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.
Description
Masters in Business-Department of Business Administration,51p. November, 2010. HD 30.28 .N45