| dc.description.abstract | Leaders play a vital role in the organization in determining the strategic direction for the
organization and the strategic action that is perceived to play the most important role in effective
strategy implementation. This study sought to investigate the perceived roles of strategic leadership
in strategy implementation by the Capital Markets Authority. To achieve the study objective, a
descriptive research design was used. The research targeted all the 20 employees at Capital
Markets Authority from middle level management (assistant managers) to the top management
(Chief executive) since they had the responsibility for formulating and executing corporate and
business unit strategies. The study collected primary data using semi-structured questionnaires and
data analysis was done suing descriptive statistics and chi square. The study found the perceived
drivers of strategy implementation at Capital Markets Authority included organizational structure,
allocation of resources, organizational culture, resources and performance management system,
strategic leadership and training and development. These drivers of strategy implementation were
implemented to a large extent. The most popular roles of strategic leadership actions in strategy
implementation by Capital Markets Authority were aligning organizational structure to facilitate
effective strategy implementation, communicating strategy to ensure employees understood the
strategy being pursued and what they needed to do to contribute to the overall delivery,
determining a strategic direction and developing human capital. Further, the main challenges facing
strategic leaders during strategy implementation at Capital Markets Authority are; resistance to
change, cultural hindrance towards strategy implementation, bureaucracy in decision making
processes and procedures, lack of effective communication between the top management and the
lower level management and lack of autonomy at CMA whereby the parent ministry has to approve
most of its budget. Chi-square results concluded that the respondents did not perceive the roles of
strategic leadership as most appropriate for influencing strategy implementation at Capital Markets
Authority. The study recommends that the top management should involve all its employees in key
decisions for example implementation of change. The management should give equal opportunities
to all its employees to give their opinions in order for them to feel as part of the process. This will
increase their confidence and a sense of belonging since their needs will be addressed. The findings
revealed that CMA has a bureaucratic structure of the organization. The study recommends that
CMA should consider adapting a flexible organizational structure that is more decentralized to allow
for increased flexibility in decision making and processes. This will enhance efficiency and
effectiveness on the implementation of strategic leadership roles to enhance the realization of
strategic goals and objectives at CMA. The limitation of this study is that the managers were too
busy and therefore asked their assistants to fill the questionnaires on their behalf. These assistant
managers may not be experienced about the roles of strategic leadership in strategy
implementation as compared to their seniors. This might have affected the findings and conclusions
drawn in this study | en_US |
