Change Management and Succession in Family Owned Small and Medium Enterprises in Nairobi Area

Abstract

In today’s turbulent environment of organizations, change has become synonymous with standard business practices as long-term organizati onal ends have to be reformulated on an ongoing basis. Market dynamics have created chal lenges for public organizations, with the emergence of the global economy, advances in technology, increased societal demands, and the need to provide more social servic es with fewer resources. As well, a widespread desire for increased organizational scru tiny has increased the pressure for change, given more accessible globalized informatio n systems and heightened media attention critical of government inefficiencies in service delivery. The objective of the study was to establish the influence of change mana gement and succession in family owned small and medium enterprises in Nairobi area. The study used descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 60 0 family owned small and medium enterprises registered in Nairobi County. The study used stratified sample in which 60 small and medium enterprises were selected for the study. The study used primary data that was collected through self-administered questi onnaires. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and presented using tables and figures. The findings of the study was that cha nge management was adopted by the SMEs in order to be competitive in the market as ch anges have occurred in the business environment occasioned by technological advances, g lobalization, changing demographics, economic and political factors. The c hange management practices that were adopted by the SMEs were found to be quality l eadership, long term succession planning, open planning of leadership transfer, ope n and effective communication between the founders and succeeding generation and good management practices. Smooth succession was achieved through full commitm ent by family and non family members, trust and respect to the successor, smooth handover, good relationship and formalized rational and objective criteria. The stu dy found out that successful succession of family owned businesses was affected by ability of successor, criteria for selecting the successor, conflict among family members, use of ot her mechanisms to decide the successor as opposed to merit and goals of family a nd business overlap.