Strategy Implementation and Skills Development at Barclays Bank of Kenya

Abstract

Successful organizations recognize the importance of strategy as a tool in management and realize that their survival is dependent on how well they adopt new strategies or enhance existing strategies in an attempt to respond to the changes brought by the environment. While the quality of strategy is important, we cannot omit the importance of effectively executing the strategy. As the organization faces the challenge of successful strategy implementation, the quality of the human capacity implementing strategy in terms of their skills mix, cannot be overlooked. The aspect of skills development of the human capacity implementing strategy appears to be increasingly important in determining the success of implementation. The current study, using strategy implementation as the theoretical background, sought to contribute to a greater understanding, the relationships between strategy implementation and skills development .In an attempt to achieve the objective of the study, a case study research design was conducted at Barclays Bank of Kenya. Data was collected through face to face interviews of 11 respondents .The data collected from the interviewed was analysed qualitatively using content analysis. This contributed to making the summary of findings, answering the research question, making conclusions and recommendations of the research study. The research revealed that blended learning, which entailed adopting different options of skills acquisition, was required in an effort to obtain the best results in developing skills of the organization’s workforce. To improve the level of employees’ confidence in strategy implementation process, their level of competency and empowerment would be observed. Job roles would be reviewed in order to identify areas of skills development and place the people with the right skills in the right jobs. Critical skills required for strategy implementation would be identified based on the complexity and nature of the strategy and the appropriate learning option or channel sort. Adequate and early planning for skills needed for implementation and continuous assessment of skills needed was required. Enhancing skills increased the chances for successful strategy implementation and encouraged continuous improvement and creativity for future strategy implementation. The research concluded that there was a strong relationship between strategy implementation and skills development.