Strategic Management Practices: An Investigation of Public Sector Organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain
Abstract
Several authors argued that strategic planning is limited and not producing the needed outcomes. In today’s increasingly challenging environment, it is argued that public sector organizations are expected to shift from traditional strategic planning to the strategic management approach in order to achieve their desired outcomes. Previous research has focused almost upon developed, and not on developing countries, for instance, the Kingdom of Bahrain. This study will be the first of its kind to focus on strategic management practices based on the new strategy of Bahrain for 2030. Using quantitative survey method, this paper aims to explore the progress of the transition from strategic planning to the strategic management approach in the public sector of Bahrain, and then the paper explores the elements that are related to successful strategic management approach in these organizations. The findings reveal that the progress in the transition from strategic planning to a strategic management approach in most of the organizations surveyed was limited. However, some of the organizations were found to be at the start of such a transition and this may be a good sign. Additionally, the findings reported many leading edge elements that are closely related to this transition.
Downloads
References
Azmi, N. (2013). Bahrain’s Achievements in the Area of Competitiveness 2013: Report of the Arab World Competitiveness. The World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa, Jordan, May 2013. The World Economic Forum and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).16. http://www.weforum.org/reports/arab-world-competitiveness-report-2013. Accessed 13 January 2014. Borrozine, R. & Rodrigues, C. (2016). Greece: Scenarios and Strategic Options to Overcome the Crisis. Advances in Management and Applied Economics,6(1),23-46.
BBC News. (2015) Country Profile: Bahrain. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14540571. Accessed 12 May 2016. Bianchi, C. & Salvatore, T. (2015). A dynamic performance management approach to support local strategic planning. International Review of Public Administration,20(4),370-385.
Bryson, J., Ackermann, F. & Eden, C. (2014). Visual Strategy: Strategy Mapping for Public and Nonprofit Organizations (1st Ed): Wiley.
Brouthers, K., Brouthers, L. & Werner, S. (2000). Influences on Strategic Decision-making in the Dutch Financial Services Industry. Journal of Management, 26(5), 863–883. Chaola, P., Pratoom, K. & Raksong, S. (2015). A Conceptual Model of Strategic Management Renewal Orientation and Firm Performance. Academy of Strategic Management, 14(2), 18-31. Dougherty, N. (2016). Defining a vision for the future. Rochester Business Journal,31(47),12-21.
Elbanna, S. (2013). Processes and Impacts of Strategic Management: Evidence from the Public Sector in the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Public Administration, 36(6), 426–439.
Hacker, M., Kotnour, T. & Mallak, L. (2001). Formalizing deployment processes in the US Government. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 14 (3), 221-240.
Hendrick, R. (2003). Strategic Planning Environment, Process and Performance in Public Agencies: A Comparative Study of Departments in Milwaukee. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 13(4), 491-519.
Jelenc, L. (2009). Review of Theories in Strategic Management Field-Toward the Creation of Schools of Strategic Management. The Business Review, 14(1), 240-247.
Joyce, P. (2015). Strategic Management in the Public Sector (1st Ed): Routledge.
Kabir, S. (2007). Strategic planning in Municipal Government: the Case of the City of Ottawa. Canadian Social Science, 3 (5), 5-15.
Lynch, R. (2015). Strategic Management (7thed): Pearson. Meyer, B. (2016). Researching Efficiency in Local Governments. Government Finance Review,32(1),22-26.
Mintzberg, H. (2007). Tracking Strategies: Toward a General Theory (1st Ed): Oxford University Press.
Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B. & Lampel, J. (1998). Safari strategy: A guided tour through the wilds of strategic management (1st Ed): New York Free Press.
Ofori, D. & Atiogbe, E. (2012). Strategic Planning in Public Universities: A Developing Country Perspective. Journal of Management and Strategy, 3(1), 67-82.
Oxford Business Group. (2016) The Report: Bahrain Country Profile. http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/bahrain-2016/country-profile. Accessed 12 May 2016.
Plant, T. (2009). Strategic Planning for Municipalities: Ensuring Progress and Relevance. Journal of Performance Improvement, 48(5), 26-35.
Poister, T. (2010). The Future of Strategic Planning in the Public Sector: Linking Strategic Management and Performance. Public Administration Review, 70(s1), 246-254.
Poister, T., Edwards, L., Pasha, O. & Edwards, J. (2013). Strategy formulation and performance: Evidence from local public transit agencies. Public Performance & Management Review, 36(4), 585-615.
Porter, M. (2008). Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors (1st ed): Simon and Schuster.
Qamar, A., Muneer, S., Jusoh, A. & Idris, H. (2013). The relationship between organizational conduct and national culture. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 5(2), 82
Stockwell, B. & Casey, J. (2016). Making Strategic Planning Work. Government Finance Review, 32(2), 34-40.
Yin, R. (2008). Case study research, design and methods (1st ed): Sage Publications.
Yongjin, S. (2013). Elements of Strategic Management Process and Performance Management Systems in U.S. Federal Agencies: Do Employee Managerial Levels Matter? International Journal of Business and Management, 8(9), 1-13.
Copyright (c) 2017 Wajdi Abushabab, Reza Abdi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, the editorial team edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.
This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.