A common challenge faced by all organizations, whether private or public, is how to successfully they manage strategic planning process for attainment of organizational objectives. Some researchers have noted that organizations fail to implement up to 70 per cent of their strategic plans. This study sought to determine the challenges faced by the Kenya Bureau of Standard in its efforts to implement its strategic plans. Specifically, the study tried to find out how organization structure, leadership style, top management, staff involvement and organizational change affect implementation of strategic plans in the Organization. It also tried to identify the role of funds in strategic plan implementation. The study was explanatory in nature since its main purpose was to explain the factors that affect implementation of strategic plans in the public sector and especially in the Kenya Bureau of Standard. It adopted a stratified random sampling technique to get a sample of 27 respondents being 15% of the 178 members of staff who form Organization’s entire staff compliment. Data for the study was collected by use of questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to establish the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Quantitative data was analyzed by use of means of percentages, standard deviations and frequency distributions. It is expected that the results of the study will assist the top management and staff of the Organization, as well as other stakeholders, to understand the factors that affect implementation of strategy in the public sector and more so, in the Kenya Bureau of Standard. From the findings strategic planning process has been faced with various risk factors including inadequacy of funds and less involvement of staff in the whole process of strategic planning. The researcher would recommend that the Kenya Bureau of Standard should address the factors that affect strategic planning process because the strategic plan is the key route to improved business performance and has an important role in every organizational setting. To mitigate or even avoid severe effects on the performance of the organization by the government, the organization should adhere to its regulations concerning attainment of funds.
Keywords: Plans, Risk Factors, Strategy
