Challenges of strategy implementation at Kenya Revenue Authority

Abstract

Strategies are critical in organizational functioning, but whereas most organizations have good strategies, successful strategy implementation remains a major challenge in the strategy implementation processes. The notion of strategy implementation might seem quite straight forward on the surface yet in the contrary, transforming strategies into actions is far more complex, difficult and challenging. That is why these challenges, needs to be addressed, because even the best strategy would be ineffective if not implemented successfully and hence the overall results may not be achieved as expected. The research project was a case study on Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). The objectives of the study were to identify the challenges encountered in implementing their strategies and to establish measures taken by the Authority to cope with these challenges faced during strategy implementation. In order to solve these research objectives, primary data was collected using interview guide by administering personal interviews targeting mainly those respondents who are charged with the responsibility of implementing strategies at KRA. The study established that most of challenges of strategy implementation at KRA emanated from both internal and external stakeholders. To a larger extent, the study found out that the Corporate strategy itself, organizational politics, structure and culture, Government decisions, inadequate resources, inadequate communication, uncontrollable factors, resistant to change as the major challenges encountered during implementation of strategies while on the other hand, the chief Executive Officer provided the guidance and direction needed to achieve the targeted results. The study provides Revenue Authorities with useful information on how to successfully implement their strategies in future by adopting appropriate styles and to come up with effective monitoring and control systems to mitigate challenges associated with strategy implementation.