Strategic Change Management Practices at Co-operative Bank of Kenya

Abstract

Increased business competitiveness, operational costs and innovativeness has ushered varied reactions to many business organizations both profitmaking and nonprofit making ones. This has therefore made these organizations to accept the phenomenon of change after realizing that if they do not change they will perish. The purpose of this study was to establish the strategic change management practices adopted by The Co-operative Bank of Kenya. The study adopted a case study design in establishing the change management practices adopted by Co-operative Bank of Kenya. The case study was the most appropriate since the study singled out one bank Co-operative Bank of Kenya and because there was need to conduct an in-depth investigation on the subject. This study used both primary and secondary qualitative data. Primary data is gathered directly from the respondents. The data was collected by use of a comprehensive interview guide addressing various issues in change management practices in Co-operative Bank of Kenya. Secondary qualitative data was obtained from sources such as company website, scholarly articles, turnaround framework papers, and Kenya financial regulatory policy papers and other company reports. The researcher personally conducted data collection exercise through face to face interviews with the respondents. The respondents were a total of seven employees drawn from seven departments in the bank. They were interviewed because they were actively involved in change management. The research found that the lender face the challenge of change management, time being underrated hence most of the executors have a time limit that is simply an estimation as a result of manifestation of an unforeseen issues. Other challenges include, proponents of strategic decisions exiting the institution in the course of strategy execution, alteration of guiding policies by the umbrella bodies such as Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) which is the statutory regulator of all the banks in Kenya, system failures, low or underrated budgetary allocations and undervaluation of the fidelity, time, instinct, and the spirit required to surmount inertia in their institutions and convert proposals into action. The study recommends that although Co-operative Bank of Kenya has been successful in the change management practice, for it to continue being profitable and competitive in the industry, the institution should ceaselessly train its workers on how the change management practices should be carried out, engage employees in decision making and adopt an effective communication system that provides information on change management strategy to all stakeholders.