Change Management Policy for Online Banking in Nigeria - Dissertation Example

Running Head: Examining the Progress of Online Banking in Nigeria Examining the Progress of Online Banking in Nigeria – The role of Change Management Policies [Author’s Name] [Institution’s Name] Chapter 1: Introduction 1. Introduction The dissertation aims to analyze the change management practice within Nigerian Banking sector in terms of the adaptation of latest Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that allows the adaptation of online banking tools. Change management is an important concept within the discipline of project management that basically refers to the implementation of change in controlled method using predefined framework (Carnall, 2003, p96). The conception of change management has proved its broader implications within different sectors and industries and it is commonly used to manage variety of changes and reforms. In today’s technology driven world the adaptation and implementation of ICT tools have become evitable for the companies operating in different sectors of the business because ICT has proved its significance for the success of the business. At the same time, the effectiveness of implementing ICT tools needs to be assured through proper change management. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is a broad area of research that includes consideration of issues such as, the usage and adoption of the Internet, usage of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and high speed Internet products and seervices (Broadband). The Internet is considered to be an important new technology that has become part of daily life and has affected almost every aspect of the economy. Consequently, it is being viewed to be an enabling technology that can be used wisely or unwisely, in almost any industry and as part of almost any strategy (Porter, 2003). Recognising the potentials of ICTs, Governments and public sector are investing in ICTs. With no exception, the banking sectors all over the world are also going though transformational changes as ICT tools are playing integral role in routine operations of the banking sector. The evolution of E-commerce and internet banking has further paved the way for the implication of internet and ICT within banking sector. However, along with the adaptation of ICT tools it is also imperative that the banking sector must monitor and manage the adaptation of internet and other advanced technologies within their operations through practice of change management to assure that the sector is making positive use of evolving technologies. Nigeria has also shown some positive signs towards the adaptation of ICT in different sectors and the Nigerian Banking sector has adopted several tools of ICT like smart cards, electronic home and office banking, and telephonic banking etc in order to provide the consumers with update and advanced banking services. The dissertation aims to examine the change management practice within Nigerian banking sector resulting and affected from ICT. In this regard, the dissertation focused upon the change management policies adopted within Nigerian banking sector with the intention to facilitate the evolution of online banking. The dissertation identifies the effects of ICT adaptation from the perspectives of consumers as well as organizations. The dissertation reviews the Nigerian banking practice and performance before and after the adaptation of online banking tools to identify the major differences occurred within the banking sector. The adaptation of online banking in Nigeria has been examined by analysing different aspects of the banking services like accessibility, product, service delivery and technology usage. The dissertation employs a qualitative research approach to attain the stated objectives and explore the change management practice in the light of data and information gathered from the review of related literature and interviews of banking professionals and consumers. The stakeholders are interviewed to have insight over their experiences after the implementation of internet banking in Nigeria. 1.1. Background Nigeria being the world’s major supplier of crude oil is among the influential members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that produces 1m barrels of crude oil per day. It was among the middle income nation of the world during the 1970s and early 1980s (Omoruyi, 1991, p110). However the world oil market collapse in early 1980s draw major impacts on the economic performance and development of the country and soon it fall in the list of 30 poorest nations of the world (Albert, 2000, p24). The reason behind this abrupt economic downfall was the underperformance of nonoil sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and banking sector. The banking sector is specifically viewed as an important sector that has the potential to foster the economic growth of the country however; the sector needs major reforms and restructuring policies to become stable and productive enough to support the economy (Tunde, 1999, p8).. The banking sector of Nigeria has gone through several reforms, amendments and structural changes since the establishment of the country. There have been different reforms and change policies implemented in the sector in order to foster its growth and expansion and enhance its performance (Tumor, 2005,p34). The advent of latest communication and information technology conferred certain news options of development and expansion to the Nigerian banking sector and it is observed that during last few years there have been considerable change occurred within the Nigerian banking sector with regard to the use of latest technology and tools. At present there is variety of ICT products being adopted by the Nigerian bank to facilitate the customers with the provision of advanced banking services and there is gradual improvement occurring in the situation with respect to the use and updating of latest tools. The Nigerian banks didn’t provide the Automated Teller Machines, Smart Cards and telephone banking services till1996 however, most of the banks adopted the MICR and LAN technologies by 1998 due to which it became possible for