Factors affecting implementation of strategic plans in local authorities in Kenya.A case of Nairobi City Council

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Date
2015-02-17
Authors
Ngugi, John Mungai
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Abstract
The problem of strategic planning lies in successful transformation of Strategic plans into action which is a far more complex, difficult and challenging undertaking and therefore not as straightforward as one would assume. The local authorities in Kenya have been formulating policies and strategies over the years which are aimed at improving service delivery. However, despite the efforts to formulate policies and strategic plans, service delivery still remains limited and inefficient in most local authorities. Most local authorities have proven to be largely ineffective and inefficient in achieving their strategic objectives. However, no study has been done in Kenya to establish the factors affecting the implementation of strategic plans in Kenyan local authorities. This posses a gap which this study sought to fill through a case study of Nairobi City Council. The design was descriptive research design. The target population included all the 200 top and middle management of Nairobi city council. Data was collected using questionnaires as the principal data collection instrument. Purposive, stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to come up with a sample size of 60 respondents. The data was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques where by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) will be used. The data was presented in form of pie charts, Bar graphs and frequency tables, percentages and cross-tabulation. The study established that the most significant factors that affected the implementation of the strategic plans in local authorities in Kenya were; resource allocation, organizational structures and communication. The study therefore recommends that the management of local authorities need to mobilize more resources and devote them to the implementation of the strategic plans. In addition, the Government should increase its budgetary allocation to the local authorities so as to boast its activities financially. In addition, management of local authorities needs to review and re-design the existing organizational structure so at to fit well in the implementation of the strategic plans at the council. Finally, since communication is critical to the success of any organization, the management of the council needs to enhance the communication channels and make a consulted effort of updating all employees on the various stages of implementation. Training of all the staff on the various strategic plans is however necessary to ensure they are conversant on the contents and mode of the implementation. This will translate to effective and efficient service delivery in the long run.
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Masters in Business-Department of Business Administration,51p. November, 2010. HD 30.28 .N45
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