The influence of organizational structure and employee training and development on implementation of change in selected public institutions of higher learning in kenya

Abstract

Considering the constantly growing need for change in today’s environment, handling changes within organizations has turn out to be extra important than ever before. This study purposed to investigate the extent to which organizational structure and employee training and development influence the implementation of change in selected public institutions of higher learning in Kenya. The Study focused on two public Universities; Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science & Technology (JOOUST) and Kisii University (KSIU) from University colleges, thus finding themselves at the very centre of the need to persistently initiate changes as a coping strategy to a hastily dynamic academic industry. Three dominant change theories/models; Kurt Lewin’s Freezing- change –refreezing, John Kotter’s 8 step change management model and Prosci’s ADKAR change models formed the basis for the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted with a sample of 170 respondents drawn from a target population of 1,425 formed of the University management Boards (UMBs), Deans/Directors/Heads of Departments/Sections, Teaching and Non teaching staff and Student Association’s leaders. Interview schedules and questionnaires were used to collect data, SPSS was used to produce descriptive statistics. The study found that majority of employees, top management and other change stakeholders in public universities consider organizational structure and employee training and development to have great and very great extent of influence on change implementation process. The study recommends among others that public universities need to put emphasis on employee change competence during change implementation process and adopt flexible organizational structures that permit the kind of responsiveness demanded by change driven environments