Strategy Implementation and Performance of Embu County Government, Kenya
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Date
2018-11
Authors
Nkatha, Christine
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Implementation of strategies is one of the most challenging tasks County Governments are
facing in Kenya including Embu County. Due to challenges of implementing strategies
formulated, Embu County has been experiencing deteriorating performance. Effective strategy
implementation is thought to influence performance of organizations. Limited studies have been
conducted to establish the effect of strategy implementation on the performance of County
governments in Kenya. Therefore, it is on this background that this study sought to establish the
of strategy implementation on performance of County governments in Kenya focusing on Embu
County. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the effect of employee training,
organization structure and organization culture on performance of Embu County Government.
Theories that were used to inform the study included resource based view, sequential thinking,
transformational leadership and holistic strategy implementation theories. The study adopted a
descriptive research design. Descriptive research design was appropriate method because it
provides opportunities to collect analyze and interpret data without manipulation. Further, it
gives researchers the ability to collect qualitative data and incorporate the views in the research
findings. The study adopted a census approach where information was collected from the top
level management of the County Government of Embu. Respondents of the study comprised of
County cabinet secretaries, deputy cabinet secretaries and administrators. Questionnaires were
used to collect primary data since they provided an opportunity of capturing respondent
information in a structured manner and provide the flexibility of answering the questions without
interference of the researcher as in the case of interview schedules. Secondary data was obtained
from strategic plans, Vision 2030 and Sessional papers on development of Counties in Kenya.
Validity of the instrument was determined by using experts in strategic management in the
School of Business, Kenyatta University while reliability of the instrument was determined by
using Cronbach Alpha coefficients of 0.7. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis
where key themes were selected from public content and verbatim statements and conclusions
and recommendations were made. Quantitative data was analyzed using correlation and
regression analysis by application of Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS version 22).
To test the statistical significance between variables, regression analysis was conducted at 95%
confidence level. The analyzed information was tabulated and presented in form mean scores,
percentages and standard deviation. The study concludes that even though employee training had
a significant influence on performance of Embu County Government, inappropriate employee
skills and inadequate employee support were are issues of concern. The study found that
organizational structure did moderately affect performance of Embu County Government;
rigidity of the County Government structure, delegation and bottom up communication were rare
practices in various ministries of the County and this contributed to underperformance of the
County in general. Inability of the leaders to encourage teamwork through open door culture also
was attributed to deteriorating performance of the Embu County Government. The study
recommends that County governments should train employees to equip them with the right skills,
develop structures aligned to the organizational strategy and organizational culture be strongly
reinforced as a practice that influences employee behavior at work.
Description
A Research Project Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Business Administration (Strategic Management Option), School of Business Kenyatta University