Management of Strategic Change at National Social Security Fund of Kenya

Abstract

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) was established in 1965 through an Act of Parliament and operated as a department under the Ministry of Labour until 1987 when the NSSF Act was amended, transforming it into an autonomous State Corporation under a Board of Trustees. The study sought to determine the strategic change management approaches adopted by NSSF and challenges faced in implementing strategic change. Strategic change is an ever-present feature of organization life, both at an operational and strategic level. Being a case study the researcher utilized an interview guide for more comparability and the interviewer’s neutrality. Data collected was analyzed using content analysis because of its qualitative nature. Various departmental managers, who coordinate management of strategic change were chosen to participate in the study to avoid duplication of data had more interviews been undertaken. Primary data was collected using an interview guide. The study revealed that the management of strategic change adopted by NSSF was mainly reactive in that most of the changes were carried out of responses to both the external and internal needs. The main intension being to realign and reposition itself in the market in order to remain relevant as well as to meet the regulatory requirements from RBA. From the study it was noted that the existence of strong negative culture, unfair human resource practices coupled with mismatched of employees’ technical skills verses job placement stood on the way of fast and successful management of strategic change. The study highlighted some challenges of management of strategic change which included poor infrastructure in terms of modern information and technology. The study came up with recommendation in which NSSF should consider in order to achieve its management of strategic change which included other studies being undertaken in other organizations in the pension industry to enable comparison of the findings and involving more staff to participate in the study.