Employees Perceptions of the Effect of Business Process Re-engineering on Employee Performance at National Bank of Kenya

Abstract

As organizations strive to enhance their competitive positions in an increasingly turbulent marketplace, they are discovering that they can cut costs, maintain quality and improve their employee performance by undertaking organizational business reengineering. Organizational restructuring has attracted much attention due to its implications for firms operations and employee performance which eventually enable firms to create and retain the competitive advantages. The objective of the study was to establish employee’s perceptions of the effect of business process re-engineering on employee performance at National Bank of Kenya. The research adopted a descriptive research design where data was collected using a selfadministered questionnaire that was distributed to 59 senior and middle level managers at the organization. The findings were that the organization needs to maintain employees friendly interaction, confidence and trust on peer, team working and problem solving techniques. Top management commitment was found to be an important factor for successful restructuring process and also influences employee performance during and after the reengineering process. The attitude change of the employees was also found to be important in facilitating the BPR process since any form of resistance will affect the success of the process. Organizational restructuring should be informed from situational based analysis of the firms operating environment and aimed at adapting the business to changing business environment with top management support being a key ingredient to successful process. The study concludes that business process reengineering improves delivering speed in service organizations. Organizational restructuring has been recognized as a vital tool to confront the competitive pressure in the market and also as a tool of improving the performance of these firms. The study recommends that for restructuring to be a success, management needs to take employee needs and concerns into consideration. The inclusion of employees in planning and implementation of strategies, enables an organization to use its inherent knowledge in moving theory into practice