Involvement of Low Level Employees in Organization Strategy Planning and Implementation

Abstract

While strategy planning and formulation is primarily for organizations' survival , the implementation of the strategy is very critical as it requires the engagement of all employees because they are major actors, researches show that successful strategy implementation is a key factor for an organization sustainability and preserve a competing advantage with other organizations. Purpose: This research is to investigate the engagement of low-level employees in strategy implementation; and to analyze their role in strategy planning and how much they are aware of their organizations' strategy, these are the most import indicators to tell us what is the involvement of the low-level employees in the strategy. Design/Methodology/Approach: In depth literature review conducted, qualitative and quantitative date collected via interviews and questionnaires, data analyzed via SPSS, services sector targeted in Turkey, 5 interviews and 117 questionnaires. Findings: The findings of this study suggest based on the respondents' answers low-level employees are not involved in planning phase, high percentage of them is not aware of their organizations' strategy, but they are engaged in strategy implementation as their tasks are related to strategic goals. Implications: This paper demonstrates the vital important role of low-level employees in strategy planning and implementation and shows their absence in strategy planning which will affect implementation. Originality/Value: Previous studies about strategy planning and implementation do not give high attention to low-level employees , also there are lack of researches discussing this topic, this research considers of high importance as reference for future researches and alarm for organizations managers.