Strategic Management Practices: An Investigation of Public Sector Organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain

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.