Challenges of implementing strategic decisions for service delivery at the office of the Vice President and ministry of home affairs

Abstract

Implementing strategic decisions world over has met varied challenges in both the public sector and the private sector. Owing to open competition in the global arena, many organizations have had no choice but to embrace strategic management for survival; the public sector is not left behind. Emerging developments in the political, economic and technological spheres have presented various countries with innumerable challenges which has poised various options of benchmarking, MOUs between governments, change of policies and regulations, change of management of public institutions, co-operations between governments, re-writing constitutions or amendments thereof, etc. Changes in the structure of the economy due to globalization require that public service changes to align with emerging issues. Demographic, social and cultural changes bring new demands on delivery of services including health, education and social security. Over the last fifty years the public sector management has adopted some trendy markettype reforms aimed at improving their service delivery, more aggressively after the world war II. The Government of Kenya introduced trendy reforms since 1993 to improve its service delivery and improve the living standards of its people and upscale its development. The policies and strategies being adopted have not been applied uniformly across the public service due to implementation challenges encountered in the various government institutions. The Office of the Vice President and Ministry of Home Affairs (OVP&MOHA) which can be construed as being second in the chain after the Office of the President, has been able to apply various strategies to improve its service delivery to Kenyans in the same time frame. This prompted the researcher to carry out the study to determine the Challenges of implementing strategic decisions for service delivery in the OVP&MOHA. This research project conducted between February and October, 2012 answered the following research question, what are the challenges of implementing strategic decisions for service delivery at the Office of the Vice President and Ministry of Home Affairs? The study reviewed literature on strategic management in organizations, concept of strategy, strategic management process, implementation of strategic decisions, strategicdecisions, and challenges of implementing strategic decisions in organizations. The study was modeled on a case study research design and data collected through face to face interview method guided by a structured interview guide. The data was analyzed using content analysis technique and inferences made based on consistency, credibility, and adequacy of data. The study findings revealed that financial management policies and procedures, organizational structure, organizational culture, communication, lack of performance incentives, lack of commitment and ownership of strategic decisions on the part of the staff, the twin nature of the ministry as an organization, were a hindrance or impediment to implementing strategic decisions in the Ministry of Home Affairs. The researcher recommends involvement of all relevant stakeholders in strategy formulation and implementation, sourcing for funds from other sources to supplement the sourcing from the Ministry of Finance, introduce rewards and recognition policy as a motivator for excellent performers, develop a communication policy and embrace the quick and modern ICT enabled communication, improve human resource policy, severance of the Ministry into two separate organizations: the Office of the Vice President; and the Ministry of Home Affairs; awarding full autonomy or semi autonomy status to the Gaming Board, remove bureaucracy and award the Kenya Prison Service full control of their own funds, and strengthening or sectionalizing Performance Contracting secretariat to take charge and police performance in the Ministry