STRATEGIC SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS BY MIDDLE LEVEL MANAGERS AND COMPETITIVENESS OF LISTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA
Abstract
Efficiency of the middle level management is vital in any organization, since they bridge the gap between top level and bottom level staffs. However, recent times have seen the middle managers get more involved with the firm’s strategy development. Middle managers are crucial drivers of strategic change and hence face many challenges in performing their roles. Traditionally, middle level managers have always been co-opted into strategy execution without being party to their development. This means that middle level managers need time to understand the strategy while executing it. This has been quite disadvantageous as the learning curve could be indeterminate and also end up introducing and propagating errors into the strategy, some of which may be very costly for the firm. Previous studies have not examined this aspect in depth, therefore, motivating the need for the present study to examine the strategic value of middle level managers on competitiveness of listed commercial banks in Kenya. The purpose of this study was to establish how strategic situational analysis by middle level managers influence competitiveness of listed commercial banks in Kenya. Descriptive research design was used in this study. The study targeted branch managers, credit managers, customer relationship managers, and operations managers all who number 108 for the banks. Purposive sampling was used to obtain a sample size of 85. The study used structured questionnaires for data collection. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 24. The findings established that strategic situational analysis by middle level managers has a positive and significant relationship with competitiveness of listed commercial banks in Kenya.The study, therefore, recommended banks to encourage the use of strategic situation analysis by middle level managers for improving on competitiveness among the commercial banking institutions in Kenya. Finally, the banks need to encourage the use of technology extensively in problem solving and sharing of the solutions to the problems with other departments and branches.
Key words: Strategic Situational Analysis, Strategic involvement, Competitiveness
CITATION: Kweyu, E., & Juma, J. (2023). Strategic situational analysis by middle level managers and competitiveness of listed commercial banks in Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 10 (4), 368 – 381. http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v10i4.2761.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Andersen, T. J. (2004). Integrating Decentralized Strategy Making and Strategic Planning Processes in Dynamic Environments. Journal of Management Studies, 41(8): 1271-1299.
Andersen, T., & Nielsen, T. (2006). Organizational Structure and Strategy Process: Effective Strategy Formation under Uncertainty, Copenhagen Conference on Strategic Management (CCSM). Copenhagen.
Balogun, J. (2003) From Blaming The Middle To Harnessing Its Potential: Creating Change Intermediaries, British Journal Of Management, V. 14, N.1, P. 69-83
Balogun, J. and Johnson, G. (2004). ‘Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking’. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 523–49.
Balogun, J. and Johnson, G. (2005). ‘From intended strategy to unintended outcomes: the impact of change recipient sensemaking’. Organization Studies, 26, 1573–602
Balogun, J. (2007) Organizational Restructuring and Middle Manager Sensemaking. Academy Of Management Journal, V. 47, N. 4, P. 523-549
Balogun, J., & Hailey, G. (2008) From Intended Strategies To Unintended Outcomes: The Impact Of Change Recipient Sensemaking. Organization Studies, 26(11). 1573-1601,
Balogun, J., Pye, A. and Hodgkinson, G. (2008). ‘Cognitively skilled organizational decision making: making sense of deciding’. In Hodgkinson, G. and Starbuck, W. H. (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Decision Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barry, D., & Elmes, M. (1997). Strategy retold: Toward a narrative view of strategic discourse. The Academy of Management Review, 22(2), 429–452.
Bower, J. L. (1986). Managing the resource allocation process: a study of corporate planning and investment. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.
Buchanan, D. A. (2008). ‘You stab my back, I’ll stab yours: management experience and perceptions of organization political behaviour’. British Journal of Management, 19,49– 64.
Burgelman, R. (1983). A Model Of The Interaction Of Strategic Behavior, Corporate Context, And The Concept Of Strategy. Academy Of Management Review, 8(1) 61-70,
CBK (2010). Kenya Licences the First Credit Reference Bureau - Credit Reference Bureau Africa Limited (CRB Africa). Press release Chipeta, C.
Cohen, P. and Manion, L. (2003). Research Methods in Education. London: Croom and Helm
Corley, K. G. and Gioia, D. A. (2004). ‘Identity ambiguity and change in the wake of a corporate spin-off’. Administrative Science Quarterly, 49, 173–208.
Currie, G., & Procter, S. J. (2005). The Antecedents Of Middle Managers' Strategic Contribution: The Case Of A Professional Bureaucracy. Journal of Management
Studies, 42(7): 1325-1356,
Dougherty, D. 1995. Managing Your Core Incompetencies for Corporate Venturing. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 19(3): 113-135
Dutton, J. E., Ashford, S. J., O’Neil, R. and Lawrence, K. A. (2001). ‘Moves that matter: issue selling and organizational change’. Academy of Management Journal,44, 716–36.
