An Analysis of the Factors that Lead to Effective Strategic Planning in Christian Organizations A Study of The Catholic Diocese of Kitale

Abstract

Christian organizations have a long history of providing important community needs. As these organizations started, they focused on traditional objects of charity such as the young, the poor, the sick and the disabled. Because these organizations were located in communities desiring services, a level of trust was established. As a result, Christian organizations continue to receive resources and support from donors and other stakeholders towards their programs and projects. This has consequently resulted in the increase of programs and projects run by churches. Many Christian organizations have therefore embraced strategic planning in order to cope with this expanded mandate and also to meet requirements of their stakeholders. However, these organizations have not been as successful as they ought despite embracing strategic planning tool as a means to meeting organizational goals. Cases of project failure, partner conflicts and misappropriation of funds have been noted in many Christian organizations. Other similar organizations however have embraced strategic planning and over time registered high levels of performance. This is supported by previous research which indicated that the practice of strategic planning is beneficial for organizations. It is for this reason that this research sought to analyze the factors that lead to effective strategic planning in Christian organizations in a bid to support their desire for goal achievement, growth and improved performance. This study therefore identified the school(s) of thought that informed strategic planning, assessed the extent to which strategic planning process was effectively applied, established the critical factors of success in strategic planning and identified the major strategic planning challenges and how to overcome them. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data which was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences. Based on data analysis findings the researcher gave the following recommendations: Christian organizations should incorporate descriptive approaches in strategic planning so as to take care of the fast changes in their external environment. They should also improve on environmental analysis and strategy implementation and put in place measures to ensure that all the factors that lead to effective strategic planning are implemented. They should further address the identified challenges to strategic planning while ensuring that they don’t fall prey to failure of substance and process which are the common pitfalls in strategic planning.