A Study on Factors Affecting the Performance of Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA)

Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) is a railroad connecting two countries, Tanzania and Zambia that was built in the mid seventies. This was built after the government of Mr. Ian Smith in Northern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom. Very few railway organizations in the world make profits, leave alone breaking even. Most of them suffer losses, which result in the necessity to get Government subsidy. This is a normal phenomenon in the railway industry. That said, TAZARA is afforded no such subsidies as yet by the two Governments who are also the owners. This study investigates the factors that affect the overall performance of TAZARA in the areas of Technical performance, Finance performance, and Human resources performance. The author has designed questionnaires and conducted interviews and recorded his observations in this document to come to cofclusions and recommendations. Basing on the data collected the selected areas proved to have shortfalls which hinder efficient performance for TAZARA. There is low motive power, insufficient wagons and high competition with road transport. The writer notes that expenses always exceed revenues and the out- turn is perpetual losses. Assets of the Authority have no corresponding return. The assets don't generate sufficient income to meet requisite costs. Employees' motivation is low and this exacerbates low productivity. Customer's satisfaction is low given that poor services are given by TAZAR

Challenges facing the executive agencies on service delivery in Tanzania

The main purpose of this study was to explore the challenges facing the Executive Agencies in delivering their services. The study was carried out using a case study methodology. Four EAs which are Drilling and Dam Construction Agency (DDCA), Tanzania Public Service College (TPSC), Tanzania Food and Drugs Agency (TFDA) and Tanzania Meteorology Agency (TMA) took part in study where Management, Employees and Customers were the participants during data gathering. The findings revealed that, most of the EAs are semi autonomous in such a way that, they depend on fund support from the government. Also they lack capital which causes them to operate in poor working environment and equipments. The findings also indicated that, EAs are working with non professionals and non skilled people which have led them to perform below expectations. In the other hand, the findings pointed out that, EAs operate in high cost to earn capital. From the findings, it was suggested that, government should assist the EAs to have capital for buying modern equipments which are expensive and other facilities which will contribute to improving the service delivered to the public. The study concluded that, many services require customer to participate in creating the service product. EAs need to be customer focused as is the main objective of introducing them. It ends by recommending on capacity building to the EAs to increase effectiveness and efficiency of the services offered

The Challenges of Education Managers in Enhancing Equitable Access to Quality Secondary Education in Tanzania Mainland: a Case of Community Secondary Schools in Iringa Region

The purpose of this study was to critically explore and examine the challenges which Education Managers- at Regional, District and School levels experienced in the course of enhancing equitable access to quality Secondary Education in Tanzania. This study was conducted in Iringa Region. It involved various respondents, namely- Regional and District Education Officials, Heads of Community Secondary Schools, Education University Students, Local Government Authority Councillors and Members from the General Public. The data were collected using documentary reviews, open-ended Interviews, questionnaire and Focus Discussion Group Methods. The main findings of the study were: firstly, weak: and ineffective management of Secondary Education caused irregular attendance of students, poor teaching and lack of initiative to procure teaching/leaming materials. Secondly, inadequate funding of Community Secondary Schools was a root cause of many unauthorized cost sharing contributions at school settings which affected access to secondary education of children from economically disadvantaged families. Thirdly, political undue influence and interferences were among the main causes of teachers' attrition in many Secondary schools and hence declining of quality of education in schools. And fourthly, lack of legal literacy among Education Managers affected their roles in enhancing equitable access of female students to secondary education as stipulated in Education and Training Policy. The following were recommended: (i) Education Managers should be empowered to commensurate with their roles in order to effectively manage education policies, and programmes in their areas of administration. (ii) There should be proper budgetary funding of secondary education in order to ensure that all selected students are equitably accessible to quality education.(iii) More effective legal measures should be taken against men who deny girls of their rights to education by having love affairs with them and eventually impregnate them. (iv) Teachers' colleges and universities should introduce in their curricula a course in Law of Education so that in future every teacher in Tanzania will have knowledge on how to enforce all legal frameworks pertinent to Education career. (v) The entire management and administration of Secondary education should be in the hands of education professionals in order to enhance equitable access to quality education at this level

