Change management practices at Equity Bank Limited

Abstract

There are a lot of changes that Equity Bank Ltd has introduced over the years ranging from the focus of its clientele to technological changes. These have most of the time been strategic moves in the industry. In as much as there are studies that have been done on Equity Bank Ltd, there is still a gap as far as change management is concerned. This is the gap the present study sought to fill in by determining the change management practices at Equity Bank Ltd. A case study method was therefore selected to carry out the research given that case studies are important when an in-depth inquiry is needed. Data was collected mainly using primary sources but in some cases secondary sources were used to augment the primary data. In-depth interviews were conducted with heads of various departments from the bank. The selected interviewees were those directly involved in the strategic change management process in the bank. Given that the data collected was purely qualitative, content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results were systematically presented based on the structure of the interview guide. The study found that the initial changes at Equity Bank Ltd were a result of forced change. It was also noted that the bank had effectively executed the strategic shift. Although no specific model was singularly used to effect the changes, the results pointed to the use of Kotter’s eight steps model. The study also found that organizational culture, resistance, leadership, teamwork and stakeholders were the factors that influenced the outcome of change. The study concludes that the company had over-relied on the managing director of the company for his leadership in effecting the changes. The study recommends that for change management to be effective, all organizations need to focus on the implementation stage. This helps achieve the desired results. Organizations should always seek to build capacity to improve. There is still room for more studies in this area to focus on specific factors that influence change management practices as well as focusing on the junior staff in the bank.