Perception of top management team and strategy implementation at the coast development Authority, Kenya
Abstract
The degree of participation of top managers in an organization determines the success
or failure of strategy implementation. The extent to which a manager feels that he has
participated or is supposed to participate is a matter of perception and this affects the
decisions each manager and ultimately the totality of decisions made by the top
managers. Coast Development Authority is one of the six regional development
authorities established by various Acts of parliament with the mandate of
spearheading integrated development planning, coordination and implementation of
projects and programmes in their specified area of jurisdiction. The region in which
CDA operates has in the recent times been cited as having a substantial number of
people living below the poverty line despite the region being endowed with
substantial natural resources. This study employed descriptive research in which a
cross-sectional survey of CDA’s top management team was undertaken. The
responses from the top management team on their involvement in strategy
implementation were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science. The
results indicate that a majority of the top management team has confidence in the
adequacy of the current strategies in achieving the organization objectives. Despite
these only two areas of TMT involvement that is allocating time to strategy
implementation and developing capacity to successfully implement strategy was
considered by the majority as either adequate or more than adequate. Responses
indicate that in other areas TMT involvement was considered either as not adequate or
less than adequate. These include the strategy implementation process, TMT
commitment to strategy implementation, involvement of external stakeholders,
resources disbursement, creation of strategy implementation policies, TMT strategic
leadership, the reward system, and external stakeholder support. On individual
involvement by the TMT members in strategy implementation a significant of the top
managers indicated that they were either moderately involved or highly involved in
strategy implementation. Other areas that the top managers indicated that they either
moderately involved or highly involved in strategy implementation include: allocating
resources to strategy related activities, monitoring strategy related projects, reviewing
of CDA organization structure, reviewing strategy implementation progress,
communicating with employees and external stakeholders on strategy implementation
and developing CDA staff capacity to implement strategy. It is only in the area of
rewarding employees for successful strategy implementation that a majority of the
managers indicated that they were barely involved or not at all involved. The results
of the study support earlier theories that individuals faced with the same reality may
form different opinions and perceptions which may or may not reflect the true reality
of the situation. It is noteworthy that though a majority of the managers feel that they
are individually involved on various aspects of strategy implementation, they rated the
team performance as inadequate or less than adequate in most of the strategy
implementation areas. The management of perceptions as well as team dynamics
require to be undertaken at CDA. The results of the study will inform managers as
well as scholars of the need to manage team dynamics if organizations are to attain
their set objectives.
Citation
Masters of Business AdministrationPublisher
University of Nairobi