Determinants influencing the implementation of strategic Plans in public secondary schools in Kakamega County, Kenya

Abstract

Strategic planning is the process of setting goals and creating a blue print for an organization’s future / vision. From studies carried out, institutions that have embraced strategic planning, implementation part of it has been a challenge. Base line survey in Kakamega County revealed that only 158 public secondary schools out of 401 had embraced strategic planning. A standard assessment carried out in 5 institutions in Mumias Sub County revealed that only 1 school was implementing her strategic plan. The purpose of this study therefore, was to analyse determinants influencing implementation of strategic plans in public secondary schools in Kakamega County. The study was guided by Goal-Based Strategic Planning Model by McNamara (2005) and a conceptual framework showing determinants influencing implementation of strategic plans. Objectives of the study were to; establish the influence of school leadership styles, determine the influence of training of secondary school managers, determine the influence of stakeholders’ involvement and determine influence of resources on implementation of strategic plans in public secondary schools from Kakamega County. The study used a combination of descriptive survey design and correlation design targeting a total population of 645 respondents with a sample population of 171. Multiple stage sampling techniques were applied. The study used questionnaires and interview schedules as instruments for data collection alongside document guide list. Questionnaires were validated through application of content validity analysis determined by expert judgement. Piloting of the questionnaires was carried out in ten selected public secondary schools and split half technique applied to ascertain the reliability of the instruments. Correlation co-efficient for BoM, PA, Principals and senior teacher’s instruments were .85, .81, .87 and .84 respectively. These values were above 0.7, an indication of high reliability of instruments. Both descriptive statistics and regression analysis were adopted. In addition, the researcher carried out document analysis of strategic plans for individual schools sampled out. The study established that training, stakeholder’s involvement and resources had significant influence on implementation of school strategic plans at p ≤ 0.05 level of significance with a p value of 0.005 for training, 0.000 for stakeholder’s involvement and 0.043 for resources. The study established that, school managers were not adequately trained in strategic planning process, stakeholders were not fully involved in strategic planning process and resources for implementation of strategic plans were not sufficient. In terms of leadership styles, the study established that all the four leadership styles had no significant influence with a p value of .305, .805, .979, .103 for democratic, laissez fair, transformational and autocratic styles respectively. Regression analysis revealed that autocratic, democratic and laissez faire leadership styles had a positive prediction on the implementation of strategic plans in public secondary schools while transformational leadership styles had a negative prediction on the implementation of strategic plans. The study therefore recommends that, all the key stakeholders be fully involved in strategic planning process, the government to allocate more resources in public secondary schools to ensure successful implementation of strategic plans, training module for managers on strategic planning process be formulated and all managers be trained on strategic planning process and the ministry of Education to entrench an organizational culture on strategic planning process in public secondary schools.