PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF GEOSYNTHETICS INDUSTRIAL WORKS PLC

Abstract

There are different change management models some of them are well known and implemented in Ethiopia. The implementation of change management involved structural as well as cultural changes in a company. This study had examined the practices and challenges of change management in the case of kaizen implementation in geosynthetics industrial works plc. Both primary and secondary data collection instruments were used to collect data. Closed ended and open ended questionnaires along with interviews were used for the purpose of data collection. The study used all top managements, process owners and employees of geosynthetics industrial works plc by using purposive sampling. The company has implemented various change management tools such as TQM, BSC and Kaizen respectively. However, this study delimits itself to practices and challenges related to implementation of Kaizen change management tool. The Company faces many challenges in the implementation of change management or kaizen model some of the challenges were employee resistance, lack of knowledge and awareness about the implemented change management model (kaizen), lack of training and trainers, communication gap, insufficient employee participation in change process and others. The problem solving mechanism which is taken by the managements were hiring temporary employees for those departments which had loss man power, giving training to the employee to improve the awareness and minimize the resistance, arrange informal discussion time when the problem happen and try to convince the employee by giving benefits and promotion to motivate employees and to minimize the frustration and by making the working environment safe. Finally, management staffs agreed the new change management model is effective and help the company to achieve its goal.