Change Management Strategies And Organizational Effectiveness In Public Universities In Kenya; A Case Of The University Of Eldoret

ABSTRACT

Given the turbulent nature and unpredictable environment facing many organizations today, management of change must be critically put into consideration by managers of any organization and form important component of strategy-making. In universities, the pressure for change comes from all sides, government initiatives, the need for efficiency, improving the quality of student learning, intense competition and ever-changing environment make change a permanent condition in all institutions, both public and private universities and the pace of change is ever increasing. Organizations must manage change properly, as an important phenomenon, if it is to survive. Of critical essence in change management is the strategies put in place and whether they contribute to organizational effectiveness. Many organizations fail to succeed in managing change irrespective of it having good organizational structure and infrastructure in place. There is lack of knowledge and awareness about many of the critical issues leading to change, and processes and approaches involved in the management of such change and how it leads to organizational effectiveness. The study sought to find out the change management strategies and organizational effectiveness in the University of Eldoret. The following were the specific objectives for the study: to appraise the extent to which increasing automation changes affect organizational effectiveness, to examine how capacity development affects organizational effectiveness and to investigate how stakeholder engagement affects organizational effectiveness. Descriptive study approach was used by the study. The target population for the study was 78 senior members of staff of university of Eldoret. A sample of 65 senior staff of the University of Eldoret was selected by stratified random sampling to participate in the study. These are staff members directly involved in managing organizational change. Data was collected using primary sources. The data collected from questionnaires were categorized according to the study themes of change management strategies and organizational effectiveness. Data collected was processed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics like mean, mode, median and frequencies. Inferential statistics included Pearson correlation analysis and Regression analysis. The results were presented inform of charts and tables for quantitative data and in prose for qualitative data. The study concluded that there was significant relationship between office automation and organizational effectiveness of the University of Eldoret. Showing that Office automation positively influences organizational effectiveness. In addition, there was a significant relationship between staff development and organizational effectiveness in the University of Eldoret implying further training of staff and students in the university through scholarships and awards influences the effectiveness of the university. The study further concluded that there was a significant and positive relationship between stakeholder engagement and organizational effectiveness in the University of Eldoret. The study recommended that there was need for the university to automate all the university activities as automation influences positively organizational effectiveness. There is also need for the institution to provide more training scholarships and awards to its staff and students as this will positively influence the organizational effectiveness in university.