| dc.description.abstract | Strategic management is a concept that concerns with making decisions and taking
corrective actions to achieve long term targets and goals of an organization. The
importance of strategic management in a firm can be answered by analyzing relationship
between strategic management and organizational performance. Generally strategic
management practices can improve efficiency in various organizations. The purpose of
the study was to establish the strategic management practices at Kenya Airports
Authority (KAA). This was a case study in which nine (9) respondents consisting of the
top management of KAA, Managing Director, the Deputy Managing Director and the
General Managers were targeted. The study used both primary and secondary data to
gather the information. The primary data was collected using interviews while Secondary
data was collected from existing documentation reviews on KAA. The data was analyzed
using content analysis. The study established that out of the nine departments only one
had departmental strategic plans which were not in use. The study further established
that strategic management planning was mainly the work of an external consultant in
consultation with top management. The study established that the strategies were
implemented through annual budgets and annual performance contracts. The monitoring
was done annually through the performance appraisal/evaluation and quarterly through
performance contract management system. The respondents were involved in the
development of the top management organizational structure. The organization had
departmental structures which are structured in such a way that the senior management
processed the job evaluation process with the help of consultants. The study established
that the strategies in the organization were mainly implemented by consultants in
consultation with management. The results revealed that there was a mood of change in
the organization as the organization was going through a transition from a slow and
bureaucratic focused public organization to a business oriented organization focused on
exceeding customer expectation. The leadership of the organization had a clear vision of
providing infrastructure and management of airports. The study established that the
challenges facing the organization included projects lagging behind schedule, projects in
the budget not yet supported by strategic plan and lack of harmony between the strategic
plan, performance contracting, departmental and individual work plans, also departments
not working well together and slow decision making process partly due to political
interference. The study recommended that the process should be inclusive of all the
employees, all the departments should develop and apply their strategic plans,
organization and departments should review those plans to ensure the success of the
implementation, there should be horizontal meetings to enhance cohesion and congruence
between departments, management should increase the budgetary allocation to be in line
with the strategic plan for the successful implementation of strategies and management
should increase more staff to bridge the deficiency and improve on governance structure | en |
