Significance of Activity Schedule Organizational Performance of Coffee Cooperative Societies in North Rift, Kenya

Abstract

Activity schedule provides key steps and stages in the achievement of the organizationalgoals and objectives. It informs implementation of the level of cleared and remaining tasks that are necessary in solving an identified problem in the community hence provide confidence to the stakeholders. Kenyan coffee cooperative societies pool resources in pursuit of improving livelihood of rural coffee farmers through processes that include primary processing, storage, transportation and managing books of accounts. There has been consistent reduced production and total income for coffee farmers in therecent past, a situation which may be attributed to the activity schedule process plan. The research was carried out in Trans Nzoia County coffee cooperative societies which are 30 in number and information was sought using structured questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions. The sample size was arrived at through purposive and simple random sampling leading to a sample size of 346 respondents based on Krecie & Morgan sample table. Data were analysed using Spearman’s correlation coefficient with aid of SPSS computer program. The findings presented in tables and descriptions established that activity schedules have a statistical significant positive influence on the organizational performance (P < 0.05) and it is hoped that policy makers and extension service providers will enhance the utilization of activity schedules in the operations of rural development project planning and management. We recommend further analysis of types of activity scheduling techniques utilized by the cooperative societies and their influence on performance.