Success Factors And Strategy Execution In Private Secondary Schools In Murang’a County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Strategy execution in private schools is critical in the changing education sector. Having a well-designed strategy is good tool in enabling a business to achieve a competitive edge. However, having the strategy alone would not be enough to assure the business a competitive edge. Many businesses, including private schools, find it easier to craft a good strategic plan but then flop when it comes to executing the strategy. Some of the challenges that make strategy execution almost difficult in the Kenyan private secondary schools include dynamism of the Kenyan education sector and regular policy adjustments. This study was carried out to examine the success factors of strategy execution in private secondary schools in Murang’a County. The study sought to look at strategy execution among private secondary schools especially given the rapidly changing and dynamic education sector in Kenya.The objectives of this research paper were mainly on the aspects of resource availability, effect of leadership, influence of communication and organizational structure on strategy execution in private secondary schools in Murang’a County. The Literature review focused on two main theories as regards strategy execution i.e. resource-based view theory and dynamic capabilities theory. Further the study reviews the four factors that earlier studies quoted as critical for strategy execution i.e. organization structure, resource availability, leadership and communication. The research gap was that though earlier studies on strategy execution were done, they did not focus on private secondary schools.

This case study was descriptive in nature and focused on the eighteen private secondary schools in Murang’a County. Tools like questionnaires, direct interviews and observation used in data collection were applied on 69 teachers out of a population of 216 teachers. Data analysis was done with the help of descriptive statistics (means, frequency distributions, and standard deviations) and inferential statistics that is multiple linear regression. The validity of the data collection was examined using the content validity while the reliability was examined using the Cronbach alpha coefficient. From the study results it was concluded that when the resources availability increased, it led to a decrease in execution of strategy and this has a negative influence on the strategy execution in private secondary schools in Murang’a County. On the other hand, the study concluded that when leadership, organizational structure, and communication were increased, they enabled strategy execution to be better. The study concluded that these three success factors have a positive influence on the strategy execution in private secondary schools in Murang’a County. The study recommended that in order to succeed in execution of strategies, private schools should prioritize use of available financial and human resources by budgeting before planning. Secondly, problem solving skills was recommended as a critical trait among those recruited in the strategy execution team. Thirdly, the management of private secondary schools should improve communication of strategy objectives to all stakeholders to improve execution. It was further recommended that there should be clear description of the chain of command in the private secondary schools in Murang’a County.