Strategic response by public service commission of Kenya to changes in its environment

Abstract

Globally, the public sector remains a central vehicle for delivering development for both developed and developing countries. To cope with the increased complexity, hostility and turbulence within today’s organizational environment, public sector organizations across the globe have been forced to embark upon far-reaching programmes of strategic change. Efforts to realize economic and allocative efficiency, equity, justice, fairness, security, competitiveness and contestability remain a priority of governments of today. This therefore means that as one of the institutions in the public sector, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has an obligation to increase efficiency and effectiveness in its service delivery to the citizens of Kenya. This study was therefore conducted to investigate the strategic responses by Public Service Commission (PSC), Kenya to changes in its environment. The study sought to find out how changes in the Commission’s mandate; political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental and legal (PESTEL) factors have determined the strategic direction that PSC have taken. To achieve this objective a case study was undertaken whereby four departmental heads were interviewed. Content analysis was used to analyze the data collected. Out of the targeted respondents eighty percent were available for the interview. From the study it emerged that PSC has responded proactively to the environmental changes through timely development of relevant policies and operational mechanisms with the aim of ensuring that it delivers its mandate as per the Constitutional requirements. This explains the Commission’s ranking among the top ten best performing government entities during the financial year 2011/2012. From the findings the researcher recommends a need for increased financial resources as well as an enabling environment in the ICT sector from the national government to enhance the Commission’s strategic endeavours. Additionally, besides the fact that the Commission has a communication strategy in place, there is still a need for PSC to develop an all inclusive communication strategy in order to address language communication barrier. Translation of important information affecting the nation into the different Kenyan languages will promote the principle of inclusiveness and hence increase awareness of PSC’s existence as a government department and its constitutional role as a government recruitment agency.