Effects of Team Building Activities as a Strategic Issue on Employee Retention: A Case Study of Safaricom Limited

A Research Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA)The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of team building activities as a strategic issue on job retention at Safaricom. This study intends to assess the Research Questions: Does Team Building Activities Foster Job Retention at Safaricom? Does the Team Building Activities Improve Performance and Productivity of Individuals? and Is Job Retention a Competitive Strategy used in Safaricom? The population of the study constituted all 4,500 employees of Safaricom Company Limited, which has offices spread across six counties within Kenyan borders. Stratified sampling was used to pick employees from the ten existing divisions in Safaricom, after which the sample size formula was used to determine the size of the sample of 138 subjects for a cross sectional survey out of which 109 responded giving a response rate of 79%. Data analysis was done using SPSS and Excel tools to produce descriptive and correlation statistics. The findings based on the first research question established that most of the respondents agreed that they believe lack of alignment within a team impacts the outcome of a task or a project and that teamwork is a valued aspect at Safaricom. Team building activities made the respondents feel like a ‘part of the family’ and enjoy participating in the team building activities. However, respondents were not sure whether team building activities influenced positive talk outside of the workplace (increased their commitment to the organization), results also showed that team members are held accountable for the decisions they make, and improved communication with others because of team building activities was observed. The respondents however disagreed that evaluation of the teamwork results ignored their share of efforts and that they were motivated at work because of the team building activities. The findings based on the second research question revealed that most respondents agreed that they were motivated to set goals that will assist them in their workplace performance, whenever they do tasks individually they believe a better result would be achieved through team work , learn more about the overall company goals and objectives during a team building activity, compared with before the team building activities, their level of trust and confidence in their colleagues increased, felt that they better understand their colleagues because of team building activities whereas respondents were however not sure on whether they felt re-energized after a team building activity, team building activities was beneficial to the organization, they prefer to do their work assignments/projects individually and they felt the workplace environment is more fun to work in as a result of the team building activities. The findings based on the third research question revealed that most of the respondents agreed that most of the respondents agreed that there is a link between the organization’s strategy and individual objectives, work is challenging, stimulating and rewarding and that the organization offers job security however respondents were uncertain whether to recommend Safaricom to family and friends as a great place to work, Safaricom senior leadership are good role models and value employees’ unique talents and knowledge, and changes that are likely to affect them or how they do their work is communicated clearly. The study recommended Safaricom to reevaluate its team building strategy and motivate employees to work because of the team building activities, create a good alignment between department hence encourage team work. Ensure that team members are held accountable for the decisions they make and make employees feel more committed in the organization, offer team building activities that will motivate employees work together and exchange ideas, implement and resolve solutions to problems in the workplace and create a work place environment that is fun to work at hence creating job satisfaction and retaining talented employees. Communicate clearly changes that are likely to affect employees or how they do their work, develop job fulfillment and growth strategies that will motivate employees to increase their performance hence achieve a competitive advantage and ensure that employees understand the company’s mission and vision. For further studies, it is recommended that a similar study should be done to reveal other effects of team building activities