A survey of the strategy development practices of relief and development non-governmental organisations (NGOS) in kenya'

Abstract

Research on the strategic management practices in Kenya and other developing countries is limited, but increasing, and concentrates on the profit-driven enterprises. Very little is known about how the same is practiced within the NGOs sector context in Kenya. Few studies have been done on the strategy practices in the NGOs sector setting, but most of them took one dimension of strategy formulation: the formal/rational analytical paradigm(strategic planning). Uni-dimensional processes of strategy development are not common in practice. Elements of planning are often evident but in conjunction with other processes of strategy development. Such vital qualitative, organizational and power-behavioral aspects which influence strategy development in an organization were de-emphasized. This study is designed to fill in this gap, by adopting a holistic view in relation to strategy development within the relief and development NGOs in Kenya. Strategic planning is not synonymous with creating an organizational strategy. Organizational strategies have numerous sources, both planned and unplanned. Strategic planning is likely to result in a statement of organizational intentions, but what is realized in practice will be some combination of what is intended and what emerges along the way. To get the best out of strategy making, formal analytical-thinking should be combined with the power-behavioral aspects of management. The findings of this study reveal that strategy development within the relief and development NGOs can be adequately explained both as the outcome of the cultural and political processes in and around the organization, as well as the result of deliberate managerial intent. According to Bryson(1995), nonprofit organizations(NGOs) are politically rational. Thus, any technique that is likely to work well in such organizations must accept and build on the nature of political (and cultural) rationality.