| dc.description.abstract | Organisations operate in a dynamic and changing environment that, more often than not, poses a challenge to the current way of doing business. The reasons for these changes include: political and legal changes, economic variations, social and cultural realignments, technological changes, ecological, increased competition and globalization. This has made it imperative for organisations to undergo changes so as to adapt to the realities of the changing environment. Towards this end, change management- especially for major technological change, becomes a very important skill that is crucial to the success of a change programme. It is, therefore, important to study how technological change management is carried out in organisations. The study sought to find out how Kenya Power, which is the sole distributor and retailer of electricity in Kenya, is managing technological change that it is going through. For this purpose, two technological change programs were selected, namely, Prepayment Metering System project, and Automatic Meter Reading System project. The objectives of the study were to establish how Kenya Power is managing technological change that it is going through, and the challenges faced. A case study design was used to research into how Kenya Power was carrying out these technological changes and the challenges that were faced. The findings indicated that Kenya Power successfully used a planned approach to the two technological changes. Clear vision and urgency for the change effort were formulated and conveyed to all key stakeholders of the change programme. Communication and continuous training were not only used to create capacity for successful implementation of the change but were also used to overcome resistance to change. Listening to feedback and involvement of all concerned in the change was also effectively used to overcome individual resistance to change. In conclusion, it was noted that planned approach to change management was the most preferred method to implementation of technological change. It was noted that an effective change leader and change management team are crucial to the success of a technological change effort. It was also noted that continuous training of organisation staff creates capacity to cope with continuous technological change. Addressing of negative cultural aspects and tackling of organisational politics are very important in the reduction of systemic resistance to change. Last, carrying out of pilot projects for technological change programmes leads to their success | en |
