Challenges of Strategy Implementation at the National Police Service in Kenya
Abstract
The strategy implementation process is a very vital
process in the sustainability of the
organization. A company that implements its strateg
ies is more likely to achieve its
objectives as to ones that doesn’t. The objective o
f the study was to establish strategy
implementation challenges faced by national Police
Service and to determine the
measures taken by the National Police service to ad
dress the challenges faced by the
service in strategy implementation. Despite the var
ious studies on the challenges of
strategy implementation by state corporations and h
ow these organization have responded
to the challenges there has been less focus on the
security agencies in the country. The
research therefore sought to close this gap by focu
sing on the national police service
especially now that the constitution of Kenya and n
ational Police act has realigned its
organization structure. The study employed a case s
tudy research design where
interviews were conducted through use of interview
guide. Six senior managers in charge
of overseeing strategy implementation at the nation
al police service were interviewed.
Data collected was analyzed using content analysis
where inadequate resources, lack of
appropriate technology, Political interference, evo
lution of international terrorism,
inadequate human resources, insufficient funds and
change of Government rules and
regulations were revealed as some of the factors af
fecting implementation of the
strategies. Some of the measures suggested include
d the need to align the organization
culture to its strategy, ISO certification of polic
e, benchmarking, motivation of staff to
enhance performance, accountability of the leaders,
need to invest in modern
communication technology, strengthening organizatio
n values and teamwork. Strategy
formulation process in the organization projects fo
llows a top-down approach while
implementation process adopts a bottom up approach.
These disconnect in the strategy
process of the organization and insufficient funds
have in some way brought about
challenges in the success of implementing the set s
trategies. The NPS should continue
lobbying for more funds and involve all stake holde
rs in strategy formulation. Further
research on the same should be conducted at county
levels or departments.