Effect of Organisational Change on Performance in Kenyan Chartered Universities: A Sector Comparison

Abstract

There are varying levels of performance in Kenya Universities as indicated in their rankings despite all of them deploying various strategic positions. Organizational change, despite its popular impact across various industries is yet to be linked with the performance of Kenyan universities. This is a gap that prompted commencement of this study on establishing the effect of organizational change on organizational performance in Kenyan chartered universities among the 48 chartered universities as at September 2017.The objectives of this study were compare organizational change and performance in public and private universities and to determine the effect of organizational change on the performance of Kenyan universities. The study used purposive sampling procedure to select 43 public and private chartered universities in Kenya. Questionnaires were administered to 43 vice chancellors and 103 deputy vice chancellors of the selected universities. A pilot study was carried out from three (3) public and two (2) private chartered universities that did not take part in the study. Pilot testing was done to determine the validity of the instrument while Cronbach internal consistency was used to determine reliability of the instrument respectively. The study used descriptive research design t-test, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis. In aggregate terms, the results revealed that organizational change has a significant, positive influence on the performance of the universities. Private universities in Kenya have a stronger strategic orientation and better technologies than public universities. However, public universities have better organisational communication than the private universities. Further regression on the individual aspects of organizational change revealed that strategic orientation, an aspect of organizational change, was the most important change tool to facilitate the organizational performance of the Kenyan universities. Thus it is imperative for universities to tailor their strategic orientation to the needs of the market to stand a chance of not only survival but proper performance.