Strategy implementation at Strathmore university
Abstract
The success of an organization does not come without a plan. However, the plan has to be
appropriately implemented. Strategy implementation is crucial because it links strategy
formulation and its success. Organizations prepare very excellent strategies which in
most cases are never implemented for various reasons. The main purpose of this study
was to establish the challenges of strategy implementation at Strathmore University and
also to determine the measures taken to deal with these challenges. This study was guided
by the McKinsey 7-S Model of Strategy Implementation. It recognizes the seven factors
critical for effective strategy execution as strategy, structure, systems, staff, skills, style
and shared values. The study used a case study design. The study used both primary and
secondary data where primary data was collected by use of face to face interview
between the researcher and the respondents using an interview guide. The secondary data
was obtained from Strathmore University strategic plan, service charter, ISO certification
documents and annual reports. The data which was qualitative in nature was analyzed
using the content analysis technique. It is a technique for making inferences by
objectively and systematically identifying characteristics of messages. The information
was analyzed and evaluated to determine its usefulness, credibility, consistency and
adequacy. The outcome was then compared in order to get more revelation on challenges
of strategy implementation at Strathmore University. The findings provided an insight on
how private universities should carry out a successful strategy implementation. The study
found that some aspects of organization culture, lack of involvement of staff, insufficient
communication, organization policies, competition and resources are some of the major
challenges faced by the University in its strategy implementation. Various ways were
found to be used by the university to cope with the challenges in its strategy
implementation. They include, used of standardized key performance indicators, carrying
out staff training to equip the staff with skills, proper allocation of resources, improving
on information technology, and culture change among others. Conclusions were drawn
and specific recommendations made. If adopted, findings of this study will help the
University to manage their strategies as well as successfully implement them. Among the
recommendations were; the university should involve all its staff in strategy
implementation to encourage ownership among the staff, management avails resources
needed for strategy implementation, the top management to drive the culture of the
organization and focusing on a lean, flat responsive, and innovative organization
structure among others. This study though deeply researched could not have been
finalized without limitations. The study covered a period of three months and this
duration could not allow the researcher to collect enough data for comprehensive
analysis. It only focused on the extent of strategy implementation and the challenges
encountered thus ignoring other important areas like effectiveness of strategy
implementation. The other limitation was the presence of organizational rules that do not
allow release of information to the public hence it was difficult to obtain some of the
useful information.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Description
Thesis