Dutton, J. E., Ashford, S. J., Wierba, E. E., O’Neil, R. and Hayes, E. (1997). ‘Reading the wind: howmiddle managers assess the context for issue selling to top managers’. Strategic Management Journal,15,407–25.
Fairhurst, G. (2007). Discursive Leadership: In Conversation with Leadership Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Floyd, S. W., & Wooldridge, B. (1992). Middle management involvement in strategy and its association with strategic type: A research note. Strategic Management Journal, 13(S1), 153–167.
Floyd, S. & Wooldridge, B. (1994) Dinosaurs Or Dynamos? Recognizing Middle Management's Strategic Role. Academy Of Management Executive, 8(4) 47-57
Floyd, S. & Lane, P. (2000) Strategizing Throughout The Organization: Managing Role Conflict In Strategic Renewal. Academy Of Management Review, 25(1): 154-177.
Floyd, S., & Lane, P. (2000). Strategizing throughout the Organization: Managing Role Conflict in Strategic Renewal. The Academy of Management Review, 25(1): 154-177.
Floyd, S. W., & Wooldridge, B. (2000). Building strategy from the middle. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Fry, A. (1987). The Post-It Note: An Intrapreneurial Success. SAM Advanced Management
Journal, 52(3): 4.
Gelderen, M., & Jansen, P. (2009). Autonomy as a start-up motive. Journal of Small Business
and Enterprise Development, 13(1): 23-32.
Greiner, L. (1997). Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow: A company's past has clues for management that are critical to future success. Family Business Review, 10(4): 397- 409.
Hair, J.F., Black, W., Babin, B., Anderson, R.E., & Tatham, R.L. (2005). Multivariate data analysis (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Hart, S. L. (1992). An Integrative Framework for Strategy-Making Processes. The Academy of Management Review, 17(2): 327-351.
Hill, S., Martin, R., & Harris, M. (2000). Decentralization, Integration and the Post-Bureaucratic Organization: The Case of R&D. Journal of Management Studies, 37(4): 563- 86.
Hoon, C. (2007). ‘Committees as strategic practice: the role of strategic conversation in a public administration’. Human Relations, 60, 921–52.
Huy, Q. N. (2001). In praise of middle managers. Harvard Business Review, 79(8), 72–79.
Ikavalko, H. (2005). Strategy process in practice: Practices and logics of action of middle managers in strategy implementation. Helsinki: Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Helsinki University of Technology
Janz, B. D., & Prasarnphanich, P. (2005). Understanding knowledge creation, transfer, and application: Investigating cooperative, autonomous systems development teams. 38th International Conference on System Sciences. Hawaii.
Johnson, G; Melin, L, & Whittington, R. (2008) Micro Strategy And Strategizing: Towards An Activity-Based View. Journal Of Management Studies, 40(1):3-22
Kanter, R. (1989). When Giants Learn to Dance. New York: Touchstone. Kothari, C.R. (2005): Research Methodology, Methods and Techniques, New Age International Publishers, New Dehli, India.
Kuratko, D., & Michael, G. (2004). Corporate Entrepreneurs or Rogue Middle Managers? A Framework for Ethical Corporate Entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Ethics, 55(1): 13-30.
Kuria, F. (2013). The effect of capital structure on the financial performance of commercial
banks in Kenya. Nairobi: Unpublished Master's Thesis, University of Nairobi.
Laine, P. M. and Vaara, E. (2007). ‘Struggling over subjectivity: a discourse analysis of strategic development in an engineering group’. Human Relations, 59, 611–36.
Lumpkin, G. T., Cogliser, C. C., & Schneider, D. R. 2009. Understanding and Measuring Autonomy: An Entrepreneurial Orientation Perspective. Entrepreneurship Theory andPractice, 33(1): 47-69.
MacMillan, C., Block, Z., & Narasimha, P. (1986). Corporate venturing: alternatives, obstacles encountered, and experience effects. Journal of Business Venturing, 1(2): 177-191.
Maitlis, S. (2005). ‘The social processes of organizational sensemaking’. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 21–49.
Maitlis, S. and Lawrence, T. (2007). ‘Triggers and enablers in organizations’. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 57–84.
Maitlis, S. and Sonenshein, S. (2010). ‘Sensemaking in crisis and change: inspiration and insights from Weick (1988)’. Journal of Management Studies, 47, 551–80.
Mangham, I. L. and Pye, A. (1991). The Doing of Managing. Oxford: Blackwell.
Mintzberg, H.(1973).Strategy-Making in Three Modes. California Management Review,16(2): 44-53.
Mintzberg, H. (1978). Patterns in Strategy Formation. Management Science, 24(9): 934-948.
