Effect of Strategic Scanning on Performance of NGOs in Samburu County, Kenya

Abstract

Strategic scanning is a key influencer that enhanced an organizational ability to deliver services and programs effectively. Despite the NGOs in Samburu County adopting various strategic planning processes such as strategic scanning, there have been deteriorating performance in recent years. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to establish the effect of strategic scanning on performance of NGOs in Samburu County, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design, encompassing all 31 NGOs within the county.  Notably,262 employees within these organizations were involved in the study. A sample size of 158 employees were selected using stratified random sampling where structured questionnaires were used to gather insights from these employees. Further, the study undertook a pre-testing and selected a pilot sample of 16 employees from three NGOs in Isiolo County to ensure the questionnaire's clarity and relevance. The correlation coefficient for strategic scanning r=0.505 at α < 0.009 and 99% significance level. Therefore, since the correlation coefficient was less than 1 and p-value was less than 0.05, the study rejected the null hypothesis. The study concluded that majority of NGOs wasted a lot of resources on strategies that they would have benchmarked with their competitors. This was attributed to poor strategic scanning of the environment to note what was working and what was not among different stakeholders such as their competitors.  A continued non-benchmarked strategy would be a recipe for failure and reduced performance. The recommendation is that NGO management should liaise with operations staff for information on what their competitors were doing in regard to strategic plan implementation. In the same line of thought the management should set policies that allow flexibility on strategy changes to facilitate benchmarking practices. This would improve resonance of established strategic plans that were impactful, time-bound, and realistic in implantation stage.