Challenges Of Strategy Implementation In The Office Of Auditor General Of Kenya

Abstract

Strategic plans play a critical role in determining institutional performance (Bryson & Alston, 2011). In order to successfully lead an institution, a strategic plan is essential as it orchestrates, coordinates and controls all the interdepartmental activities with the aim of achieving the set objectives strategic targets are crucial as they translate into the organizations survival, value and growth. The study aimed to assess Challenges of strategy implementation in the office of the Auditor General Kenya. The study adopted a case study design. The target population of the study were seven employees in the office of the Auditor General who were directors in various departments in the Office of Auditor General, who included Director one, Director two, Director three, Director four, Director, Corporate Service, Director (Specialized Audit) and Director (Quality Assurance/ Internal Audit). An interview guide was used to collect Primary data. Pilot testing of the instrument was performed by conducting the interviews to the three secretaries of the directors to check on validity and reliability of the research instrument. Content analysis proved appropriate for this study since it helped uncover the challenges of strategy implementation at the Office of Auditor General in Kenya based on the information collected through the interview guide from the respondents. Data collected was cleaned, validated, coded, summarized and presented in continuous narrative. The findings revealed that resistance to change, culture problems, insufficient acceptance by implementers; inadequate funding of activities; time constraints; logistic issues, bureaucracy, lack of stakeholder involvement, poor communication, lack of adequate staff, Inadequate implementation of Information communication technologies and slow integration process of the new ERP system and hence shortcoming in implementing strategies, delay and inadequate funding for audit operations hinder execution of strategy implementation process, delay in availing documents and responding to audit queries, inadequate staffing, lack of independence in utilization of available resources and biased performance management, slow implementation of policies, inadequate regulations and guidelines system; were the challenges of strategy implementation. The study recommends that a study should be on effectiveness of communication in strategy implementation in another sector or organization. Also an in-depth study on the lapses faced in the strategy execution in the Government owned organizations in Kenya. A similar study concerning the same topical issues addressed in this study should be studied on another population such as Parastatals and Independent commissions