the banks to provide these services to the customers. By the end of 2004, there were 14 banking networks in Nigeria that provide ATM services, 14 banks provide the facility of electronic fund transfer, 11 banks offer smart cards whereas 12 banks provide the telephone banking services. The quality of banking sector services has improved considerably in Nigeria as a result of the adaptation of the latest technologies and there are certain other advanced facilities also offered by some of the Nigerian banks like point of sales system. Electronic data exchange facilities, MICR cheques, electronic home and office banking etc. The provision of these services tend to have an obvious impact upon the consumers of the banks in Nigeria and it is expected that the sector will be able to provide more refined and advanced services to the banks in coming years. However, the successful adaptation of these tools is subjected to the proper change management to assure that the staff of the banks is well trained and the consumers are well informed about the features of ICT backed banking services in Nigeria. 1.2. Aims and Objectives The main objective of the research study is to analyze the practice of change management within Nigerian Banking sector for proper implementation of ICT tools to allow the provision of online banking facilities to the customers. In this regard, the study aims to analyze the effects of ICT tools adaptation upon the banking service quality over the last decade. The study explores the effects of ICT upon the change management and analyzes its impact upon the consumers as well as the organizations before and after the adaptation of online banking. Thus, the core objectives of the research study are as followed To understand and explicitly explain the concept of change management To explain different theories and models of change management to have deep insight over the topic and to find out the practical implications of change management theories and model in banking sector To analyze the practice of change management within Nigerian banking sector regarding the implementation of ICT tools and products To examine the impact of ICT upon the change management practice during last ten years and its impact upon the consumers and organizations. To understand the experiences of Nigerian banks and their customers before and after the adaptation of online banking in the country. To evaluate the online banking services provided by the Nigerian banks in terms of Accessibility, product, service delivery and technology usage 1.3. Research Scope The examination of change management practice within different sectors of Nigerian economy is an important issue that has been examined by different social scientists and researchers from time to time. These studies mostly focus upon manufacturing and agriculture sector and there is little research work conducted so far to examine the change management practice within Nigerian Banking sector with respect to the implementation of ICTs. The review of the related literature unveils that the Nigerian banking sector has been widely studies and analyzed from different perspective however, the change management practice of ICT implementation within the sector has not been analyzed in detail in these research work. Thus, there is a gap found in the literature that is intended to be filled from this research study. There is great scope of this research study because it is aimed to fill a research gap found in the literature. The outcome of the study would be a valuable contribution to the existing literature and along with that; the results are expected to have practical implication within policy making, business and academic spheres. The study is intended to analyze the change management practice in order to identify the flaws within the sector. The identification of these flaws would help the policy makers because they could take some necessary steps for the removal of these weaknesses from the system. The study describes the present status of ICT products usage within the sector that could also be useful for the policy makers as they could formulate future policies accordingly to improve and enhance the use of ICT in the sector. Moreover, the dissertation also provides an insight over the experiences of the customers after getting the facilities of online banking in Nigeria. It also uncovers the issues that hinder the fast adaptation of online banking services in Nigeria by collecting the experiences of the early and late adopters of the online banking tools. The study also proposes some practicable suggestions for the improvement of the performance of Nigerian banking sector through proper management of change. These recommendations would be formulated to address the policy makers as well as the operators and managers of the banking industry. The executives operating in the banking sector could also found some useful information and ideas for brining improvement in the sector and they could reflect these recommendations through their upcoming strategies and policies. Along with the policy making and business world the research study is expected to have great academic scope. The report will provide extensive research based information, facts and figures about the Nigerian Banking sector and the change management practice. The report will be a useful resource for the students to acquire information about Nigerian banking sector, the history of reforms introduced within the sector, the effects of these reforms, the reasons behind failure of these reforms and the directions for future research work. In this way, it is expected that the outcome of the study would be beneficial for all the people and institutions associated with the topic of the study. 