Factors Affecting Effective Implementation of Organizational Change in the Public Sector in Kenya: A Case of the Judiciary

Abstract

Public sector organizations worldwide are under pressure to increase efficiency while delivering improved and integrated services. The track record for success in bringing about change in organizations in public sector is poor; it is implementation rather than formulation that is the hard part. This research study sought to examine factors affecting effective implementation of organizational change in the public sector in Kenya with a focus on the Judiciary. The research identified organizational culture, leadership, resources and organizational structure as the main factors that affect organizational change management in the Judiciary. The study is oriented on Mckinsey Kotter’s eight step model of change management and adopted a descriptive research design that aimed at analyzing change implementation environment at the Judiciary. The target population was management level of which a census of 51 respondents were issued with questionnaires with a significant response rate of 35 out of the 51 respondents. The findings indicated that 74% of the respondents strongly agreed leadership was a major factor that affected implementation of organizational change while 74.3% of the respondents strongly agreed that resistance to change was a major challenge that slowed down the change implementation process. The study recommends that the Judiciary should address the challenges faced in the implementation process as most of the challenges identified are internal and therefore are within its control.