Organizational factors and implementation of strategies in public water service providers in Kitui county, Kenya

Abstract

Successful strategy implementation is key to the survival of organizations. Literature suggests that strategy implementation is usually curtailed byinefficiencies. The study lookedinto the organizational aspects and their influence in implementation of strategy in public water service providers in KituiCounty. The study objectives were: establish organizational leadership effect on implementation of strategies, determine organizational structure effect onimplementation of strategies and examine the organizational culture effect on implementation of strategies public water service providers in Kitui County. The study wasanchoredbyresource-basedview, institutional and contingency theories. The two public water service providers in Kitui County, KITWASCO and KIMWASCO were the target population for this study. The studyuseddescriptive research approach and apply content validity. Cronbach alpha test wasrun to check on reliability of the research instruments. The study was adopted descriptive research design, usedcontent validity and Cronbach Alpha Test for reliability. Since the target populationwassmall, a census review was done. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using a computer program called Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). ANOVA test, multiple regression and correlation analysis wasdone to ascertain variable relationships.The established that organizational leadership, organizational structure and organizationalculture had a positive and significant effect on the implementation of strategies in public water service providers in Kitui County. The study concludes that organizational leadership enables employee toward fulfilling an organization’s mission by making them to understand an organization’s missionin alignment with one’s strengths, creating a strategicplan in line with that mission, implementing goals and holding teams accountable for accomplishing those goals within an established timeline, and in alignment with the strategic plan. Organizational structure isoften important in gaining consensus for a strategy because it will determine who has to be appeased in management and how power is alignedand organizational structure organizational culture enables an organization to have aligned goals by focusing on productivity and getting the organization’s primary mission accomplished. The study recommends that the leadership in public water service providers in Kitui Countyshould ensure that they understand better their employees so as to be able to help them improve their personal and professional effectiveness, accountability, and most ofalleffectively implement strategies formulated by the organization. The public water service providers in Kitui Countyshould have a good structure that provides theright blend of command and control plus employee independence without feeling of resentment that hinders organization pursuit of its missionand that public water service providers in Kitui Countyshould make strategic vision and goals clear and inspirational, translate strategy into a living execution plan that matters to people, capitalize on existing beneficial behaviors, and take action to adjust undesired or obsolete behaviors as neededand change organizational processes to reinforce desired behaviors for the long term and enable alignment with an organization’s culture.