M.Comm. / "While discovery focuses on the new and unique, research is the process of re-examining something we already know a great deal about. The fundamental purpose of research is to confirm what we know and believe is in fact true and to develop a more knowledgeable understanding of its essence." (The Global Logistics Research Team at Michigan State University,1995:1). Organisations need a better way of changing, a way of involving large percentages of their people in making the shift from a "business as usual" scenario to one of real time strategic change. Jacobs (1995:18) clearly states that in a real time strategic change scenario, all members of the organisation are meaningful involved in deciding upon and responsible for delivering the organisation's results. In essence, real time strategic change is about a new way of understanding organisations, how they operate, the role individual people can play in making a difference in their organisational lives, and how they can become aligned with each other as a motivated, empowered, total organisation. To be "World Class" means that a firm has successfully visualised and applied a combination of logistical practices capable of serving selected customers better than competitors. The management, employees, systems, technologies and operations of world class firms are finely tuned and synchronised to efficiently meet and exceed customer expectations. For a firm to perform consistently at a world class level means that its employees possess knowledge of what constitutes best practice and know how to implement that behaviour successfully. With this study it is hoped that some of the findings may be of practical benefit to the Cadbury (Pty) Ltd top management team in making strategic decisions on putting the company on the road to become "World Class".

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / In 1997 Thailand faced an economic crisis, primarily due to a foreign exchange induced recession. At this time of economic crisis, Thailand approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance. Assistance would be provided only if the Thai Government agreed to reduce public spending, downsize the civil service, change the regulations designed to restrict foreign investment and ownership, and privatise some public enterprises. These requirements had a great impact upon all aspects of Thai society. This study investigates the impact of the imposed changes upon one part of the higher education sector, that of the Rajabhat Institutes. The National Education Act introduced in 1999 was aimed at transforming all sectors of Thai education, provide all Thai people with increased opportunities for access to higher education, and transform Thailand into a learning society. In 2004 the Rajabhat University Act changed the former Rajabhat Institutes into Rajabhat Universities, providing them with greater autonomy, but with greater responsibility for their own futures. This study investigates how these Acts changed policies, processes and practices in the six Rajabhat Universities in Bangkok. The six case studies investigate how these universities have coped with and managed change to meet the challenges of the present and the future. The focus is on policies and practices which have occurred since 2004 and how the Rajabhat Universities planned to meet the challenges of higher educational reform in Thailand, from the viewpoint of the President and Vice Presidents of each university. Analyses reveal that the six Rajabhat Universities were influenced by globalisation, economic, political legal and technologies, which impacted upon their organisational culture and management style. Each of the universities can be considered as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) in which change occurred in complex and unpredictable ways. The use of dissimilar leadership dimensions and the desire to differentiate their university from the others was found to be a recurring theme.

Zugl.: Chemnitz, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2009

No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / In 1997 Thailand faced an economic crisis, primarily due to a foreign exchange induced recession. At this time of economic crisis, Thailand approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance. Assistance would be provided only if the Thai Government agreed to reduce public spending, downsize the civil service, change the regulations designed to restrict foreign investment and ownership, and privatise some public enterprises. These requirements had a great impact upon all aspects of Thai society. This study investigates the impact of the imposed changes upon one part of the higher education sector, that of the Rajabhat Institutes. The National Education Act introduced in 1999 was aimed at transforming all sectors of Thai education, provide all Thai people with increased opportunities for access to higher education, and transform Thailand into a learning society. In 2004 the Rajabhat University Act changed the former Rajabhat Institutes into Rajabhat Universities, providing them with greater autonomy, but with greater responsibility for their own futures. This study investigates how these Acts changed policies, processes and practices in the six Rajabhat Universities in Bangkok. The six case studies investigate how these universities have coped with and managed change to meet the challenges of the present and the future. The focus is on policies and practices which have occurred since 2004 and how the Rajabhat Universities planned to meet the challenges of higher educational reform in Thailand, from the viewpoint of the President and Vice Presidents of each university. Analyses reveal that the six Rajabhat Universities were influenced by globalisation, economic, political legal and technologies, which impacted upon their organisational culture and management style. Each of the universities can be considered as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) in which change occurred in complex and unpredictable ways. The use of dissimilar leadership dimensions and the desire to differentiate their university from the others was found to be a recurring theme.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Also availalbe in microfilm.

Zugl.: Aachen, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2006.

Zugl.: Oestrich-Winkel, European Business School, Diss., 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Benedictine University, 2005. / Chair: Peter Sorensen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 294-298)

This thesis discusses and comments on published work that explores the links between managerial attempts at major strategic and organizational changes (referred to throughout the thesis as strategic change) and key organizational outcomes. The opening chapter reviews the literature on strategic organizational change, particularly focussing on models of organizational change, extant research into success and failure of change programmes and the evaluation of change. A model of strategic organizational change is presented that demonstrates the links among key variables and outcomes of change. In chapter two, the published articles are critically revisited for their contributions to establishing the causes of success and failure in strategic change, conceptual development and methodological development in the field. In addition, most of the articles are reflected on to show how the data could be analytically generalized to the models developed in the literature review. The issues raised by the articles are addressed thematically and each article is considered separately.