Quaicoo, John Barnett (2021) Change Management In The Banking industry: The Case Of Ecobank Ghana Limited. Doctoral thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
|
Text
1769, Quaicoo, John Barnett. Change management (2021).pdf - Submitted Version Available under License CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
The Ghanaian banking industry has undergone several changes in the past decade because of the effects of the global financial crisis in 2008 resulting in the collapse of some banks in Ghana. The Bank of Ghana introduced many measures to make the banking industry in Ghana robust. All banks were expected to introduce change strategies in line with the directives of Bank of Ghana. These changes had great impact on employees due to lack of understanding of the change. Conducting business in an ever-changing environment demands that all stakeholders especially employees understand change and change management processes and practices to make it effective. This is because employees were required to tweak their thinking and practices to respond to the changing needs and expectations demanded of them by management and the central bank. The collapse of some of the banks in the process of change was attributed to among other factors, poor employee engagement, poor communication, and poor employee commitment change. The role of management during change was also sighted to be unsatisfactory. In view of the above, this case study sought to explore and analyse the understanding of employees of the banking industry in Ghana regarding change and change management processes and practices. Only Ecobank Ghana Limited out of the 27 banks in Ghana was selected as case for this research. This is because some of the banks were established within the last 5 years and did not have enough change experiences. Other banks gave the presence of COVID-19 as a reason not to participate in this study. That notwithstanding, Ecobank Ghana Limited was representative of the Ghana banking industry because of its wide geographical spread across the country and its long-standing operations since 1990. The bank also satisfied all Bank of Ghana requirements. The qualitative method was adopted for the study. This was meant to allow the researcher the opportunity to explore the experiences of employees in respect of finding answers to the research questions of the study. It also allowed the researcher to probe deeper into employee perspectives on the subject matter. It was also cost effective and easy to use. Data was gathered through in-depth telephone interviews with the use of a semi-structured interview guide. This was appropriate due to the cancellation of flights as a result of Covid 19. As part of the data collecting process, participants were required to answer questions relating to their understanding of change and their experiences of change relative to employee engagement, communication, employee commitment to change, role of managers and resistance to change. In all, 39 employees of Ecobank Ghana Limited, cutting across all levels and different departments were interviewed. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis with 5 themes guided by the research questions. The case study found out that there was no consensus on the understanding of employees on change and change management which had a potential of adversely affecting the effective implementation of any change project. The study also found out that the general feelings of employees with the introduction of change were negative and mostly expressed as fear, uneasiness, doubtfulness and uncertainty. Majority of employees did not feel engaged in the change process with the explanation that their views did not matter to management. Additionally, majority of employees were not satisfied with how change was communicated to them indicating that, in most cases they got information from the grapevine. In spite of the above findings, the majority of employees did not resist change because they did not see the need to resist change, and also for the fear of victimization and loss of their jobs and position. Additionally, appreciating the dynamics between the reality of organisational change and employees Ecobank Ghana Limited is vital to management, policy makers and the industry regulator. Furthermore, whilst there is considerable literature on change and change management, not much has been made to tackle and resolve the fears, concerns and expectations of these changes upon employees of the bank and this has dangerous implication for the success of future change. Moreover, little evidence exists in the literature of the positive or negative aspects of change and change management from the viewpoint of employees and as stakeholders at the receiving end, the success or otherwise of change and change management rely on how employees accept and buy into the change initiative. The study recommends a strategic change framework for Ecobank Ghana Limited in particular, and the Ghanaian banking industry in general that will potentially guide the effective initiation, implementation and evaluation of change management within the industry.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | D History General and Old World > DT Africa H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HG Finance |
| Divisions: | Theses and Dissertations > Doctoral Theses |
| Depositing User: | Lesley Cresswell |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Aug 2021 13:27 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Aug 2024 15:14 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/1769 |
Administrator Actions (login required)
 |
Edit Item - Repository Staff Only |