Challenges of Strategy Implementation at the Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to investigate challenges of strategy implementation at the Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, Kenya in order to bridge the gap experienced during strategy implementation as evident from literature. The two objectives of this study included; to establish the challenges of strategy implementation, and to determine the measures taken to mitigate the challenges of strategy implementation at the Ministry. The study adopted a case study, as the unit of analysis was one organization, the Ministry. Case study emphasized the contextual analysis by limiting the research to a single organization and hence allowed for in-depth probing into answering the research question. The researcher used both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected through one on one interview with respondents using an interview guide, which had open-ended questions. The secondary data was collected from library materials, journals and reports, media publications and various Internet search engines covering challenges of strategy implementation practices in different organizations. Content analysis was used to analyze the respondent’s views and feedback about the challenges of strategy implementation at the Ministry. The study established that, both internal and external factors affected effective strategy implementation at the Ministry. The external factors that affected strategy implementation included: turbulent and competitive business environment, social, political, economic, and technological factors. The internal factor included: lack of employee training, and lack of adequate financial resources. It was concluded that for the success of Ministry in the turbulent and competitive business environment, proper training to employees, adequate financial resources, information communication technology (ICT) integration, and democratic style of management is key to effective strategy implementation. It was recommended that the Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, Kenya to align organizational structure, adjust its leadership styles, adequate resources, employee motivation, and ICT integration for effective strategy implementation. The study recommends further research on evaluation of strategy implementation at the Ministry thus bridging the gap