| dc.description.abstract | Strategy implementation is often called the action phase of the strategic management
process which is the most challenging. Executing the strategy is a tougher more
consuming management challenge than crafting the strategy because of the wide array of
managerial activities that have to be attended to. The demanding people-management
skills required, the initiatives that need to be launched and moving, the bedeviling issues
that need to be worked out, the resistance to change, and the difficulties of integrating the
efforts of work groups into a functioning whole. For the effective implementation of
strategy an organization must achieve congruency between structure, leadership, culture
and the capability of the organization.
This study focused on the strategy implementation challenges and measures used to
address the challenges at Action Aid. To achieve these objectives a case study was carried
out to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges. Both primary and secondary data
were used. Primary data was collected using a self-administered interview guide while
the secondary data was collected from the collected from the organizations document
such as annual reports, website and strategic plan. A total of eight respondents were
interviewed by use of an interview guide. The respondents included the senior, middle
and lower level managers. Content analysis was used to analyze the data after it was first
checked for consistency and then coded.
There was an alignment between the research findings and the literature review carried
out. The major challenges as revealed in the study highlighted inadequate resources
which made it difficult for the organization to execute the strategies, employee commitment to strategy that was limited to implementation of the specific activities in the
operational plan, the policies and procedures practiced and resistance from the staff.
The researcher recommends that a similar study be carried out on organizations that are
of the same size and operate in areas of intervention that are close to ActionAid so as to
establish if the challenges of strategy implementation encountered are similar to those of
ActionAid or unique. . There is need to examine how the process can impact on
institutional commitment, narrow organizational vision, discourage change, and breed an
atmosphere of politics. Also the ever increasing importance of knowledge and the general
recognition of knowledge as the strategic asset in most organizations, raise important
question whether traditional strategy theory and practice provide adequate knowledge of
the organization. Most institutional strategies are time bound thus organizational
discontinuity and easily are predicted, and these strategies are developed by external
strategist who is most at times detached from the operations of the organization. These
two strategic planning practices may result to effective strategy implementation. | en |
