ASSESSING THE ROLE OF MANAGERS IN IMPLEMENTING TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN PUBLIC TRAINING INSTITUTIONS: A CASE STUDY OF THE KENYA SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT, BARINGO CAMPUS

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the role of managers in implementing technological change in an organization at the Kenya School of Government. The study was motivated by the concern of slow and abnormal resistance witnessed with emerging technological changes aimed at transforming the performance of an organization. Institutions of learning are knowledge management centered and therefore, utilization of recent technologies to stem up performance such as efficiency, employee performance, corporate relationships and internal knowledge management mechanisms is integral. The limited ease of managerial support, ineffective communication, inadequate training, stalled stakeholder input or involvement has been zeroed in as areas of concern in change management in particular with government institutions. Therefore, this study was poised to examine the effect of environment in implementing technological change at the Kenya School of Government and establish the effect of communication in implementing technological change at the Kenya School of Government. Also, the study endeavored to find out the effect of managerial resistance in implementing technological change at the Kenya School of Government. Finally, the study sought to assess the extent to which training contributes to implementing technological change at the Kenya School of Government. Resource Based Theory, Lewin's Three-Step Change Theory, The Dynamic Capability Theory, Knowledge-Based Theory, and Managerial Hegemony Theory guided this study. The study adopted a descriptive research design in undertaking this study. The study was conducted at the Kenya School of Government covering 178 employees who are staffers at the institution. Through, simple random sampling technique, the study sampled 50% of the target population to inform and respond to the questionnaire which is the main research instrument for data collection. The study utilized a descriptive statistic design to analyze on data collected from the field. Presentation of results was in form of graphs, charts and tabulated tables with respective interpretations and discussions provided. The study found out that there is an effect of environment, communication, managerial resistance, and training on the implementation of technological changes of institutions. The study is important to the departments, Agencies, County and National Governments in Kenya, the Council and management of the Kenya School of Government, staffers and technological service providers, academicians and researchers with interest in change management, leadership and general management of public.