Mintzberg, H. (1994). The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning. Harvard Business Review, 72(1): 107-114.
Mintzberg, H., & Waters, J. A. (1985). Of strategies, deliberate and emergent. Strategic Management Journal , 6(3): 257-272.
Mintzberg, H., & Waters, J. (1985). Of Strategies, Deliberate And Emergent. Strategic
Management Journal, V. 6, N. 3, P. 257-272.
Nielsen, F., & Pedersen, P. (2003). The consequences and limits of empowerment in financial services. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 19(1): 63-83.
Nonaka, I. (1994). A Dynamic Theory Of Organizational Knowledge Creation.
Organizational Science, 5 (1): 14-37.
Nonaka, I. (1988). Toward Middle-Up-Down Management: Accelerating Information Creation. Sloan Management Review, V.29, N.3, P. 9-18,
Nordqvist, M., & Melin, L. (2008). Strategic planning champions: Social crafts persons, artful interpreters and known strangers. Long Range Planning, 41(3), 326–344.
Oosterbeek, H., van Praag, M., & Ijsselstein, A. (2010). The impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurship skills and motivation. European Economic Review, 54(3): 442-454.
Orodho, A.J. (2004). Techniques of Writing Research Proposal and Reports. Nairobi: Masola.
Pappas, J. M; Wooldridge, B. (2007). Middle Managers' Divergent Strategic Activity: An Investigation of Multiple Measures of Network Centrality. Journal Of
Management Studies, 44(3):323-341.
Pye, A. and Pettigrew, A. (2005). ‘Studying board context, process and dynamics: some challenges for the future’. British Journal of Management, 16, 27–38.
Robins, J. A., Tallman, S., & Fladmoe-Lindquist, K. (2002). Autonomy and dependenceof international cooperative ventures: an exploration of the strategic performance of U.S. ventures in Mexico. Strategic Management Journal, 23(10): 881-901
Rouleau, L. (2005). Micro-practices of strategic sensemaking and sensegiving: How middle managers interpret and sell change every day. The Journal of Management Studies, 42(7), 413–1441.
Rouleau, L., & Balogun, J. (2011). Middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence. Journal of Management Studies, 48(5), 953–983.
Sathe, V. (1985). Managing an Entrepreneurial Dilemma: Nurturing Entrepreneurship and Control in Large Corporations. Frontiers in Entrepreneurial Research. 636- 657.
Schatzki, R. (2005) The Sites Of Organizations. Organization Studies, 26(3): 465-484,.
Schmidt, J. (2008). “Integration as a Strategy.” Information Enterprise Data Management, 23 June 2008. Available from: http://blogs.informatica.com/enterprise_data_management/index.php/2008/06/integration-as-strategy/.
Shermerhorn, J.R. (2008). Personal Management Edition, 8th ed. Wiley & Sons,
Sonenshein, S. (2006). ‘Crafting social issues at work’. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 1158–72.
Srivastava, A., Bartol, K.M., & Locke, E.A. (2006). Empowering Leadership in Management Teams: Effects on Knowledge Sharing, Efficacy and Performance. The Academy of Management Journal. 49(6), 1240–1251.
Sykes, H. B. (1986). The anatomy of a corporate venturing program: Factors influencing success. Journal of Business Venturing, 1(3): 275-293.
Thompson, J. & Strickland, E. (2003) Organizations in Action: Social Science
Administration Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Turner, A. N., & Lawrence, P. R. (1965). Industrial jobs and the worker: an investigation of response to task attributes. Boston, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Tyagi, R.K., & Gupta, P. (2008). A Complete and Balanced Scorecard: Creating Value Through Sustained Performance Improvement. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press,
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. London: Sage.
Westley, F. (1990). ‘Middle managers and strategy: micro dynamics of inclusion’. Strategic management Journal, 11, 337–51.
Whitaker, H.D., & Cole, R.E. (Eds). (2006). Recovering from Success: Innovation and Technology Management in Japan. Oxford: University Press,
Whittington, R; Molloy, E; Mayer, M; Smith, A. (2006) Practices of Strategizing /Organizing. Long Range Planning, 39(6): 615-629
Wolmarans, H., & Vermaak, F. (2012). Financial liberalization and the dynamics of firm leverage in a transitional economy: evidence from South Africa
South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, 15(2), 171-189
Wooldridge, B., & Floyd, S. W. (1990). The Strategy Process, Middle Management Involvement, and Organizational Performance. Strategic Management Journal, 11(3): 231-241.
Wooldridge, B & Floyd, S. (1990) The Strategy Process, Middle Management Involvement, And Organizational Performance. Strategic Management Journal, 11(3): 231-241.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v10i4.2761
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
PAST ISSUES:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.