This qualitative study presents findings from interviews with ten front line social workers employed at a small, eastern Ontario Children's Aid Society. The interviews explored the implementation of the Ontario Risk Assessment Model at this agency from the perspective of these social workers. The findings of this research identify perceived impediments as well as supports to organizational change within this context. Analysis of the data revealed that both the manner in which ORAM was implemented and the content of the model itself resulted in confusion, frustration and anxiety on the part of the workers. The research also sought to determine the potential fit between effective child protection organizational change endeavours and strategies inherent in the action research model. Implications for change management policy, practice and future research within child protection systems are also discussed.

Effective change requires that we understand the way the current situation works and that we are clear about how we want the new one to be different. The University of Natal has maintained a position in the middle rank of comparative national research output statistics, with an upward trend evident in the mid 1990s and a downward trend that began in 1998 and continued to 2000. It was already accepted in 1999 that the downward trend had to be reversed in order for the University to remain competitive and continue to attract competent researchers and academics, and ways of doing this were explored by the University's Research Office. It became evident that any strategic changes envisaged by the University had to encompass a revised incentive system if the productivity of the researchers was to be positively affected. The first changes, which consisted of a complete revision of the original incentive system, were implemented in 1999. The University continued to monitor output and looked at additional ways of encouraging research. The research focused on strategic change and a theoretical model was recommended highlighting elements or levers for successful change and how they are dependent on each other. Reward strategies, the change agenda and incentives were examined. The case study was undertaken in order to understand the strategic changes initiated at the University and the study outlined the various incentives awarded to researchers to increase productivity. Information, essentially of a descriptive nature, was gathered from members of the University's Faculty Research Committee by means of a questionnaire. This research affirmed that researchers are motivated by incentive awards, that they believe that the new incentive for productivity award will increase productivity and that it is seen as beneficial to the researcher. They confirmed that they preferred the new arrangement as it was seen as more rewarding than the old incentive system. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

This study was concerned with the journey that an organisation will need to embark on from being a product centric organisation to becoming a customer centric organisation. The change that is required to become customer centric is about the culture of the organisation that must change, and not the vision and mission statements as published by the senior executive of the company. Customer centricity is the concept where the customer is truly seen to be the most important part of the organisation. The focus of everyone in the organisation is to satisfy the customer in such a way that there will be a mutual beneficial relationship for both parties. Literature research was done to understand what customer centricity means and it was amazing to see the various definitions and information that was available on this topic. Most of the researchers alluded to corporate culture and the readiness and ability to change the culture throughout the whole of an organisation. Afrox identified the need identified to become more customer centric and wanted to know why the delivery of the service offers were not happening. The senior management of Afrox was used in a survey to get their perception of how far the company has moved on the journey to becoming customer centric, and what they would recommend the company should do to becoming customer centric. It was interesting to note that not a single senior manager said that the company was customer centric, although they all agreed that the company was well on the way to becoming customer centric. Since the whole concept of becoming customer centric is now taken up in the strategic plan, business plan, vision and mission statements of Afrox, the study looks at what Afrox can put in place as a result of the research to enable the changes in culture of the employees and culture of the company that will result in a customer centric organisation. It is very clear that this is a long term journey, and that the company may never get to the true text book definition of customer centricity, but the journey is critical for the company to remain competitive. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Change is a process that affects everyone and businesses differently and it is constantly happening, whether it be planned or unplanned. The planned change of Mission Directed Work Teams (MDWT) at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) was implemented from 01 July 2005, and its continuous improvement and mission orientation effect on employees and the performance of the company were vital to improved business success and growth. The effect of change on organisations can be assessed by people's attitudes and outlooks. In the global world of business, companies that cannot adapt to change or implement planned change successfully will be heading for disaster and failure. The ability to react to change and implement change timeously and effectively will determine the difference between success and failure. Change management therefore plays a crucial role in today's fast-paced world of business, and is a vital skill for any manager that wants to succeed beyond expectations. This dissertation describes and evaluates the process of change at RBM during the implementation of MDWT and the change management approach that was adopted. Kurt Lewin's Force Field Analysis (Misselhorn, 2005), semi-structured interviews and statistical analyses showed that MDWT impacted positively on employee attitudes and short-term financial performance, but the management of the change process was short-circuited in a few critical areas and needs to be addressed, especially with regards to involvement of the relevant stakeholders, training requirements and change reinforcement. Although organisations need to adapt to their environment, they tend to feel comfortable operating within the structure, policies and procedures which have been formulated to deal with a range of possible situations. To ensure operational effectiveness, organisations often set up defences against change and prefer to concentrate on the routine things they perform well. It is important, therefore, for management to understand the reasons for, and the nature of, resistance to change and to adopt a clearly defined strategy for the initiation of change. Change management requires maintaining the balance of the socio-technical system that influences the behaviour and attitudes of individuals and groups, and thereby the level of performance and effectiveness within organisations. Successfully managing change is therefore clearly essential for continued economic performance and competitiveness in the tough world of business. It is therefore important that change be managed, because if the pressure to change is ignored, it will eventually become a destructive force that will put the survival of the business in jeopardy. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu Natal, 2006.

