While change seems to have become a feature of contemporary organizations, the success rate of change initiatives is admittedly very poor, not only when initiating the change, but even after the successful implementation of a well-planned change, as employees are likely to return to their old habits; thus most change efforts do not persist. Organizations however need to ensure that their change initiatives, which in most cases come at a heavy cost in terms of investment, last long enough to attain their goals. Given the lack of change management research in the Middle Eastern context, particularly with respect to the institutionalization of change, this study explores how best to institutionalize change interventions in the Middle East. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining semi-structured interviews with 17 senior managers and a questionnaire survey of 312 employees, in order to gather data from the case study of the Abu Dhabi Police. The quantitative data is assessed using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, while the independent samples t-test is used to explore variations between groups. The findings reveal the significant role of communication in creating shared meanings, perceptions and interpretations; the language-based approach is thus recommended as an additional conversational instrument to enlighten managers and enrich their interventions. This study identifies four categories of factors that are critical to institutionalization; the characteristics of these critical factors and associated issues are also highlighted as a contribution to the design and implementation of institutionalization strategies. The study concludes by developing a framework incorporating three basic conceptual elements that should be considered as a whole during any attempt to institutionalize change; it comprehensively integrates the institutionalization strategies and the critical factors, in order to convey a change message that shapes the enactment of institutionalization processes.

South African business has seen a growing number of business leaders whose leadership capabilities were initially demonstrated in the political struggle against apartheid, later transition to leadership in the public sector, before venturing into business. The purpose of this research was to explore the mobility of leadership competencies which the studied leaders possess. This entailed an examination into how their leadership capabilities and political convictions developed or changed as they moved between the different spheres, how they influence the companies they lead, and finally what impact did moving between the political, public and private spheres have on the researched leaders themselves. Semi-structured interviews based on open-ended questions were conducted in order to gain insight into the respondents’ leadership aptitudes. This was validated by a quantitative measure of each skill’s importance in delivering objectives in each sector. The findings were as follows:<ul> <li> The researched leaders possess similar skills to those which are critical in delivering on company values, as suggested by the literature.</li> <li> Some skills which might have been developed in the struggle are valuable to industry and can be transferred between both the private sector and the public sector.</li> <li> Their personal values, rather than a political ideology, guided the researched leaders’ behaviour.</li> <li> The impact of moving between the spheres was seen to have a negative effect on the respondents due to different demands based on flexibility versus control, and internal focus versus external focus (as demonstrated by the Competing Values Framework of Leadership Roles)</li></ul> Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The present study aimed to explore employee images of organisational culture within a South African organisation. In order to investigate the aim of the present study, the following research question was put forward. What, if any, insights do the images elicited from the employees provide about the culture of the organisation. The present study is classified as a qualitative, non-experimental, and an ex-post facto design. A sample of seven employees from the organisation was interviewed using an explorative technique, which made use of metaphors. The results of the present study indicated that the case study organisation’s culture could be assessed and accessed by means of metaphorical language.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX215640.

The work looked at east German senior industrial managers in transition under the condition of radical environmental change that followed the introduction of the west German political, economic, and societal system in eastern Germany. The enhancement of the understanding of managers in change in the transitional economies of central and eastern Europe is significant to the improvement of the effectiveness of western support in the introduction of market forces. Of wider significance is the study's contribution to the understanding of the issues at individual level that might equally emerge within the fundamental structural changes of current western industries. For decades, research into the management of change has focused on the group and systems level and failed widely to consider the crucial significance of individual behaviour in the realisation of change at organisational level. In view of the questions and the objectives of the research, a qualitative approach was adopted because it provides a particularly strong method for investigating processes, cultures, and new fields of scientific research. The analysis drew on a basis of 73 in-depth interviews with senior level managers in east German industrial organisations and structured questionnaires on the individual, organisational, and change profile of the sample. The work contributes to the understanding of managerial transition in transformative contexts. A model of the individual transition process was elicited from the data. It suggests that east German managers emerged from the experience of fundamental change with a transformed world-view. The initial belief in the existence of equilibria had been replaced by the notion of the permanency of change. Because of the way in which the experience of economic transformation was found to impact deeply on individuals' self-concept, the study concludes that individual development is a key transformation instrument, since it can specifically target the cultural and ideological underpinning of successful transformation.

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This research investigated employees' perceptions as 'recipients' of change. It did so by seeking to understand and represent their views regarding what influences effective change processes. The significance of this research was the focus on employee perceptions and not those of management. It was research conducted at a grass-roots level seeking to provide a voice for those least often heard or asked. The research was conducted using participants from two case study organisations in the local government sector of Western Australia employing approximately 200 staff each. Both organisations were metropolitan and had been experiencing change within their organisations for some time. Within this research it is recognised that the phenomenon of organisational change is by no means new. Since the early 1970s literature has emerged proposing that our world and the world of work, both internally and externally, are about to change. Management books and the history of management and organisational life have been filled for years with issues relating to change. These include changing management practices, new techniques for achieving change and dealing with threats of what nonchange may bring. As the research was seeking to interpret respondents' meaning relating to the phenomenon of organisational change, it was not concerned with quantification, but with understanding the phenomenon from the viewpoint of those experiencing the change. This research was based on the belief that human behaviour, unlike that of physical objects, cannot be understood without reference to the meanings and purposes attached by the human actors to their activities. The ontological assumption of a socially constructed reality underpinned this study. The realities experienced were those as interpreted by employees. The epistemological assumption was that of interpretivism. / The realities experienced by respondents were subjective and, accordingly, the research's findings were literally created as the investigation proceeded. The methodological assumption was of a qualitative framework for understanding how change impacts on employees. Both the researcher and the employees under investigation therefore interacted in the process of meaning construction and clarification. The constructivist paradigm was therefore adopted as it emphasises a qualitative methodological approach. It was supported by theories of symbolic interactionism and phenomenology, which focus on the interpretation of the meaning of the employees' experiences within the phenomenon of organisational change. Grounded theory principles were used within the constructivist paradigm to provide a framework for ensuring that data analysis remained interpretative and that all emergent categories earned their place through the practices of constant comparison, not the preconceptions of the researcher. To further enhance this method, a triangulated approach to data sources and data collection methods for analysis included documentation, change manager interviews, and the primary sources of focus group interviews and individual in-depth interviews with employees. The findings are represented in a model identifying strategic efficiencies, organisational unity, skills and capabilities, humanistic application and relationship maintenance as the major factors as perceived by employees as influencing effective change. It presents both the what and the how of change as perceived by employees; i.e. what needs to be done and how. / The model presented within this research is recognised as a tentative model dependent on further investigation and study. It provides a useful perception of what employees believe would create effective organisational change, and it demands close and careful consideration by strategists and practitioners. The model is unique in its structure and representative in regard to its information source.

In this thesis a number of disparate subjects and notions are drawn together in order to move toward a coherent perspective on the notion of an organisation and the way in which organisations may be seen to survive. The contribution of the work and knowledge management in order to produce a 'frame' for the way in which organisational change and survival may be discussed. The assumptions are made that the notions of the learning organisation and knowledge management are subsets of organisational survival. An examination of how these notions have been interpreted in organisations provides the context to which Maturana and Varea's autopoietic theory may be used as a 'frame' for discussion on the nature of organisations. The combination of my experiences in organisations and discussions on the use of autopoietic theory in the organisational context, provide the basis from which I make hypotheses regarding the nature of organisational survival and the way in which organisations may be seen to change over time / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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