing we could do better, Cyrus said.
We shall use boardroom two and you could have a chance to speak to management and
members of staff plus a few of the owners/customers of our organization and this will hopefully
give you an all-round picture of our organization. This will be important for us as an organization
so we know where we are, what to work on and the challenges at hand.
I wish to acknowledge the
great assistance of Cyrus
Mutinda during the
interactions with the entire
SACCO fraternity and his
great assistance in facilitating
my visits and interactions with
the firm members. I would also
want to acknowledge the
immense assistance I have
eceived from Dr Katuse while
preparing this case study.
Disclaimer: This case is written
solely for educational
purposes and is not intended
to represent successful o
unsuccessful managerial
decision-making. The autho
s
may have disguised names;
financial and othe
ecognizable information to
protect confidentiality.
DOI XXXXXXXXXX/EEMCS XXXXXXXXXXVOL. 6 NO XXXXXXXXXX, pp. 1-13, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN XXXXXXXXXXEMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES PAGE 1
http:
dx.doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS XXXXXXXXXX
Anne was impressed with the welcome, appreciated that, despite its busy schedule, the
organization was open and willing to cooperate. The entire group of participants was not
informed of the details of her visit in an effort to ensure that they ca
ied on as natural and
neutral as possible with no prior preparation of what to say or not to say:
The findings will be availed to the management to facilitate improvement and to give an
indication of what is already working. Value addition and continuous improvement is part and
parcel of progressive growth in organizations, Anne was careful to explain to Cyrus.
Background of KTS
KTS is a saving and credit cooperative society (SACCO) operating in Kenya, where it is
considered a large SACCO with an asset base of Kshs 2.4 billion and a large membership
of above 13,000 members. It was registered in 1976 and started operations in 1978 with an
initial membership of 11 who were all in one profession, but, over the years, there has been
consideration to extend and accommodate members from other professions both in private
and public sectors in an effort to raise their asset base and serve more people. The SACCO
is located in the South Eastern region of Kenya, and all its five
anches are in the same
egion. A SACCO is a microfinance institution where members come together to contribute
for the common good of all, and it is unique because shareholders are the customers which
gives them the democratic right to run the business. In most cases, the membership is
drawn from members of the same profession. The SACCO is owned by members who make
deposits and obtain loans from it, has a board of directors who are elected members to sit
in the executive board, its operations are run by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), deputy
CEO, Finance Manager, Marketing Manager, Front Office Service Activity Manager,
Internal Audit Head, Head of Communication and Technology and Credit Section Head,
each who has a deputy and a team of employees in each department. All these parties
need to communicate in good time and effectively to enhance efficiency of the operations
of the SACCO. Due to the socio-cultural factors that predominately govern behavior and
interactions in Africa, the organization has specific dynamics in their internal
communications that have blended culture and modern management.
Internal communication in KTS
Cyrus is the Deputy CEO and was sitting in for the CEO who was a
oad on a business trip,
and he was able to mobilize a random and representative sample of the entire team of the
company comprising of managers, employees, board members and the SACCO members
who are owners and customers of the business. For privacy, reduced intimidation and the
ability to allow each member to talk freely, Anne met and spoke to each person alone in the
oardroom, as the others continued to do their regular work. Anne promised confidentiality
and anonymity of what was shared by the individual and explained that what was being
undertaken was for academic purposes in teaching as an illustrative aid. Anne furthe
explained that individuals were free to share what they felt comfortable with, and were able
to decline if they were not comfortable with sharing information. The majority of those who
partook were open and free, very engaging and asked Anne questions about the project;
however, a few were quite hesitant and did not divulge much which was respected.
Having come from a perspective where individuals got jobs because of who they knew and
not due to their qualifications, there was a tricky tradeoff to balance, but substantial effort
was being made by management toward this end, especially through staff meetings which
deal with issues at lower levels before forwarding them to senior management. Previously,
there has been a culture where individual employees sought the attention of the CEO on
matters that could have sufficiently been addressed at departmental level, and sometimes,
senior management or board members have given instructions to junior employees without
allowing the communication to flow through the respective managers and departmental
heads.
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The cu
ent team of management was trying to address this, and they acknowledged
that, although it was not easy, it was doable. To ensure the smooth flow of operations
in the daily running of the SACCO, departmental heads were encouraged to hold
weekly staff meetings to ensure all members are at par and know what is expected of
them on a real-time basis as well as a forum designed to address emerging issues was
available to all members often enough during the staff meetings. These forums allow fo
the clarification of unclear issues and also the possibility of giving and receiving
feedback from colleagues and supervisors. Individual consultations were also
encouraged for private and personal issues.
Communication within KTS was gauged differently by different employees, with some
feeling it was fairly good and open, enabling the flow of information back and forth, as
employees could walk into any office and seek direction which would be received
immediately and, if any clarification was required, it was obtained immediately. The boss
would also offer instructions ve
ally and expect results in any form, ve
al or written.
Others felt that too much ve
al communication was used that had no reference points and
documentation, and this leaves the discretion of owning information to the providers of the
information. This was especially felt as a challenge where, in the case of the change of the
officer in charge, points of reference would be scanty if not absent:
When a new person joins the department and there is no documented communication, it is very
challenging because you have to solicit ve
al information which will sometimes not be the
same from different parties that were involved, was a comment made by the communication
officer.
Some organizational members also felt that certain senior executives did not respect the
organizational structure and chain of command and tended to make direct communication
to junior staff members which caused confusion in the communication flow and created a
sense of disrespect. KTS does not have one specific network of communication but instead
uses a mixture of different networks depending with who is offering the message and fo
whom it is intended:
When a member walks into my office with a complaint, and upon an enquiry from my junio
official I am told they got direction from a board member on how to address the concerns, it
leaves me at a loss. I do not know how to respond to the member without raising concerns while
at the same time I cannot reprimand the junior because they only acted on instructions, it is a
delicate balance.
This is mainly because, outside of work, most of the people have other social relationships
which makes it easier to talk to an individual on a personal level instead of following the
formal channel recommended for all formal operation.
Employees of KTS expressed a desire to have more free interactions with thei
management, both formal and informal, which they felt would enable and facilitate bette