This study is an evaluation of how to improve organisational performance by transforming an organisation into a learning one - in particular the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL). A qualitative method was used where an exploratory study was conducted through the use of a survey and interviews with selected participants. This was done in order to establish their feelings and perceptions concerning a need for change in our organisations, especially by managers or leaders. In enabling the researcher to follow a more focussed study, nine questions were prepared and one interview question. Most of the questions revolved around the need for change, factors affecting change (whether negative or positive), benefits, and ultimately how organisational performance could be enhanced. An in-depth literature review was then undertaken by the researcher on the nature of a learning organisation and other related principles in order for the researcher to build capacity and empower himself. The current state of implementing change and transformation in SANRAL and other organisations was compared with that suggested by the literature. Twenty-five questionnaires were administered to SANRAL and other stakeholders’ employees, the responses were analysed, and the results were compared with what is suggested by the literature. Most of the respondents agree that there is a need for paradigm shift in organisations, particularly SANRAL. Learning organisations’ principles featured prominently in the participants’ responses. It was also thought that the challenge is how to manage and lead in these rapidly changing times. Issues like communication, participative management and so on were found to be key factors when leading change in an organisation, and vital for organisational performance. The literature review revealed that management needs to be more proactive in their approach when leading under these uncertain conditions. Finally, the dissertation highlighted the shortfalls and critical issues that organisations need to focus on in order to survive in changing environments, while the literature review provided some of the guidelines in addressing these challenges. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2009.

The newspaper industry has in the last few decades experienced a gradual but steady decline. The cause of this decline and potential ways of counteraction have been under considerable debate recently both in the industry and in academia. For the last decade and a half, the digitization of news has emerged as a much debated challenge and been perceived by the industry as both its inevitable future and its biggest threat. Taking its starting-point in this complex situation, this dissertation particularly focuses on how the organizational culture of regional, ideologically driven newspaper organizations affects propensity for change. Particular focus is placed on the regional newspaper industry, and an ethnographical case study has been conducted of a Swedish county covered by two independent, competing newspaper organizations. The purpose of the study is to develop a theoretical concept to describe the kind of organizational inertia currently experienced by the regional newspaper industry. Combining semi-structured interviews, observations and analysis of public documentation, it is shown that both regional organizations in the study are struggling to reconcile a steadily declining print edition with the pressures of publishing news online. The regional newspaper industry is expected to deliver online news content to a growing audience without a profitable business model. Since the late 1990s, when the first of the organizations’ websites appeared, the Internet’s potential as a financially justifiable publishing platform has been put into question. Sixteen years later, the websites and the questions remain. The study shows how organizational memory and the act of remembrance are used along with certain aspects of corporate history and culture to legitimize long term strategizing that in turn have significant effects on the propensity for change. Dimensions of “spectrality” and the concept of “spectral organizations” are introduced as theoretical concepts to describe these particular types of organizations that are haunted by their past to the extent that they exhibit strategic entrenchment or even altogether an inability to progress and adapt to their environment. The contribution of the study is to increase the understanding of why the regional newspaper industry is experiencing inertia, and of the ideological forces that make implementing paradigmatic change so difficult. / Baksidestext: The newspaper industry has in the last few decades experienced a gradual but steady decline. The cause of this decline and potential ways of counteraction have been under considerable debate recently both in the industry and in academia. For the last decade and a half, the digitization of news has emerged as a much debated challenge and been perceived by the industry as both its inevitable future and its biggest threat. Taking its starting-point in this complex situation, this dissertation particularly focuses on how the organizational culture of regional, ideologically driven newspaper organizations affects propensity for change. Particular focus is placed on the regional newspaper industry, and an ethnographical case study has been conducted of a Swedish county covered by two independent, competing newspaper organizations. The end result is a theoretical concept that describes, and aids the understanding of, the kind of organizational inertia currently experienced by the regional newspaper industry. / <p>ISBN of the printed version refers to the 2nd edition of the book.</p>

