Office of Strategy Management; conundrum and impacts in the public sector

Abstract

Objective - This study intends to understand the perceived roles undertaken by the Office of Strategy Management (OSM) and the meanings of its existence in the strategy implementation process in the public sector environment. Methodology/Technique – This research is guided by an interpretive methodology and is done through a case study on the OSM of a selected government ministry in Brunei. The primary instrument used in face-to-face interviews with departmental officers across the ministry including those from the OSM. Documentation analysis was also deployed that complemented the main research instrument. Finding – This research indicated that the perceived roles of OSM, and its actual ability to influence the strategy implementation process, are rather limited and merely act as a secretariat body. The causal conditions found which include top management commitment, legitimacy issues, full-fledged obligation, and lack of coaching and mentoring role have led to the current state of the OSM. In consequence, the ministerial-level strategy map has become an open-ended document and the departmental scorecard is merely used as a reporting mechanism to record the core routine repetitively performed over the years. Novelty – This study is arguably the first of its kind explored in academia in the context of the public sector domain. The study has been used and managed to contribute to the theoretical development of Institutional Theory, particularly in the New Institutional Theory of Sociology. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: M12, M19. Keywords: Office of Strategy Management; Strategy Management; Performance Management; Public Sector; South East Asia. Reference to this paper should be referred to as follows: Rashid, F.R.H. (2022). Office of Strategy Management; conundrum and impacts in the public sector, GATR-Global J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Review, 10(2), 89–103. https://doi.org/10.35609/gjbssr.2022.10.2(3)