1.4 Brief Description of Research Method The research study is based upon qualitative research approach. The qualitative research could be of several types, as it is indentified by Berg (1989, p65) there are many ways of conducting a qualitative research including “case study, literature review, natural experiment, participant observation, interviews based, and secondary analysis of data or combination of these.” Keeping in view the aims and objectives of the study, it is decided to select case study as the research methods. It was decided to conduct a case study because case study is a significant tool that helps in gaining understanding of a complex issue or object. Case study is an empirical study that aims at investigating any contemporary phenomenon in its real life style context (Yin, 1984, p23). For arguments indicated above, the Case Study was found to be most relevant and useful for conducting this dissertation as it enables a deep analysis of the issues. For this dissertation the basic sources of data collection are “Documents and Interviews”. The interviews of banking professionals and consumers have been conducted to gather their opinions and experiences regarding the management of ICT implementation in the sector. Interviews for the study have been conducted using variety of methods like face to face, email, web based, telephonic interviews and paper/portal questionnaire. The banking professionals and consumers are divided in different groups for conducting the interviews. The participants have been divided in two groups; early adopters (18-25 years old) and later adopter (50 and above years old). There are total 200 interviews conducted for the study in which 100 participants are selected from urban areas (50 participants of 18-25 age groups and 50 participants of 50 and above age group) whereas 100 participants (50 participants of 18-25 age groups and 50 participants of 50 and above age group)are selected from rural areas. 1.5. Outline of Dissertation Chapter Description Summary Introduction This chapter provides an overview of the entire dissertation and will contain basic information about the subject. It gives a general idea of what the dissertation is all about, about the research questions and topic under investigation. The main objective of conducting the research study and the method to achieve the stated objective are also specified in this chapter. The dissertation aims to present the case study of Nigerian Banking sector in order to analyze the practice of change management using a qualitative research approach Literature Review The chapter reviews the available related literature to provide extensive information and understand of all the issues associated with the topic of the research. The involved concepts, models and history of changes and reforms introduced into the sectors are described in this chapter. The chapter affirms the importance of change management for assuring the effectiveness of introduced reform within any sector. it is also found that Nigerian banking sector experiences phases of reforms but proper management of this change is not administered. Research Method The chapter specifies the research approach selected to attain the research gaol. It also explains the model and framework that has been selected to analyse the change management practice. The case study of Nigerian banking sector is prepared using interviews, secondary analysis of data and documents. Finding The chapter presents the findings of the study in order to present a clear picture what has been attained through the study The summary of the chapter will be written after completing the research and writing the chapter Analysis The chapter analyzes the key findings of the research study in order to find the answer of the research question The summary of the chapter will be written after completing the research and writing the chapter Evaluation The chapter evaluates the research work in term of the achievements of the desired goals. It identifies the factors that have positively and negatively affected the outcome of the study The summary of the chapter will be written after completing the research and writing the chapter 1.6. Summary The chapter provides an overview of the entire research study by explaining the main motive behind the research, the research aims and objectives, methodology and the scope of the study. In this chapter the background of the research study is explained to provide an understanding about the topic of the dissertation. Moreover the aims and objectives of research are further explained to highlight the intentions behind conducting the study research study. References Albert J. A (2000), Creating Value Under Uncertainty: The Nigerian Experience, Journal of African Business, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, Lagos Business School, Lagos, Nigeria, pp9 - 24 Berg, B. (1989), Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, third edition Allyn and Bacon, Boston Burnes, B. (2000) Managing Change; a Strategic Approach to Organizational Dynamics, Essex: Pearson Education Limited Carnall, A. C. (2003) Managing Change in Organizations. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Central Bank of Nigeria, Lagos, (1992), the Impact of Structural Adjustment Programme on Nigerian Agriculture and Rural Life Omoruyi, S. E. (1991); “The Financial Sector in Africa: Overview and Reforms in Economic Adjustment Programmes. CBN Economic and Financial Review, 29(2):pp. 110-124. Soludo, Charles C. (2007). “Macroeconomic, Monetary and Financial Sector Developments in Nigeria”, CBN website: www.cenbank.org. Tumor, S. (2005); “Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy: The Nigerian Experience” in Fakiyesi, O. O. & S. O. Akano (Eds), Issues in Money, Finance and Economic Management in Nigeria (Essays in Honour of Professor Obasanmi Olakankpo), pp. 9-34. Nnanna, O. J. (2005); “Central Banking and Financial Sector Management in Nigeria: An Insider View” in Fakiyesi, O. O. & S. O. Akano (Eds), Issues in Money, Finance and Economic Management in Nigeria (Essays in Honour of Professor Obasanmi Olakankpo), pp. 99-120. Ojo, J. A. T. (2005); “Central Banking and Financial Sector Management in Nigeria: An Outsider View” in Fakiyesi, O. O. & S. O. Akano (Eds), Issues in Money, Finance and Economic Management in Nigeria (Essays in Honour of Professor Obasanmi Olakankpo), pp. 35-98. Tunde, O. (1999), Nigerias economy at the crossroads, Africa Recovery, Vol.13#1 (June 1999), p8 Yin, R. (1984). Case study research: Design and methods (1st ed.). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publishing. Yin, R. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing Read More