Implementing Change At The East African Tea Trade Association: A Survey Of The Kenyan Member's Perspective

Abstract

It has become apparent that change in organisations do not always produce desired outcomes and therefore this has led to increased efforts to implement change successfully. This study aims at surveying the Kenyan members* perspectives on implementing change at the East African Tea Trade Association. Literature was reviewed that covered both theoretical and published studies on the need for successful implementation of change and possible challenges in implementing change. Key factors identified by many scholars include leadership of change, organisation culture, organisation power and politics, role of change agents and resistance to change. Implementing change successfully is increasingly seen as an essential part of management that needs proper planning and involvement of stakeholders. An organization such as the East African Tea Trade Association draws membership from eleven African countries with diverse and multi cultural base comprising tea producers, buyers, packers, brokers and warehouses. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a 30% sample of Kenyan member's population and further used disproportionate stratified sampling method. Structured questionnaires were administered to 40 senior managers of respective companies. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS and qualitative data using content analysis. The findings of this study demonstrated that members had a clear understanding of the change program, were well informed about the change but were not involved in planning. Further results indicate that most members felt that there was need to change but gradually. They favored change in technology notably electronic transmission of tea catalogues and the new tea payment system. Most members however felt that the organisation resource and characteristic needed to be maintained xi was the old auction system as opposed to change towards electronic auction. Notable challenges that members expressed include resistance to change, lack of involvement during planning, inability to align organisation culture and change, organisation power and politics. Members responded to challenges positively with the understanding that change was inevitable. However, some of the members resisted change while others requested for more consultative forums so as to collectively chart the way forward. In conclusion, for successful implementation of change, there is need to inform stakeholders about intended change, the need to involve them during planning, having a clear understanding about the underlying power and politics of an organisation, leading change by communication and involvement and appreciating organisation culture to reduce on delays and resistance to change. Time factor was a limitation to this study and given the its nature, the unwillingness of some respondents to divulge their views on implementation of change