Change Management Practices And Employee Performance In Kakamega County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Change is what brings forth new ideas, solutions and growth. It’s about breaking free from

our circle of comfort in order to start seeing alternative routes offered to our organizations

to progress in the right direction. It’s about embracing business transformation, making an

organisation more agile, ready to adapt, and taking advantage of the latest innovations to

boost competitiveness. County governments in Kenya have become a point interest

especially in service delivery at the grassroots. To achieve this mandate, county managers

introduce changes that range from technological, organizational, cultural or even

leadership changes engaging different change management practices. The County

Government of Kakamega like all other organizations while strategically vouching for

success has embraced change of some sort over the years. The changes have had effect on

both the employees and organization at large based on the assorted change management

strategies used. It is with this onslaught that this study moved to bring out the effect of

Change management practices on employee performance with specific objectives of

determining the effect of organizational structure change management strategies on

employee performance in the County Government of Kakamega; establishing the influence

of technological change management strategies on employee performance in the County

Government of Kakamega; investigating the influence of leadership change management

strategies on the employee performance in the County Government of Kakamega;

examining the effect of Culture change management strategies on Employee performance

in the County Government of Kakamega and examining the moderating influence of

organizational factors on the relationship between change management practices and

employee performance in the County Government of Kakamega. The study targeted 160

employees of which 154 respondents were drawn from senior managers in the 11

ministries. Descriptive research design was used for the research with data obtained

through questionnaires and analyzed using statistical software SPSS and the results

presented in form of tables, graphs and charts. Results indicated 50.6% of changes in

employee performance could be attributed to organization structure (r2=0.506); 52.9% of

the changes in employee performance were attributed to organization culture (r2=0.529);

31.2% of the changes in employee performance was attributed to technology (r2=0.312);

31.6% of the changes in employee performance can be attributed to changes in leadership

(r2=0.316). It was therefore concluded that changes in the organizational structure have a

significant effect on employee performance in the County Government of Kakamega, that

technological changes have a significant effect on employee performance in the County

Government of Kakamega; Leadership changes have a significant effect on employee

performance in Kakamega County Government; that Organizational culture changes have a

significant effect on employee performance in the County Government of Kakamega and

that there was a negative but significant moderating effect of organizational factors on the

relationship between change management practices and employee performance of the

County Government of Kakamega. The study then recommends full adoption of the

change management practices so as to enhance service delivery, improved employee

performance and enhanced operation.