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The corporate world today is highly competitive and in order for organizations to survive and remain competitive, they must constantly evolve through change. However, the majority of organizational changes neither result in successful implementation or foster sustained change. It is suggested that the success of changes are highly contingent on employees’ responses towards them. To this end, Islamic Work Ethic (IWE) has become a subject of growing interest amongst academia and human resource literature attempting to understand and predict employees’ responses towards organizational change, particularly in Muslim societies. Despite this, studies attempting to uncover IWE’s influence on characteristics of employees’ responses towards change have revealed varying outcomes. Thus, the nature of the relationship remains ambiguous. To tackle this gap, this study contributes to knowledge by developing a conceptual model that assists in identifying the influence of IWE on employees’ responses towards change in the shape of their commitment to change and organizational deviance behaviors. The testing of these relationships was carried out in the ever changing and developing Islamic banking industry within the Middle Eastern context of Kuwait. Through a quantitative case-study approach, data was collected from 398 branch-level employees via questionnaires. The outcomes revealed that the extent of IWE’s influence on employee commitment to change varied greatly across different components (affective, normative and continuance). On the other hand, IWE was found to negatively influence employee engagement in organizational deviance towards change. Due to such findings, several theoretical implications, practical recommendations and future research directions are put forward.

The study aimed to develop the knowledge and provide a broader understanding of how management consultants (MC) manage strategic change, by examining their approach in relation to their function in strategic change processes. The literature review explored the function of MCs as change agents from four perspectives: standards setters, information sources, knowledge integrators, and knowledge brokers. Highlighting the client-consultant relationship as an aspect within their function. Additionally, the planned and emergent approach to change was presented. Based on the presented concepts, a conceptual framework was developed. A qualitative approach was taken where semi-structured interviews were conducted with MCs from different consulting firms to gather relevant data. Finally, the data was structured and thematically analyzed through our conceptual model.   There is no one-size-fits-all regarding managing strategic change. MCs focus on recognizing the unique context of each change process and client, implying that the MCs can function differently in different change processes. Furthermore, MCs approach strategic change processes in relation to their function as change agents by utilizing activities from both planned- and emergent activities, depending on the specific function they perceive they have.

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A time series process can be influenced by an interruptive event which starts at a certain time point and so a structural break in either mean or variance may occur before and after the event time. However, the traditional statistical tests of two independent samples, such as the t-test for a mean difference and the F-test for a variance difference, cannot be directly used for detecting the structural breaks because it is almost certainly impossible that two random samples exist in a time series. As alternative methods, the likelihood ratio (LR) test for a mean change and the cumulative sum (CUSUM) of squares test for a variance change have been widely employed in literature. Another point of interest is temporal aggregation in a time series. Most published time series data are temporally aggregated from the original observations of a small time unit to the cumulative records of a large time unit. However, it is known that temporal aggregation has substantial effects on process properties because it transforms a high frequency nonaggregate process into a low frequency aggregate process. In this research, we investigate the effects of temporal aggregation on the LR test and the CUSUM test, through the ARIMA model transformation. First, we derive the proper transformation of ARIMA model orders and parameters when a time series is temporally aggregated. For the LR test for a mean change, its test statistic is associated with model parameters and errors. The parameters and errors in the statistic should be changed when an AR(p) process transforms upon the mth order temporal aggregation to an ARMA(P,Q) process. Using the property, we propose a modified LR test when a time series is aggregated. Through Monte Carlo simulations and empirical examples, we show that the aggregation leads the null distribution of the modified LR test statistic being shifted to the left. Hence, the test power increases as the order of aggregation increases. For the CUSUM test for a variance change, we show that two aggregation terms will appear in the test statistic and have negative effects on test results when an ARIMA(p,d,q) process transforms upon the mth order temporal aggregation to an ARIMA(P,d,Q) process. Then, we propose a modified CUSUM test to control the terms which are interpreted as the aggregation effects. Through Monte Carlo simulations and empirical examples, the modified CUSUM test shows better performance and higher test powers to detect a variance change in an aggregated time series than the original CUSUM test. / Statistics

