Factors Affecting Change Management in State Corporations in Kenya

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the factors affecting change management in state corporations in Kenya. The study was guided by Open systems theory, Dynamic capability Theory and Institutional Theory. The study adopted a descriptive design. The population comprised of 118 state corporations. Stratified random samplingq technique was used to select the sample whereby a 30% sample was picked from each strata to give a sample size of 35 senior managers in the state corporations. The study collected primary data through use of a questionnaire. The data was collected from the management staff, who headed the various departments in the state corporations. The collected dataqwas checkedqfor completeness, cleaned, coded and entered into the SPSS software for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the findings. The descriptive statistics used included as means, standard deviation and frequency distribution will be used to analyze the data. The analyzed data was presented using pie charts, bar charts, percentages and frequency tables. The study found out that communication influenced change management practices in the organization to a great extent and some failure in internal communication had led to failure of implementation of change management to a great extent. Organization culture also affected change management in state coporations in Kenya. Organization culture was found to be a powerful driving force in implementation of change management. The study found out that employee readiness to change affected change management in state coporations. Employees resisted implementation of change within the institution to a moderate extent. The study also found out that lack of proper knowledge and skills by top leadership posed a challenge in change management. There was no adequate support and commitment of resources for change management by the top leadership. The study concludes that internal communication in the organization affects change management. Good communication positively influences change management practices in the organization as employees are prepared for the changes. The study also concludes that the top leadership of state corporations have a big role to play for successful change management process. Successful organizational change depends on leaders. The study recommends that management of the state corporations should ensure adequate communication on the intended change management to the employees. The top leadership of state coporations should also be committed to change management process. They should allocate and provide more resources, both financial and human resources, to support change management.