Challenges of Strategy Implementation at the Elgeiyo Marakwet County of Kenya

Abstract

The success of any strategy is hinged on its implementation. Though, most Organizations come up with elaborate strategic plans, implementing them may be a challenge. Strategy implementation is the process of putting plans and strategies into action to achieve intended organizational goals. The promulgation of the constitution of Kenya 2010 created a devolved system of governance and provided for mandatory planning before budgeting. The County Government Act 2012 specifies key plans that each County is expected to generate which are; County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), County Sectoral Plans, County Spatial Plans, County Urban Areas and Cities Plans, and County Performance Management Plans. Elgeiyo Marakwet County is no exception and has been striving to achieve its goals through various strategies. However, it has managed to achieve some while others have been challenging and out of target. The objective of this study therefore, was to establish the challenges of strategy implementation at the Elgeiyo Marakwet County Government of Kenya. Three theories of strategic management were reviewed to form the conceptual framework for this study; Institutional theory, Resource Based View Theory and Stakeholders Theory. This study utilized a case study approach and used both secondary and primary data, for data collection. Primary data was collected through the use of an interview guide with open ended questions and being qualitative in nature, conceptual content analysis was used. The study revealed that the challenges faced by the County during strategy implementation were lack of support from the top management, politicization of the process, slow budget approval, lack of clear individual role, lack of alignment with the organization strategic plan as executives try to please MCAs, lack of employee roles and functions harmonization, poor staffing level, ineffective communication and poor coordination of activities during strategy implementation. This study recommends that the County Government of Elgeiyo Marakwet should enhance policies that guide the relationships between the MCAs and the County Executives as well as strengthen the individual roles played by each group in the implementation process. In addition, there is need to improve policies on resource allocation to avoid interference by the MCAs and other political machination. The interview guide used as a tool for data collection was not exhaustive hence could not bring out all the aspects anticipated by the research. A Research on strategy and performance of the County Governments of Kenya will be of great value to researchers in future.