Governance is one aspect of university restructuring that in the last 20 years has become ubiquitous worldwide. The restructuring is in part a response to calls for improving governance in higher education. Keller (1983), for example, describes governance in higher education as limiting the capability of universities to make critical strategic decisions. Higher education researchers are seeking to understand governance restructuring. A few studies have been conducted in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. However, developing countries in the Western World have also recognized the limitations of traditional higher education governance and have restructured their systems. This has prompted a need for research on higher education governance restructuring in developing nations. In the English speaking Caribbean, governance restructuring occurred in 1984 and 1996 at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and occurred again between 2004 and 2008. The purpose of this study was to examine the most recent governance restructuring at the UWI. The focus was on exploring three dimensions of organizational change: the antecedents or the factors that prompted the change in governance, the content of the change, and the change process. Three categories of antecedents were discovered: organizational, environmental, and relational antecedents. The organizational antecedent had two sub-themes: performance aspiration and institutional coherence. The environmental antecedents were global competition among nation states, competition from other tertiary education providers, and stakeholders' demands for greater access to higher education. The relational antecedent was a desire to strengthen the relationship with external stakeholders. Four themes related to the content of restructuring emerged from the data: (a) incremental change; (b) corporate/managerial decision-making approach; (c) university-wide strategic planning; and (d) responsiveness to stakeholder demands/needs. Using an archetype approach, the analysis revealed that although the UWI retained the collegiate archetype tradition, elements of another archetype were infused with the collegiate model creating a hybridized governance system. The process of the restructuring revealed three broad stages: initiation, negotiation, and the implementation stage. Collectively, the results suggest that UWI is moving, albeit slowly, away from collegiate governance towards a managerial model. More research is needed to explore the long-term impact of this shift. / Ph. D.

This research project investigates individuals' resistance to change brought about by new information technology implementation in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. By understanding how individual participants resist and adapt to change, their resistance can be better accommodated by the organization in the adoption of new information technology within the AEC industry. This enables researchers and practitioners to understand how new technologies should be introduced within organizations. A social architecture factor model associated with impeding/promoting use of information technologies was created based on a literature review of change management theory on resistance to change and attitude-behavior connections. In Phase I of the research, the personality traits and behavioral characteristics individuals included in the original model were reduced to a smaller number of variables indicative of resistance to information technology change. A revised social architecture factor model was created after this reduction. The variable reduction and revised model were based on data collected from a 50-person sample of the AEC population. At the conclusion of Phase I, a Resistance to Change Index (RTCI) was created, enabling estimations of the intensity of resistance an individual is likely to exhibit using the personality traits and behavioral characteristics kept in the revised social architecture factor model. Phase II of the research investigated relationships between the RTCI and demographics of the individual using a 156-person sample of the AEC population. This phase of the research determined whether different demographic groups within the AEC population exhibited differences in their RTCI. The data analysis found several demographic groups that were different in their likelihood of resistance, including profession, gender, computer understanding and experience, and awareness of past or future changes occurring in their company. Age and education level were expected to have relationships with RTCI, based on industry stereotypes. The data analysis found that these stereotypes have no scientific basis. Two other stereotypes, gender and computer understanding and experience, were supported by the data analysis, however. / Ph. D.

Change in today’s business environment may be seen as inevitable however in the absence of a generic and endemic Change Framework for Managing and Leading Change; South African businesses face a difficult task of surviving into the future unless they are able to find an Organisational Change Management Approach that will assist them in navigating the Organisational Change Landscape for the 21st Century. This study provides an exploratory approach to understanding the nature of Organisational Change Management in South Africa, by exploring the following key concepts: (1) An understanding of the nature of Organisational Change Management in South Africa (2) The Critical Success Factors needed for Organisational Change Management to succeed in South Africa (3) The provision of a practical Organisational Change Management Framework and Scorecard for the measurement of Organisational Change Management processes and initiatives (4) Recommendations towards a Organisational Change Management Scorecard The study which is largely qualitative in nature makes use of a multiple case study design methodology for the collection of empirical evidence as well as quantitative research data from a survey questionnaire to support the underlying constructs and research questions posed within the study. The use of data and methodological triangulation, namely research interviews, survey data, company and archival documentation as well as focus group discussion points has provided the research study with the necessary validity and reliability to support research results, findings and recommendations.This information should be utilized by Change Practitioners practicing organisational change within a rapidly transforming environment, where Mergers and Acquisitions are major force for change as it would help to provide the necessary change framework and change scorecard for the management and measurement of organisational change interventions. This study also highlights the Critical Success Factors for change by focusing on the Emotional side (Low impact) and Change Imperatives / Prerequisites (High impact) for the management of organisational change. In addition, the study also provides a first view of some change performance measures in the form of a Change Scorecard, which can be used to assess the overall impact of the current change intervention being implemented. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / DBL

The dissertation discusses the impact of change management during the implementation of an IT system. The theoretical part of the dissertation is aimed at gaining information about human performance, and the implications during the implementation of the system, and also post-implementation. Literature suggests that the human factor is the key to the successful implementation of system projects. The study, which is qualitative in nature, makes use of face-to-face interviews for the collection of evidence, as well as questionnaires as add-on tools to support the underlying constructs and research questions posed within the study. The use of data obtained from the research interviews, as well as survey data, has provided the research study with the necessary validity, reliabilityand trustworthy data to support the research results, findings – and to be able to make some recommendations. The reason for the failure of system implementation projects is often due to poor implementation during the project. It is important to place the importance of people on a par with technology and processes. A holistic approach would be the most likely to result in the acceptance – and the efficient and effective use of the implemented system. Communication, training and management participation are common means of addressingany fears of change, and to build trust. This information should be utilised by project teams during implementation projects, as it should help to provide the necessary framework to ensure the success of the change initiatives.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.