Challenges of Strategy Implementation at Kenya Aids Non-governmental Organizations Consortium
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 bedevilling 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. There
is enough evidence and common consensus in literature that although strategy implementation
is a challenge to many organizations, it is strategy formulation that continues to receive more
attention .Strategy implementation is the process that turns plans and strategies into actions to
accomplish objectives. It starts with strategy formulation which refers to the development of
long term plans for effective management of opportunities and threats in light of organizational
strengths and weaknesses. For effective strategy implementation, the strategy must be
supported by decisions regarding the appropriate organization structure, reward system,
organizations culture, resources and leadership. All interested parties should cooperate in the
process since they play a leading role in the implementation of strategies in the organization.
It is also evident that NGOs in Kenya experience certain barriers to strategy implementation.
Given this situation, this study highlights the most frequent barriers to strategy implementation
in general and attempts to identify and describe barriers that impede strategy implementation
in the NGO industry. This study focused on the strategy implementation challenges and
measures used to address the challenges at KANCO. 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 analyse 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 KANCO so as to establish if the
challenges of strategy implementation encountered are similar to those of KANCO or unique.
Publisher
University of Nairobi