ROLE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ON THE ADOPTION OF ICT IN KENYA'S PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES: A CASE STUDY OF JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Abstract
The concept of change management is familiar in most organisations today but how they manage change and how successful they are varies enormously depending on the nature of the business, the change and the people involved. Organisations that handle change well appear to thrive, whilst those that do not may struggle to survive. This study aimed to establish the role of change management strategies on adoption of ICT where it focused on both the academic and administrative staff. The strategies included commitment strategy, transformational leadership strategy, communication strategy and user involvement strategy. The case study research design, combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches to collect data was adopted for the study. Grades ranging from 5-14 were the basis of stratification. A listing of different cadres that use ICT in their work functions such as Lecturers, Administrators, Secretaries and Clerks from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) central registry formed the sampling frame where a sample size of 100 respondents was drawn using the stratified random sampling technique. The target population was 1000 employees. A questionnaire containing both structured and unstructured questions was used to collect data which was analysed using SPSS. The results are presented in tables. Findings of the study revealed that to some extent, JKUAT had adopted change management strategies on adoption of ICT though not significantly. There was however a disconnect between employee commitment to the adoption of ICT vis-a-vis the exhibition of leadership in JKUAT, a significant percentage of (73%) respondents affirmed that they were indeed optimistic and committed to support the automation process while a small percentage revealed that the leadership did not model the expected behavior that would have spearheaded the entire automation process. The study also discovered that the communication and user involvement in the automation in JKUAT was very insignificant and respondents were dissatisfied with the same. In conclusion, communication and user involvement depicted the leadership as considerably deficient. The study recommends that although there is positive inclination towards commitment to support the automation, there is still need for improvement in leadership where employees should be motivated by the charismatic attributes of their leaders in the automation process or any other change process. Communication is also a vital role and a success factor for effective adoption of ICT and therefore JKUAT should form a guiding team which can communicate the change initiative. The leadership in JKUAT should also fully adopt user involvement strategies in the automation process. This will help achieve success in adopting ICT.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v2i1.117
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