Leadership Skills, Stakeholder Management and Execution of Fibre Optic Infrastructure

Abstract The main purpose of this study was to investigate how leadership skills and stakeholder management acting together to influence the execution of fibre optic infrastructure. The study adopted the pragmatism research paradigm, with a cross-sectional survey design. Census was used to select 187 respondents from a target population of 187 functional members of staff in fibre optic infrastructure departments of two mobile telecommunication and four internet service companies in Nairobi County, Kenya. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data while an interview guide and document review guide were used to collect qualitative data. Inferential statistical analysis was performed using multiple regression. It was demonstrated that leadership skills and stakeholder management act together to have a significant positive influence on the execution of fibre optic infrastructure. Therefore, there is a need for companies to ensure that stakeholders are involved in all phases of a project from inception to closure. Mobile telecommunication and internet service providing companies should also develop training programs to improve the leadership skills of project leaders and make use of conflict management strategies and communication skills to ensure appropriate management of change. It was suggested that similar and comparable studies should be conducted in other countries across the world.