In 2001, Gerald Haman stormed the corporate world by generating 454 000 ideas in 60 minutes delivering "Thinkathon", which he defined as the “world's greatest brainstorming tool”. Easily replicated, Singapore corporate leaders saw the “Thinkathon” as a 'quick fix' to jumpstart mass ideas for Innovative Initiatives in the perennial search for that critical sustaining differentiator for the city state to compete regionally and ever more now, as a developed nation, globally. However, the “Thinkathon” merely provided a good harvest of ideas, but saw no gains in innovative breakthroughs. Alex Osborn (1953), the father of brainstorming, initiated brainstorming as a 3 phase program of fact-finding, idea finding and solution finding but “Thinkathon” provided only mass idea-finding. This thesis sets out to address the gaps in salvaging the effectiveness of mass brainstorming “Thinkathon” if organizations in Singapore still opt to engage this “perceived creative tool” as a jumpstart for Innovative Initiatives. / Since the original “Thinkathon” did not provide a literary foundation, in this thesis we re-examined the evolution of cognitive mental thinking processes from self to group and finally to creative mass brainstorming, to help failsafe the “Thinkathon”, rendering it literally structured and “ideaworthy” to be used independently as a jumpstart Innovative tool. Adapting the original “Thinkathon”, it was put through an empirical series of pilot runs that came along with feedback observations, ultimately metamorphising into a structured 4-step creative ideation approach by-product called “Thinkathon II”. The new Thinkathon II was injected with a new process “Co-Operacy” (Hunter, Dale 1977) which until then was a mere untested philosophy but had proven effective in 'mass consensus decision'. This was useful in filtering mass ideas from a quantitative to a qualitative stage, without premature eradication or adulteration to the original generated ideas, a process which was not available in the original “Thinkathon” by Gerald Haman. / After a series of successful pilot runs which endorsed its efficiency, Thinkathon II was marketed to the public which further reaffirmed its effectiveness as an innovative jumpstart tool for Innovative Initiatives. The final acid test came at the 7th International Association of Facilitators (IAF) Conference held in Singapore on 25th August that gave an added opportunity to showcase the Thinkathon II, sampled by worldwide Facilitators who welcomed the new 4-step structured mass ideation process. / Thus, this thesis, which resulted in a new by-product, the “Thinkathon II”, not only closed the gaps originally created by the founder of Thinkathon, it also provided literature on the art and science of mass idea brainstorming which until now was uncharted. It also disproved the claim made by Tony Proctor (1995) “that large numbers of ideas cannot find a place for quality”. This achievement was also acknowledged by the originator Mr Gerald Haman who saw the added value in rendering his original Thinkathon more "solution-focused". Hence, “Thinkathon II” is now a founded new approach where corporate leaders can use this new “mass idea brainstorming” process, which is worthy of its definition as an innovation tool to jumpstart any Innovation Initiative. / Thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2005.

Thesis (MEd (Human Resource Studies))--University of South Australia, 1994

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Includes survey instruments. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 83-101)

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 2003.