Management of Strategic Change at East African Portland Cement Company Limited

Abstract

Strategic change is simply a transition from one state to another with focus on being different. The fact that very little empirical evidence has been provided in support of the different theories and approaches suggested for managing change implies that there is no single best approach to managing change (Guimaraes and Armstrong, 1998; Doyle, 2002). Management of strategic change in an organization might be somewhat difficult and inconvenient for both management and employees initially, but well managed change ensures successful attainment. This study sought to establish the strategic change management practices at EAPCC. The study employed a case study research design. The study contains background of EAPCC and the cement industry, literature review which highlights the management of strategic change, approaches to change management and resistance to change. Primary data was collected using an interview guides, and was complemented by that obtained from various secondary sources. Content analysis was used to analyze the data as the data collected was qualitative. Chapter four gives detailed data analysis, results and discussions while chapter five gives a summary, conclusion and recommendations. The study found that there had been aspects of ever increasing competition on capacity expansions by existing players, coupled with the inversion of the market by the Chinese and Indian cement manufacturing companies which had asserted pressure on the profit margin and expansion of the cement industry. As a result, in order for the Company to survive the increased competition, it had to institute change which has seen it remain competitive on the Cement market. This informs the kind of strategic management practices adopted by EAPCC which include a best fit approach to change management expressed in terms of tone, pace, involvement and interaction. Techniques, tools and models used represent the change management practices adopted which includes visioning, engagement, communication and tracking surveys. These practices were supported by other projects like the Ungwana way initiative, redesigning the performance management system and practices, the balanced scorecard approach alongside competencies which described the skills and behaviours. Finally, it was concluded that the change management practices implemented by EAPCC were moderately effective. The study recommends that further research could be carried out to establish the specific drivers that lead to change management since the study failed to link specific drivers with corresponding strategies. Another recommendation is to replicate this research in other industry players/stakeholders and the results be compared so as to establish various change management practices in different companies.