Evaluation of Strategic Planning at Kenya Wildlife Services

Abstract

Strategy is a company’s game plan and provides a framework for managerial decision making. Strategic planning is the entire management function of establishing organizational direction, setting objectives and devising a managerial game plan for the organization to pursue (Thompson and Strickland, 1989). Its components are linked together to provide managers with a systematic method for formulating, selecting, implementing and evaluating strategies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of strategic planning at Kenya Wildlife Service. The study was based on establishing how Kenya Wildlife Service carries out monitoring and evaluation of its strategic plans. To meet the objective of the study, a case study design was adopted. The respondents were selected from top management, the scientists and researchers and corporate planning section. Primary data was collected using an interview guide while secondary data was collected from the organization’s strategic plans, annual reports and website. In data analysis, content analysis technique was used. The findings of the study were that KWS has met most of its strategic goals and objectives through an effective process of formulation, implementation and evaluation of strategies adopted. KWS pays keen attention to its internal and external environment while monitoring and evaluating its strategic plans enabling it to easily adapt to the changing environment. On limitation, this study relied on self-reported and reflective recollection of the indicators of the constructs in this study by employees who volunteered their time to participate. The perceptual nature of the study brings the possibility of a percept bias and being a case study there is room for speculation with regard to causality among variables. A restriction of respondents to management staff also restrains the findings. The study recommends that there is need for more studies in the various industries representing diverse demographics in an organization. More research in different educational backgrounds is recommended so that causality can be fully established.