Change management practice:The case of Nyati and Elimu savings and credit co-operative societies

Abstract

Economic and social forces such as globalization, social/cultural, political/legal, advancement in technology, liberalization, unstable financial markets and advances in information and communication technologies are among the many business environmental factors driving the escalating pace of change evident within organizations today. Discerning the need for change on time, planning and properly implementing the change is usually seen as a differentiating core competence for competitive organizations and the only way out for organizations to survive the challenges of a fast changing environment. Seeing the need for change and having the resources to implement it is one thing but the process of implementing the change, which is change management, is what determines the final outcome of the whole change process. Therefore, good change management practices must be adopted. This case study sought to explore strategic change management and how change has been managed by Nyati and Elimu Cooperative Societies. The study was designed as a case study of Nyati and Elimu Cooperative Societies to compare change management in the two cooperative societies and to find out whether strategic change is practiced by Co-operative Societies. The study involved collecting data through in-depth personal interviews with some members of the Central Management Committees being the Board of Directors and General Managers, Managers and Accountants being the agents charged with implementing the strategies of the Societies. The data collected in this study was qualitative data and hence content analysis was used. The major finding of the study is that change management practices m the two cooperative societies are different on a number of spheres. Elimu Cooperative Society has aspects of emergent change whereas Nyati Cooperative Society has the aspects of planned change management. Change management was applied in technology, business portfolio management, training, cost management and loaning policies for both cooperative societies. The study concludes that the cooperative societies practice strategic change management but at different levels which involve the formulation of committees to deal with the issue of change and the use of internal change agents to manage change. Employees also need to see change as a challenge that is valuable to the society as well as to them. Change should motivate them to respond appropriately and not act as a demotivator. Once this is realized, the gains will be seen in the financial performance of the societies.