Strategic management practices in the City Council of Nairobi

Abstract

The concept of the strategic management practices covers organization-wide issues in the context of a whole range of its operational influences. The conceptual motivation of this study lies on the notation that an organization has to align its operational functions with the overall strategic goals and objectives. Contextually, the city council exists to achieve a purpose and they must ensure that they have resources required to do so and they use them effectively. In the globalization integration era, the business environment is becoming fierce than before; organizations of all types and sizes are facing continually changing situations externally and internally. The aim of this study was to determine practices and challenges of strategic management in the city council of Nairobi. This was a case study where primary data was collected using interview guide. The data obtained from the interview guide was analyzed using qualitative analysis. The study found that senior managers, directors, middle managers, departmental heads and other lower level employees were involved in strategic management process in the City Council of Nairobi but the middle level managers played the pivotal role in the implementation. The study found that effective communication throughout the organization leads to a clear understanding of key roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders including middle managers, whose role is often pivotal and ensures that everybody understands success levels at all times. Also the study found that early involvement of employees in the strategy process helped members understand super-ordinate goals, style, and cultural norms and thus become essential for the continued success of a firm strategy implementation. It also prevents them from being taken by surprise, puts all members at the same platform, and helps the employees to own the process thus ensuring better results. The study concluded that the management should be competent so as to ensure good strategy objective setting, and manage resistance to strategy implementation. The study recommended that although the city council of Nairobi had been successful in the strategic management practices, there is need to continuously train its employees on how the strategy should be implemented, involve staff in decision making and employ efficient communication that avail information on strategy to all stakeholders.