Change Management at the Kenya Tea Development Agency Limited
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Date
2012-11Author
Waithaka, Lydiah W
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Organizations of today face an uncertain future due to various challenges posed by their
dynamic and unpredictable environments. Economic and social factors such as
globalization, political/legal, social/cultural, competition, liberalization, and advanced
technology are among the various forces that drive change in organizations. In order to
cope with these challenges, all organizations must be prepared to change. KTDA was
privatized as part of the government comprehensive Public Enterprise Reform and
Privatization Programme. Privatization was seen as able to introduce into the sector
efficiency and competition and contribute to the economy while privatization and
divestiture involved the transfer of a function, activity, organization or investment
holding from the public to private sector. KTDA changed from a parastatal organization
to a fully commercialized entity totally responsible for its own existence. The study had
three objectives which were: to establish what change management practices were
adopted at KTDA, what challenges were faced during the change management process
and what measures were adopted in dealing with the challenges of change management.
Primary qualitative data was collected from senior managers of KTDA using an interview
guide. The six senior managers, who included the CEO, were interviewed and their
responses have been analyzed and recorded in Chapter Four. Findings show that a
planned strategic approach to change management was adopted. Strategic change
management is a structured approach to shifting/transitioning individuals, teams and
organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It ensures that predetermined
objectives of introducing the process change are achieved, and it also helps prevent and
resolve conflicts, service disruption, culture clashes and other problems associated with
process change. The change process worked well for KTDA. It was embarked on as a
matter of urgency considering the circumstances the organization found itself in. It was
led by the CEO with his team of senior managers who all led by example. There was
effective sensitization and education on what was happening and what needed to be
achieved. The change was introduced in the whole organization and carried out
systematically step by step until the desired results were achieved. Resources were
availed, both financial and human, and KTDA recorded impressive growth in the number
and size of factories, number of subsidiary companies and returns to the farmer.
Everybody was involved in the change process and this contributed to its success.
Although a lot has been achieved, there are a number of aspects that are not yet complete.
These are indicated clearly in the summary of the findings in Chapter Five and some are
elaborated further under recommendations for policy and practice. The growth and
success of KTDA must have exceeded the expectations of the government when it was
privatized over 10 years ago. However, since change is a continuous process, the KTDA
management needs to address the issues revealed by this study in order to boost the
achievements made and remain a shining example of what privatization can achieve.
Citation
MBA Thesis 2012Sponsorhip
University of NairobiPublisher
School of Business, University of Nairobi
Description
Master Thesis