An investigation on the role of adequate employee compensation and benefit schemes in the Tanzania banking industry: The case of Exim Bank (T) LTD

Employee compensation is a universal issue; day by day it makes new headlines on media, the most common issues being inadequate compensation. For example on 11th August 2007, employees around Dar es Salaam were reported to strike owing to low salary and wages and no provision of benefits (Mkonya, 2007). The banking sector is growing rapidly from the time Tanzania embarked on financial liberalization in 1992. Banking has proven to be an important sector as it accounts for 12.1% of the GDP (TNBC, 2005). But still the factors that have contributed towards the above achievement are not compensated well. It showed that the banking sector was not aware of the role of adequate compensation, and this study tried to fill the gap that existed. This study had one major objective which was to make the banking industry aware of the role of adequate employee compensation and benefit schemes. The following were the specific objectives: To investigate if a relationship existed between adequate employee compensation and employee motivation, to investigate if a relationship existed between adequate employee compensation and employee job satisfaction and to investigate if a relationship existed between adequate employee compensation and employee retention. This study involved a case of Exim Bank (T) Limited, whereby 80 employees were sampled using stratified random sampling technique. This study involved the use of questionnaire, interview and documentary review in order to collect both primary and secondary data. Data analysis was done with the help of SPSS and Microsoft Excel, the Chi Square component of SPSS was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings indicate a positive relationship between employee compensation package with employee motivation and job satisfaction. However the relationship with employee retention was not statistically significant. The study therefore recommends the organization to continue to provide the benefits like health insurance, training opportunities and annual bonuses in order to ensure the level of employee motivation and job satisfaction is well maintained

Strategic Banking Operation for Customer Satisfaction:a Case Study of National Micro finance Bank

The major objective of this study was to find the strategic banking operation for customer satisfaction. More specifically daily operation, especially waiting time for the service on ATM, which will be provided to satisfy customers. Finding the time which customer perceive reasonable for them to spend while waiting banking service, and developing the model for matching the number of ATM to match various level of customer. for the tim

Assessment of Changes in Motivation of Ngorongoro Conservation area Authority's Employees due to Reviewed Schemes of Service

In 2005 NCAA started to use the reviewed schemes of service, which provided improved salary structures with increased pay and promotion based on education and merits. The aim of the reviews was to improve employees' motivation, of which the change on employees' motivation due to the revisions was to be assessed in the period of five years. This research aims at assessing the changes in employees' motivation due to 2004 reviewed schemes of service. A descriptive research design was adopted whereby qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Data were collected through reviews of various secondary sources such as organization performance reports, General Management plans and structured questionnaire. The findings indicate that 59.1 percent of the employees were at least motivated before the 2004 revisions were made while at least 88 percent of employees are now motivated as a result of the 2004 revisions. This indicates a positive change to employee's motivation due to 2004 reviewed schemes of services. From this fact, the study recommends that organizations should perform, from time to time, participatory reviews to the schemes of service and implement the suggested changes immediately thereafter. Organizations, especially those located on restricted areas e.g in game reserve areas, should have appropriate policy on employees' fringe benefit packages that suits the unique needs of the particular employee

Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Human Resources Planning in Achieving Organizational Objectives: A Case of Tanzania Public Service College and Immigration Department

The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of Human Resources Planning in achieving organizational objectives. In pursuit of this objective, the methodology that was applied in data collection includes questionnaire, oral interview, observation and document analysis. Judgment sampling was used to select the sample for study, the sample includes members of HR department, administration and heads of department. The survey data were analyzed by using SPSS (Statistical Program for Social Sciences). The findings show that HRP improves organizational performance and it is very effective in enabling an organization to achieve its objectives. HRP and succession planning are nowpracticed in some organizations and they help to improve performance and stability of organizations

