Twentieth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

Change management practice is very essential for the success for any project to be undertaken. A lot of projects are affected by; poorly defined scope, inadequate risk management, but most especially due to lack of the awareness, knowledge, and desire which are activities done by change management. The central focus of this study is to advance the change management ideology when designing and implementing any kind of project. It further seeks to highlight the success of the Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) project for which change management activities were undertaken. The ECTS project was undertaken by Customs department of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) under the modernization phase 1 period. A lot of change management activities were undertaken during the project life cycle of; initiation, planning, implementation and closure. These activities include to mention but a few; readiness assessments, communication and communication planning, sponsor activities and sponsor roadmaps, change management training for middle management, resistance management, employee feedback, rewards and corrective action. The workshop presentation shares experience on how the URA Customs department applied the above fore mentioned change management activities so as to create stakeholder buy-in, stakeholder engagement, and sponsorship support that ultimately led to the success of ECTS system. The deployment of the ECTS made it not only a benchmark in the East Africa Community region but also it was internationally acclaimed. This experience informs the involvement of change management practice in any individual or organisational projects to be undertaken.