Effects Of Change Management On Organizational Performance In The Telecomunication Industry
[A CASE STUDY OF MTN NIGERIA]

Change is inevitable in telecommunication organizations. Political instabilities, technology advancements, change in customer tastes, globalization, and cultural changes are among the factors constantly forcing telecommunication organizations to change.  Leaders in this sector realize the importance of change management in the change process. However, there seems to be lack of managerial frameworks that help telecommunication companies implement effective change management practices. This paper shall present a managerial framework for the implementation of change management in telecommunication sector and provide solution to some of the challenges that impede their growth and performance during the change process. The framework will be constructed using empirical findings from four case studies of Nigerians telecommunication companies.
1.2     Statements for the Problems
 The Nigerian telecommunication industry is fast growing in the country and this is continuously necessitating dynamic changes in organizational activities relating structuring customer handling and product portfolio. The problem in the most organizations are not able to adjust to the dynamic changes happening in the economy which invariably affecting their performance. The managers of these firms in this industry are continually on each other’s toes trying to outwit others by devising new strategies which charges and at the same time minimized the cost of change implementation. Going by the number of participating firms in the industry as at year 2001 when the sector was deregulated and the few existing ones by now, one could not but be baffled. The conclusion one can easily draw is that many of these firms that have gone under not effectively managed the change that occurred in the industry which eventually swept them off.
 Another major problem is that the poor survival rate indicates a fundamental lack of a valid frame work of how to implement and manage organizational change. This indicates that there is much to change management that needs to be learnt. It is on the basis of unassuming changes in the telecommunication industry that this study is carried out to unveil the hidden facts of how technological change is affecting this industry. When change is not properly managed, there is the tendency it affects performance negatively which may result in total closure of the organization as it happens to many of the firms in the industry, or loss of valued employees or failure to meet financial objectives of shareholders and may eventually degenerate into customers dissatisfaction who could easily move to other competitors thereby affecting the overall performance of the firm.  
1.3     Research Objectives
The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of change management on organizational performance in the telecommunication industry. In line with the main objective, the specific objectives are to:
    Appraise the extent to which increasing technological changes affect organizational performance of telecommunication industry in Nigeria.
    Examine the effect of specific change models/techniques on organizational performance.
    Examine the effect of change implementation on organizational performance of telecommunication industry in Nigeria.
    Examine the factors that have facilitated or hindered effective management of change in MTN Nigeria.
1.4     Research Questions:
The study is poised towards providing answers to the following research questions:
    To what extent has an increasing technological change affect organizational performance of telecommunication industries in Nigeria?
    What are the effects of specific change models/techniques on organizational performance?
    What are the impacts of change implementation on organizational performance of telecommunication industries in Nigeria?
    What are the specific hurdles that hinder the realization of the effective implementation of Change in the telecommunication industries in Nigeria?