Evaluation of maize production and marketing performance: A case study of Mbeya rural district, Mbeya region, Tanzania

This study was conducted in Mbeya rural district to evaluate the production and marketing performance of maize produce. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the economic profitability of maize grown by small-scale farmers, identify existing maize marketing channels and the roles played by key market participants and to examine the pricing structure of maize at different levels of market channel. The Primary data was collected using structured questionnaire and data was analyzed by using SPSS computer programme. A sample size of 170 respondents being 125 farmers and 45 traders were interviewed. Secondary data were obtained from Mbeya region, Mbeya rural district agricultural offices and on the internet. The results from the study show that the gross margin per acre and the returns per shilling invested for farmers were Tshs 153 910 and 1.00 respectively. The gross margins per tin of 18 kg for retailers, wholesalers and travelling traders were Tshs 301.19, 203.63 and 1 462.80 respectively. The pricing structure of the marketing margins for farmers and traders ranged from Tshs 4 360 and 5 926.80 respectively. The marketing margin results revealed that farmers to retailers were Tshs 233.33 and wholesalers to transporters were Tshs 1 072.33. Moreover, the results show that (r <0.954 P= 0.01) the market of maize was highly concentrated with the over all market concentration of 64.23%; which categorized market as oligopoly. The main production and marketing problems cited by farmers (84%) and traders (30%) were low prices of maize produce and high market levies for traders (29%). This study recommends that prices of maize should be increased so as to motive farmers to increase maize production

The efficiency of procurement systems in goverment executive agencies: A case study of government procurement services agency

Procurement function is one of the popular talks of many public and private organizations including the governments in many countries as about eighty percent (80%) of the budget is allocated for procurement of goods and services. Thus, the research problem for this study was to investigate whether there are hidden factors and unethical behaviors practiced in procurement systems leading to poor procurement performance of the government procurement agencies. The study was based at GPSA as a case and employed three units of analysis in gathering data/information namely: employees, management and vanous procurement documents (records). Primary data were obtained from employees and management whereas secondary data were obtained from various documents such as books, researches, journals, files and registers. The main findings indicated that there are problems in executing procurement activities within GPSA although procurement system exists and guided by PPA, 2004 and its PPR, 2005. The problems which were found during the study include: inadequate working tools, insufficient funds, poor technology, and lack of capacity building, lack of incentive packages, corruption, evaporation and leakage of fuels as well as bureaucracy. The main recommendations as far as this dissertation is concerned include: training of staff in public procurement skills, allocation of adequate funds, establishment of public procurement forum, use of procurement management information system, use of framework contracts and the like

The impact of fertilizer subsidy scheme on the performance of fertilizer distributors in Tanzania

The objective of the study was to examine the procedures used to set up the subsidy prices and evaluate the prices and quantity allocations given to distributors in order to measure their impact on the financial performances of the distributors. Two fertilizer trading companies, MIs Tanzania Fertilizer Company Ltd and MIs Premium Agro Chern Ltd were taken as case studies. The data were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively using tables, ratios and trend analysis. Excel computer program was used to analyse the data and illustrating them by using figures and graphs. The findings indicated that the distributors' businesses will not realise profits and attain growth unless the subsidy prices set by the government are equal or higher than their commercial prices, and that the quantities allocated to them are equal to their budgeted sales volumes or are above their break-even volumes. The researcher recommends a review of the current price setting procedures and quantity allocation criteria to improve the distributors' financial performances and to achieve the government objective of the scheme. The researcher also recommends a country importation schedule, standards for subsidy fertilizer distributors and having own fertilizer plant. While the policy of subsidizing fertilizers to our farmers is good for the country's food security programmes and increase in foreign exchange earnings, the recommended measures would streamline the administration of the scheme, ensure reliability in fertilizer supplies, provide feedback and facilitate policy analysis