The Extent to Which Commercial Banks in Kenya Have Adopted Change Management in Response to the External Environment

Abstract

This study sought to determine the extent to which commercial banks in Kenya have adopted change management to cope with external environment and how they have responded to changes in bank environment in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design and utilized a computer software Scientific Package of Social Science (SPSS). The study used mean, standard deviation, percentages and relative percentages in analyzing the collected raw data.

The study found that most of the banks in Kenya are greatly affected by the uncertainty in the policy environment concerning the control or regulation of interest rates and related bank fees (M=4.1). There is an inadequate contract enforcement and property right protection which affects the banks performance. There is lack of monitoring and enforcement tools in the banking industry in Kenya (M=3.9).

The study noted that most of the banks in Kenya adjust their lending rates depending on the charges in the market interest rates (M=4.4). Due to the advancement in technology, the extent to which banks are investing new equipment and upgrade their systems was rated to a great extent (M=4.0) with a view of keeping in phase with the technical progress.

The findings also highlighted that majority of the respondents have developed links to the global network through the internet (62.6%) this could be due to the fact that most of transactions are now done online and banks are increasingly becoming interconnected with one another. The study findings are important as they will be used by different stakeholders in the government, the banks and more importantly the banks' management to even tailor make their strategies to match those in the market.