Effects Of 2008-2012 Strategic Plan On Organisational Effectiveness In The Ministry Of Local Government

ABSTRACT

Strategic planning is important for strategic management of companies. The concept of strategy may have had its original underpinnings in the military and its war efforts, over many decades it has become a mainstay and a major process in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Strategic planning in the Ministry of Local Government is now being appreciated not only as an external tool introduced under the Public Sector Reforms Programme but as an important medium term planning tool that keeps an institution focused on its mandate, the environment in which it is operating and its consistency with the national priorities. The relationship between strategic planning and organizational effectiveness has been rarely examined in the public and nonprofit sector (Stone and Brush, 1996; Stone, Bigelow, and Crittenden, 1999). This study aims to bridge this gap by investigating the effect of strategic plans on organizational effectiveness with specific focus on the Ministry of Local Government that covers 175 Local Authorities distributed across the country. The study covered the whole population of employees within the Ministry aimed at understanding the impact of independent variables such as lCT, citizen participation, capacity building and work environment on organisational effectiveness. The data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings indicate that Capacity Building had the greatest effect on organizational effectiveness followed by improving work environment. Citizen Participation had the least effect. The overall findings demonstrate that strategic plans are useful in improving organizational effectiveness hence satisfactory service delivery to the citizens ofthe Country.