Challenges of Strategy Implementation at the Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, Kenya
Abstract
This study sought to investigate challenges of strategy implementation at the Ministry
of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, Kenya in order to bridge the gap
experienced during strategy implementation as evident from literature. The two
objectives of this study included; to establish the challenges of strategy implementation,
and to determine the measures taken to mitigate the challenges of strategy
implementation at the Ministry. The study adopted a case study, as the unit of analysis
was one organization, the Ministry. Case study emphasized the contextual analysis by
limiting the research to a single organization and hence allowed for in-depth probing
into answering the research question. The researcher used both primary and secondary
data. Primary data was collected through one on one interview with respondents using
an interview guide, which had open-ended questions. The secondary data was collected
from library materials, journals and reports, media publications and various Internet
search engines covering challenges of strategy implementation practices in different
organizations. Content analysis was used to analyze the respondent’s views and
feedback about the challenges of strategy implementation at the Ministry. The study
established that, both internal and external factors affected effective strategy
implementation at the Ministry. The external factors that affected strategy
implementation included: turbulent and competitive business environment, social,
political, economic, and technological factors. The internal factor included: lack of
employee training, and lack of adequate financial resources. It was concluded that for
the success of Ministry in the turbulent and competitive business environment, proper
training to employees, adequate financial resources, information communication
technology (ICT) integration, and democratic style of management is key to effective
strategy implementation. It was recommended that the Ministry of East African Affairs,
Commerce and Tourism, Kenya to align organizational structure, adjust its leadership
styles, adequate resources, employee motivation, and ICT integration for effective
strategy implementation. The study recommends further research on evaluation of
strategy implementation at the Ministry thus bridging the gap