Strategic Issue Management Practices at the Kenya Power & Lighting Company Ltd

Abstract

Strategic issue management is the systematic organizational environmental surveillance and filtering processes embedded in the organizational structure. The objective of the study was to establish the strategic issue management practices employed by Kenya Power and Lighting Company Ltd. The study utilized a case study research design. The researcher used primary data, which is information collected for the first time. The interview guide method was used to collect data from selected respondents from KPLC. The data collected was reliable, accurate and very effective making the research findings correct. The study targeted 10 respondents who included the regional managers, the marketing manager, the corporate planning manager and several departmental heads to gauge their involvement in strategic issue management process and taking into account that they constitute the task force to resolve strategic issues or are the people who select an appropriate task force. The data collected using the interview guide was analyzed qualitatively using content analysis. From the findings, all of the respondents agreed to their knowledge of KPLC having clear vision and strategy that had been communicated to all staff. In addition there is staff involvement in various stages of the formulation of the strategic plan at KPLC given that they are from different backgrounds and that the stakeholders consulted in the writing process of strategic plan. From the findings, all respondents came out clearly to state that both strategic and operational issues were important to the success of the business. In addition, challenges involving time and prioritization were the most common. In conclusion, this study expands on strategic issues management literature by examining the practices in place (if any), how new communication technologies, especially social networking, are used for the purpose of managing organizational strategic issues. Overall, although KPLC has significant limitations in employing strategic issues management practices as there is no clear cut process laid down and documented it seems to be spontaneous process. For KPLC to succeed in its response to strategic issues, it should involve all managers in the strategic issue management to give them adequate decision making authority in the implementation of the strategies and have a documented procedure on how to handle strategic issues.