Organisational Failure and Turnaround: An Empirical Analysis of the Defunct Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL)

Abstract

The paper examined failure and turnaround in the defunct Nigeria Telecommunication Limited (popularly known as NITEL). It focused on the staff that worked for the organization by basically employing the exploratory research design and a qualitative method which included the Key Informant Interview (KII) and the In-Depth Interview (IDI) in the collection of data. An in-depth interview involved engaging 45 purposively selected staff of the defunct NITEL. The Key Informant Interview involved engaging 25 purposively selected stakeholders in the Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) and the National Telecommunication Commission (NATCOM). The study discovered that factors responsible for the organization's failure are corruption, poor leadership, lack of capital base and inadequate financial aid. The study found that NITEL as an organisation, witnessed failure because of changes in environmental features; the discernible application of modern technology in the telecommunications business which was orchestrated by the advent of the internet and which led to the change in the customer taste and which precipitated drastic reduction in the demand of the product offered by the organization; The study also found that the organisation went through the process of badly planned divestment and sales and a lot of inconsistencies in the attempt made to turn it around. NITEL as an organisation was government-owned, hence, other studies should be replicated in private organisations.