Organizational Determinants of Strategy Implementation in Kenya’s Tourism Industry Case of Kenya Government Tourism Agencies

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the determinants of effective strategy implementation in Kenya’s tourism industry with specific focus on the government tourism agencies. To achieve the purpose of the study, the following research objectives were used: to establish the influence of organizational leadership on strategy implementation in Kenya’s government tourism agencies; to examine the contribution of organizational structures on strategy implementation in Kenya’s government tourism agencies; to investigate whether organizational culture influences strategy implementation in Kenya’s government tourism agencies; to establish the extent to which resource allocation contributes to strategy implementation in Kenya’s government tourism agencies; to investigate the influence of information technology on strategy implementation in Kenya’s government tourism agencies and to determine the extent to which organizational leadership, organizational structure, organizational culture, resource allocation and information technology are affected by government policies and industry competition during strategy implementation. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research methods in gathering, analyzing, interpreting and presenting information. Both explanatory and descriptive research designs were adopted. Explanatory research was used to show the effect of the independent variables on the dependent variable. On the other hand, descriptive research design involved observing, describing the behavior of a subject without influencing it in any way. The target population of the study consisted of 327 senior managers in three levels: corporate, business and functional in all the targeted government tourism agencies under the ministry of Tourism in Kenya. Yamane principle was used to identify the effective sample size. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were employed to select a sample of 327 respondents. To ensure efficient and effective data collection tools, a pilot study was done. The data was coded, sorted and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Data was then analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics and inferential analysis. Specifically, means, frequencies and percentages were used. Factor analysis was used to extract the relevant factors and their relationship with strategy implementation. Inferential statistics such as correlation and regression tests were used to determine the relationship of the variables used in the study. The key findings of the study were that two aspects of organizational leadership; motivation and rewards were significant contributors to aspects of strategy implementation such as profit and objective realization. Some structural aspects such as organizational functions, individual targets, learning and growth, and organizational communication were found to affect the rate at which strategies were being implemented in the public organizations. The cultural aspects such as employee training, organizational norms, organizational values, ethics and organizational climate were found to have significant influence on the process of implementing strategies. Further, some aspects of resource allocation such as financing and budgeting influence how strategies will be implemented. The rate at which organizations adopt and invests in technology was found to significantly affect the speed and the success of implementing some of the strategies. All the factors studied outlined a relationship between the organizational actors and strategy implementation implying that success of strategies developed by public organizations is highly pegged on several organizational issues. The government and industry competition also affect the way strategies are implemented. In conclusion, good organizational leadership, structure of an organization, organizational culture, resource allocation, information technology, government and competition within the tourism agencies are key factors affecting the success or failure of strategy implementation. For successful implementation of strategies in tourism agencies, there should be good leadership which motivate employees through rewards, enhance flow of information, inspire employees, consult and balance the controls in the organizations. Organizational structures need to have lines of communication, simple layer of reporting, flexible structure and good systems which ensure quick decision making in organizations. Tourism agencies need to create a culture that promotes strategy implementation, culture of timeliness, innovative culture, ethics and one which promotes team spirit. Management of tourism agencies need to improve on the timeliness of allocation of the resources (release funds and approval of budget) and government to ensure proper funding. The information technologies need to be made such that they meet the satisfaction of the customers, growth of the organizations, improve on the communication, reliability and performance planning and budgeting.