An evaluation of selected communication styles on organizational change in dairy farming industry in Kenya: A case study of Brookside dairy limited, Ruiru.

Abstract

Any company should look at the organizations overall vision and objectives, then suggest how communication can help deliver these goals, as well as referring to specific objectives. Though it may be taken for granted that everyone can communicate, a wide array of communication styles brought about by factors such as personality, culture, upbringing and education make the scenario more complex. The study focused on Brookside Dairy Limited located in Ruiru as a case study. The site was selected because of its accessibility to the main office in Ruiru and familiarity to the researcher. The purpose of the research was to evaluate communication styles on organizational change in dairy farming industry in Kenya. This descriptive research was conducted at the Ruiru plant in Kenya. The target population was all the staff of Brookside Dairy limited. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire which was pilot tested to taste validity.5 Employees were used to fine tune the questionnaire to ensure it collected the relevant data. The sample size used was 10% of the employees at Brookside. The study focused on employees in middle and lower management, as well as on the top level as they were considered to be considered to be the most common recipients of communication for change. The study found out that top bottom communication affects decision making in the company during change, management in the company is in control of all decisions regarding change programs in the company, top bottom communication style hinders employees engaging in change taking place in the company, failure of knowledge sharing in organization affects communication during implementation of change in the company and that management at Brookside communicate with employees on vision and mission. The study found that transformation communication style helps management in the company in encouraging the staff engagement in company change programmes in order to invite a point that stimulate staff creativity, remove potential blockages to the creative process and develop a new corporate identity and creative innovations. The study recommended top down communication, transformation communication and assertive communication styles should be implemented effectively as they had positive influence on organizational change in company. The findings will contribute to knowledge as it will assist managers to know the effect of communication style that they have chosen.