Planned change and organizational effectiveness, the moderating role of organizational culture

The study investigated the role of organizational culture in moderating the relationship between planned change and organizational effectiveness. We measured organizational effectiveness using resilience and corporate growth. The study adopted the cross sectional method which is a form of the quasi experiment research design. A population of 1651 was drawn from 33 selected indigenous maritime companies operating in Nigeria. The Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table was used to arrive at a sample size of 327. The questionnaire was used as the main instrument for collection of data and it was designed using the 5 point Likert scale. Pearson moment correlation was used to test the hypotheses while step wise regression model was used to test the moderating effect of organizational culture on the relationship between planned change and organizational effectiveness. Our findings revealed a significant and positive relationship between planned change and organizational effectiveness, measured by resilience and corporate growth. The study however revealed a negative relationship between organizational culture in moderating the relationship between planned change and organizational effectiveness. We concluded that when changes are well planned and communicated to members of the organization, and the importance of the change made visible, resistance to change is completely eliminated or reduced to the barest minimum. We recommended Maritime organizations need to conduct a cultural audit with a view to cultivating those values and cultural dimensions that engender and reward change readiness and goal achievement, We strongly recommend that organizations build a system that integrates change, considering how important these changes could be to the achievement of organizational goals. Where change is recurrent, adjustment to environmental changes will be inevitable for organizations to achieve their goals.