Strategic management practices among technical training institutions in Kenya: a case study of technical training institutions in Nairobi

Abstract

This research was designed to investigate strategic management practices among technical training institutions in Nairobi. The study sought to achieve two objectives. The first objective was to establish the strategic management practices adopted by technical training institutions in Nairobi, and the second was to determine the factors influencing the strategic management practices among the institutions. To achieve these objectives, the study adopted a census survey and focused on six technical training institutions in Nairobi all of which were served with questionnaires. Responses were received from all of them giving a response rate of 100%. The findings of the study showed that all the managerial tasks that characterize strategic management were present in all the institutions except a lack of situational analysis in one institution. It was established all the institutions studied had written down vision and mission statements, objectives and strategies, action plans and strategic plans, and strategy evaluation and control mechanisms. The findings further showed that of the 83.3% of the institutions that undertake situational analysis, such an analysis is the responsibility of selected members of the institution in 50% of these institutions and of management in 16.7% of them. Overall, the study established that 66.7% of the institutions practice purely formal strategic planning while 33.3% adopt both formal and informal planning process, with the planning horizon ranging from 4 to 5 years in all the institutions. The study findings, however, revealed that a number of internal organizational factors surface to influence the strategic management practices among the institutions. Key among them were management skills, managerial skills, financial resources, leadership style and organizational culture and politics which were very highly rated by respondents; and current organizational structure, existing organizational policies, human resources, and employee training which were highly rated. Reward system and political interference were rated as having medium and low influence respectively.