A Comparative Analysis of Organizational Structure and Effectiveness between Public and Private Universities: A Case of University Of East Africa-Baraton and Moi University in Kenya

The nature of services in institutions of higher learning requires that all stakeholders play positive roles in the sustainability of the institution’s survival and effectiveness in giving quality teaching, research and learning. Structure and processes are core requirements for understanding organizational effectiveness. The actual scenario in the field, however, raises concerns as to whether cases of pending work, inefficiency, conflicts among others can be arrested by having proper structures and processes. The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of organizational structure on organizational effectiveness, in public and private universities in Kenya, using the case of Moi University and University of East Africa (UEA)-Baraton. Based on the study, this paper undertakes a comparative analyisis of organizational structure and organizational effectiveness between UEA-Baraton and Moi University and the extent to which the nature of formalization and level of horizontal integration are antecedents to level of communication and locus of decision-making. The study utilized a cross-sectional survey design that was descripto-explanatory in nature to identify attributes of the study population using a small sample of individuals. Independent samples t-test was used to test whether there was any significant difference in organizational structure and organizational effectiveness between public and private universities. Further, the study used hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypotheses. Based on the sample of 365 participants (300 from Moi University and 65 from UEABaraton), the independent samples t-test confirmed that there were significant differences in organizational structure and organizational effectiveness between public and private universities. The regression results indicated that the locus of decision-making had positive and significant effects on productivity, stability, resource acquisition and human resource satisfaction and development. The results highlight the need to improve organizational structure which has positive impacts on organizational effectiveness under the moderation of organizational processes. This move is necessitated by the accelerated pace of business complexity today.