Assessment of Strategic Planning Practices in Engineering Consultancy Firms in Nairobi

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the strategic planning practices in the engineering consultancy firms in Nairobi. The study was guided by the following research questions: How is strategic planning in engineering consultancy firm practiced in Nairobi?What are the benefits of applying strategic planning in engineering consultancy firm in Nairobi?What are the challenges in applying strategic planning in engineering consultancy firms in Nairobi? The study uses descriptive research design. Target population was 358 non registered consulting engineers and 73 registered firms in Kenya.Simple Random Sampling method was used. Purposive sampling was used to selectregistered engineering consultancy firms. In this study, 40 registered engineering consultancy firms were selected for study which is 54 % of the target population. Structured Questionnaires were used to collect primary data. Raw data was analyzed using SPSS software. Data analysis was done by using descriptive statistics (Frequency distribution and measures of the central tendency) and the results interpreted, inferences made and presented on pie charts, tables and percentages. The findings on how strategic planning in engineering consultancy firm practiced in Nairobi revealed that respondents agreed that middle managers play a vital role in strategic communication, quality leadership drive the organization into successful strategy implementation and top managers have demonstrate their willingness to towards the implementation process. The findings on benefits of applying strategic planning in engineering consultancy firm in Nairobiindicated that most respondents agreed thatemployee engagement has resulted into better performanceandevaluation require extensive effort to complete. The findings on challenges in applying strategic planning in engineering consultancy firms in Nairobi showed that respondents could not reach an agreement onthe organizational environment has a rapid technology development. However, respondents disagreed that the organization environment is turbulent, resistance to change from the organization’s staff, the communication in the organization is poor,the organization has insufficient funds, and the communication in the organization is poor and there is lack of skills and enough staff in the organization, top management commitment is low. It was concluded that middle managers influences strategic communication, successful strategy implementation is influenced by quality leadership, implementation process was due to manager’s willingness, and organization’s competitive strategy is undertaken with the mission in mind. Strategy is not effectively implemented in the organization due to lack of manages using PESTEL analysis to analyze the environment, employees are able to increase their performance due to their engagement. Major challenge construction company’s face during strategic planning is lack of rapid technology development, lack dynamic organizational culture, lack of variety of stakeholders and ambiguity of external stakeholder’s expectations. It was recommended that construction companies should ensure that employees are involved in the implementation strategy, scan the business environment and identify threats opportunities, use key performance indicators to track success of the strategy. Develop a culture that has managers who are committed and will motivate and encourage employees to participate in strategic planning process, develop policies and strategies that will prevent leakage of strategic plan. There is a need to undertake further studies in other counties and other organizations to determine other assessment of strategic planning practices.