Influence of Leadership Styles on Strategy Implementation at Co-operative Bank of Kenya

Abstract

Leadership style is a pattern of behaviour designed to integrate organisational and personal interest in pursuit of an objective. The guidance and direction of the leaders, that is, leadership style is important in ensuring that strategies are implemented successfully and desired outcomes are achieved. As the banking industry is characterised by intense rivalry and competition, this study is important in that it highlights the key role that leadership style plays in strategy implementation and how this influence of leadership style on strategy implementation provides a competitive edge to organisations. The objective of this study was to establish the leadership styles at Co-operative Bank of Kenya and to establish the influence of leadership style on strategy implementation at the Co-operative Bank of Kenya. This study adopted a case study research design where the unit of study was Co-operative Bank of Kenya. The research targeted ten senior managers, that is, two regional managers, four heads of departments, two branch managers and two operations managers. These senior managers were targeted as they are knowledgeable in matters of leadership styles adopted and strategy implementation issues and were therefore able to answer all the relevant questions. The study used primary data. The data was collected through an interview guide. The data collected was analysed using content analysis. The key findings of the study were that Co-operative Bank of Kenya predominantly uses participative (democratic) leadership style and transformational leadership style. Another key finding of the study was that leadership styles influence strategy implementation. The implication of the study was that leadership styles are important in strategy implementation and organisations should pay attention to this and incorporate leadership styles as one of the strategies in ensuring strategy implementation. The study recommends that organisations should be aware that transformational and participative leadership styles are important in an organisation and implement these. The study also recommends that organisations should use the various leadership styles characteristics to influence strategy implementation with regard to goal achievement. For further studies, the study should be advanced to include other ingredients that are key to strategy implementation. This study should also be replicated in the manufacturing industry to validate or invalidate the findings. Further research should also be done on the same study but with a different methodology other than case study.