| dc.description.abstract | Leadership style is a pattern of behaviour designed to integrate organisational and
personal interest in pursuit of an objective. The guidance and direction of the leaders,
that is, leadership style is important in ensuring that strategies are implemented
successfully and desired outcomes are achieved. As the banking industry is characterised
by intense rivalry and competition, this study is important in that it highlights the key role
that leadership style plays in strategy implementation and how this influence of
leadership style on strategy implementation provides a competitive edge to organisations.
The objective of this study was to establish the leadership styles at Co-operative Bank of
Kenya and to establish the influence of leadership style on strategy implementation at the
Co-operative Bank of Kenya. This study adopted a case study research design where the
unit of study was Co-operative Bank of Kenya. The research targeted ten senior
managers, that is, two regional managers, four heads of departments, two branch
managers and two operations managers. These senior managers were targeted as they are
knowledgeable in matters of leadership styles adopted and strategy implementation issues
and were therefore able to answer all the relevant questions. The study used primary
data. The data was collected through an interview guide. The data collected was
analysed using content analysis. The key findings of the study were that Co-operative
Bank of Kenya predominantly uses participative (democratic) leadership style and
transformational leadership style. Another key finding of the study was that leadership
styles influence strategy implementation. The implication of the study was that
leadership styles are important in strategy implementation and organisations should pay
attention to this and incorporate leadership styles as one of the strategies in ensuring
strategy implementation. The study recommends that organisations should be aware that
transformational and participative leadership styles are important in an organisation and
implement these. The study also recommends that organisations should use the various
leadership styles characteristics to influence strategy implementation with regard to goal
achievement. For further studies, the study should be advanced to include other
ingredients that are key to strategy implementation. This study should also be replicated
in the manufacturing industry to validate or invalidate the findings. Further research
should also be done on the same study but with a different methodology other than case
study. | en |
