A case study exploring how middle managers implement deliberate strategy in a government department

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how the middle manager implements strategy at a South African government department. This study was conducted in response to the call for more research to be done using the strategy-as-practice perspective to explore the involvement of middle managers in a South African government context with regard to strategy. The current study sought to identify the roles that the middle manager undertakes with regard to strategy implementation, inclusive of the barriers that they face on a daily basis. The study aimed at providing feedback on how the middle managers implement strategy, overcome the barriers they face and some changes that participating middle managers proposed to the current practices in strategy implementation in a government context. A single case study, utilising an exploratory qualitative research design, was undertaken at a government department in South Africa. The data was gathered using semi-structured interviews. The researcher used the interviews to provide rich, detailed descriptions of how strategy is implemented by middle managers. The study portrayed the participating middle managers as playing an integral role as interpreters, communicators and implementers of the strategy within the government context. Findings confirmed that most of the middle managers were not involved in the crafting of the high level strategy of the government department. The participating middle manager fulfilled eight key roles in the implementation of the strategy: leadership role, management role, implementation role, monitoring role, reporting role, supporting role, communication role and information-sharing role. The participating middle managers dealt with many barriers with regard to strategy implementation on a daily basis, such as lack of understanding of government work, monitoring, support, skilled personnel, skill development, funding and information. The participating middle managers were found to be innovative and creative in utilising strategy tools to overcome the barriers they faced. Although these results cannot be generalised but may be transferrable to similar contexts.