Organization Preparedness to Change and Employees’ Commitment: Case of the African Development Bank in Kenya

Abstract

bstract: Organizations in the 21st century face major discontinuous change that makes strategic change leadership more difficult and more complex than ever before. This explains why in the modern-day world, management attention has increasingly focused on change leadership. This study views change as fundamental in the current organization and its future direction. Of interest is the complex and dynamic development banking sector in the 21st century, where change leadership plays a very vital role in bringing about banks’ competitiveness, performance improvement and employees’ commitment to change. Consequently, there is need therefore, to ensure that banks have clear change leadership programs that enhance employees’ commitment to change. This research was guided by three specific objectives: to investigate the relationship between strategic change envisioning and employees’ commitment to change; to establish whether engaging stakeholders in the change process has an effect on employees’ commitment to change; and to determine the effects of empowering change agents on employees’ commitment to change. This study used descriptive research design and data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. A target population of 100 employees at the AfDB was selected for the Census. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential analysis with aid of SPSS. In conclusion, the researcher identified that strategic change envisioning and empowering change agent have an influence on employees’ organizational commitment to change.