Relationship between Strategy Implementation and Performance of Public Secondary Schools in Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

Several academics have suggested that there’s an affirmative association between Strategy implementation and performance, while others contend that the relationship is inconsistent and hence remains controversial. Practices of strategic implementation in Kenya, began gradually and progressively in the 1960s, but are now gaining popularity. As important as the theories of Strategy implementation in commercial firms, it is a requirement for public secondary schools to implement strategies as per the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Education’s strategic plan that supports the government's goal of ensuring that every Kenyan kid has access to high quality education and training. Aside from the government's embrace of Strategy implementation as a policy, limited resources, stiff competition have made strategy implementation a necessity. The study sought to evaluate the relationship between Strategy implementation and performance of public secondary schools in Embu County. The specific objectives of the study were; academic qualification, training, school category, discipline and performance of public secondary schools in Embu County. The theories underpinning the study were, agency theory, resource based theory and systems theory. The study adopted descriptive research design. Multistage cluster and random sampling technique were employed to select a sample size of 100 that represents 200 respondents of the total population. Semi structured questionnaires were employed to collect data. Multiple linear regression model was employed to analyze the collected data. The findings showed that academic qualification had the greatest influence of the 4 variables followed by discipline and training and school category had the least influence on performance. The findings revealed that academic qualification with (P < 0.000), training (P < 0.000), school category (P < 0.000) and discipline (P < 0.000) significantly influences performance of public secondary schools in Embu County. The study’s conclusion was that all the variables influence performance of public secondary schools in Embu County. The study recommends that schools should allow exposure to external inspection from the government and other stakeholders to evaluate strategies, train their staff on leadership skills, reevaluate and update their training policy, redesign a culture, improve their mode of communication, look for others ways of funding and update their punishment policy to factor other factors such as detention.