| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of Corporate Culture on Strategy implementation among Commercial banks in Kenya. This study therefore sought to bridge the gap by determining corporate cultural issues on strategy implementation within commercial banks in Kenya. This was particularly important given the sectors contribution to Gross Domestic Product and the competitiveness within the sector because of deregulation. A quantitative and qualitative research design was undertaken based on a multi-method approach of interviews and self-completion questionnaires. Data was collected from a combination sample of 38 respondents drawn from a list of commercial banks. The data was analysed using percentages, and then presented using graphs and tables with the interpretation based on resulting means and ranking.
Transcripts from the interviews were analysed for recursive themes and related for commonality with quantitative data. The findings of this research revealed that attitudes as one of the elements of corporate culture have the most bearing influence on strategy implementation among commercial banks, while existing rules, norms, ethical codes, values and heroes equally influence strategy implementation among commercial banks. The research further identified stories, myths, legends and artifacts as other elements of corporate culture that have an influence on strategy implementation. The research further identified symbols and symbolic actions including, office decor, clothing and logos as visual presentations of the company which lock in the users into prescribed behavior that gives them status an important aspect of strategy implementation.
The study concluded that successful strategy execution requires that the elements of culture are supportive if not compatible with the strategy to be implemented. Furthermore, this study concluded that a strategy- supportive culture funnels organizational energy towards getting the right things done and delivering positive organizational results. Although, strategy- culture can lead to problems created by a series of psychological processes; this study recommended that cultural values are very powerful because they inspire employees by appealing to their ideals and clarify expectations and thus overtime results to good strategy implementation.
While this research provides valuable insight into the influence of corporate cultural issues to strategy implementation, the researcher recognizes the small sample size for a generalization of the entire financial services sector as a major limitation. In addition information ended up being collected from branch managers who may not represent the organisation wide culture. | en_US |
