Effects of change management on employee performance in co-operative bank of Kenya limited by

Abstract

Recognizing the need for change and leading organizations through that change is one of the most challenging for any leadership. Change is the only constant in today‟s life for individuals and organizations. Some changes can be reversible while others are not hence the risk involved in managing change. Change management should be effective, for example have the ability to move freely, have the ability to influence others, and directing the working forces in the target systems and administrative units (Burnes, 2002). Bernstein, (2009) argue that all organizations are currently undergoing some type of change. Many of these change programs arise from management such as culture change, business process engineering, empowerment and total quality. Banks are operating in a very dynamic marketplace today and this requires the ability to choose the right change opportunities while demonstrating the necessary degree of flexibility to meet the fluid requirements of the organization over time (Barbaroux, 2011). The ability to select change management initiatives that are aligned with the organizations strategic direction is fundamental for success. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of change management on employee performance in Co-operative Bank of Kenya limited. The study used case study research design. The main reasons for case study based research is that allowed the researcher to answer “how” and “why” issues in order to understand the nature and complexity of the processes taking place (Amit & schoemaker, 1993) in change management in banks. In-depth interviews were conducted with interviewees who are head of key departments in Head office charged with change implementation. Key departments were; IT, Operations, Human resource, Finance and Marketing. The presentation of findings was of qualitative form. Qualitative implies an emphasis on the qualities of entities, processes and meanings that are not experimentally examined or measured in terms of quantity, amount, intensity, or frequency. The study found that the way in which a manager makes decisions, delegates‟ responsibility and interacts with employees could affect the entire organization. The study also found that embrace on technology had improved the organizations operations by offering a technology platform, which significantly improved employee performance. The study concluded that the kind of leadership style incorporated at Co-operative bank is autocracy, which has a touch of democracy as well, as senior management at times consults the employees in decision-making but makes the final decision itself. In addition, changes in organizational structures promote employee performance, due to effective supervisory relationships and work flow, which consequently influence productivity. Based on the findings the study recommended it is important for the management to embark on creating awareness on the new developments on how services and products are delivered among the targeted customers and orientation of the new technology and developments on employees. This can easily be achieved through in-house training and organizing open forums among the employees, customers and stakeholders.