Role of Strategic Leadership on Strategy Implementation in Public Universities in Kenya-A Case Study of JKUAT Main Campus

Strategic leadership on Strategy implementation has influenced almost every facet of life among the organizations. Strategic leadership on Strategy implementation has influence almost every facet of life among the organizations. Strategy implementation is the sum total of the activities and choices required for the execution of a strategic plan. Formulation of strategy by a firm’s management is a challenging task but the implementation and operationalization of the strategy is even more challenging. Leaders in all organizations are aware of the need to strategically plan the future of their organizations as well as to partake in the effective implementation of these crafted strategies. A leader is viewed in this study as a managerial employee who is tasked to oversee the successful execution of strategic initiatives. Leadership and specifically strategic leadership have been identified as one of the key drivers of effective strategy implementation. The leadership's role is all important because its agenda for action and conclusion about how hard or fast to push for change are decisive in shaping the character of the implementation and moving the process along. Strategic leadership is the ability to influence a group towards the achievement of goals, and successful strategy implementation thus depends upon the leadership skills of working through others, organizing, motivating, culture building, establishing strategic controls, and creating strong fits between strategy and how the organization does things to ultimately achieve organizational goals. This study was to examine the roles role of strategic leadership on strategy implementation in public universities in Kenya. The study was carried out at JKUAT Main Campus. To achieve this, the study focused on three main objectives that include; to examine the role of organizational culture, to find out the influence of strategic communication and to examine the influence of strategic direction in strategy implementation. This research adopted a descriptive Research design. Target population in this research were the JKUAT university management totaling to 98 respondents. The target population included Principles, directors, Dean of students and chairmen of departments. A sample size of 79 respondents was considered for the study. Data was collected with the help of questionnaires that were distributed to the respondents and later picked by the researcher. The research found out that strategic leadership plays a critical role in the effective implementation of strategy. It was found out that organizational culture affects implementation of strategy by- communication by- and strategic direction by - It is recommended that strategic leadership in public universities should be biased towards strategy implementation. In addition, strategic leaders should drive the public universities to strategy implementation success if these universities are to survive and create wealth for all stakeholders.