No description available.

The purpose of this study was to develop a reasonably comprehensive scheme of categories that describes what facilitated and hindered adaptation to corporate restructuring. Interviews were conducted with individuals who worked in a company during reorganization and adapted. The Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) was utilized to elicit 543 incidents from 28 participants. Thirty-four categories emerged from the analysis of the reported events and were organized into five clusters. Several procedures were employed to examine the soundness and trustworthiness of the categories. The results indicate that adaptation was hindered by: enduring a negative state, receiving increased workload, experiencing negative attitudes of colleagues, termination of colleagues, destabilizing moves, encountering a demoralizing situation, removed from a position, experiencing devaluation of company, excluded from decision making, blocked from accomplishing a task, not receiving support, receiving a threat about job, experiencing estrangement, receiving disaffirmation for job competence, and vital information withheld. However, individuals can take action in four ways to facilitate adaptation. First, they can shape the work environment by: refusing exploitative requests, making a decision concerning work, discovering and adhering to a firm guideline, making a beneficial change in the work setting, accomplishing a task, experiencing a challenging task, creating a work position, creating space to work, and dissociation from a bad person. Second, they can gain support by: receiving advice, receiving personal support, receiving assurance about job, experiencing camaraderie, receiving affirmation for job competence, receiving vital information. Third, they can help others by: giving empathy, using humor, forming a relationship, looking out for others, providing practical help, securing work for others. Fourth, they can help themselves by: realization of a positive perspective, preparing for change, initiating a change outside of work, and engaging in an activity outside of work. The category system attempts to provide a reasonably comprehensive description of what helps and hinders adaptation to corporate restructuring. Such an organization of factors may be valuable in planning counsellor training programs and useful for therapists working with individuals adapting to corporate change.

No description available.

Over the past two decades, Taylor (1983; Taylor & Brown, 1988) has explored the tendency of individuals to develop positive illusions in coping with stressful, or traumatic events. These illusions consist of unrealistic positive self evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism. According to Taylor, illusions are important in accomplishing several tasks associated with successful adaptation, namely, search for meaning, regaining a sense of mastery, and restoring self-esteem through processes of social comparison. The purpose of the study was threefold: (a) to explore the construct of positive illusions (PI), (b) to explore employees' use of PI in coping with a stressful work event, and (c) to discover how PI, temporal distance, level of perceived stress, and a priming manipulation affect the type and frequency of inferences made while responding to items taken from a coping inventory. / The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase I, 209 nurses responded to a questionnaire which identified their level of PI, perceptions of occupational climate, and job satisfaction. They were also asked to describe a stressful work situation, and their appraisals and coping strategies used to manage the event. Results demonstrated that the PI construct for this population was best identified by enhanced self-perception, high dispositional optimism, and low internal locus of control. PI were associated with high self-efficacy for resolving the stressful event, appraisals of challenge, positive reappraisal and self-controlling coping, and the nonuse of escape-avoidance coping. / In Phase II, 36 nurses "high" and "low" in PI were assigned to two priming conditions. Nurses participated in a think-aloud procedure during which time they rated 16 coping items in relation to their previously identified work event and gave reasons for their ratings. After protocol analysis, results demonstrated that, (a) the type of prime used affected the consistency of recall even after controlling for temporal distance, and (b) positive illusions, prime, and time interact to produce significantly different patterns of self-statements and contextual inferences for the four groups. The results demonstrate that measures which rely on the recall of coping strategies need to be treated with considerable caution.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration, Business Studies Unit, Durban University of Technology, 2008. / Telkom SA, over the last decade and a half, has undergone major change in terms of the manner in which it does business. From being a state-owned company to becoming a para-statal, to being run by foreigners and, finally, being run by local leaders within the company, Telkom SA has transformed as a company. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of change implementation on staff turnover in Telkom SA by reviewing the following key issues: The implementation of change within Telkom SA, benchmarked against international best practices; the communication of change/re-structuring initiatives by management in Telkom SA; the effect of change implementation on staff turnover; and the effect of change implementation on employee morale and retention. The rationale of this study is to allow Telkom SA management to review their current implementation strategy of change management initiatives in Telkom SA. Thereafter, it will provide guidelines for improvements in change implementation for the management of Telkom SA. Staff turnover and employee morale can negatively impact service delivery and financial performance of a company, so these recommendations are aimed at improving service delivery and financial performance. The study was descriptive, cross sectional and quantitative, involving the application of a questionnaire, via e-mail and personal interviews, with a sample of staff from the core planning section in the Network Infrastructure Provisioning division, where a high staff turnover rate existed. The questionnaire focused on assessing the impact of the implementation of change management processes on staff turnover at Telkom SA and was developed from the literature review. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 15 for both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings show that a significant percentage of respondents were v vi dissatisfied with the way management had handled issues related to change implementation, communication, turnover, morale and retention. With this in mind, recommendations on ways to reduce the impact of the key issues on the organisation were made. These included the recommendation of lean methodology in order to deal with the first three key issues, namely, implementation, communication, and turnover. Thereafter the ‘four cores of credibility’ model was recommended to improve employee morale. Finally recommendations were made on ways to improve employee retention. The overarching issue that has come to light is that although management is, to a degree, communicating change implementation, there is a noticeable lack of engagement with employees. The onus, therefore, lies with leadership to lift the levels of engagement with employees, thereby reducing the impact of change implementation on the organisation by increasing the level of transparency in the organisation. Improving communication would lead to improved trust, which would then result in improved employee morale, ultimately leading to a reduction in the staff turnover rate.

The contemporary approach to change in Nedbank is focused on mechanistic processes with little reference to social systems that exist in organisations. The contemporary approach assumes that an organisation is linear in nature and as such, a reductionist approach is employed for organisational inquiry to address organisational structure, strategy and culture. This research will focus on employing a systems approach to organisational inquiry to elicit themes that leadership should be aware of, to effect change in a dynamic and complex environment. The argument presented is that organisations are about people that interrelate with each other to achieve organisational goals, and as such exhibit social phenomena that have important implications in defining an organisation's capability for effective change. Therefore, a reductionist approach to organisational inquiry is not desirable and may not be effective for real change. The research will draw on various concepts within the frameworks of systems thinking, complexity theory, knowledge management and dynamic capabilities to elicit themes to complement Nedbank's existing transformation process. The results provide recommendations on how management's contemporary role is required to transform in order to address the challenges of organisational change in the knowledge world. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

This study explores how a business turnaround was managed successfully at a firm within the textile manufacturing industry. The internal problems/ limitations and external challenges that the firm faced during its business decline are highlighted, as well as the functional level strategies that the firm implemented in order to arrest and then reverse the decline. A case study approach was adopted in order to understand and analyse the business turnaround. The need for studying the turnaround process is warranted as a number of firms in the clothing and textile manufacturing industry that attempt a business turnaround eventually experience greater levels of business decline and close down. The major empirical findings of the study undertaken reveal that certain key operational and strategic enablers were identified and utilised in order to effect a successful business turnaround. Some of these enablers have been developed into core competences which the firm is leveraging to create a sustainable competitive advantage in its chosen high value niche markets. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

The Swaziland Association of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (S ASCCO) has been the focus of this study. It is envisaged that the research undertaken will be used to benchmark the cooperative's current strategy (reorganization) and help identify factors that will lead to a successful reorganization. SASCCO was officially registered as an apex body for all Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Saccos) in 1988 under the Cooperative Act of 1964. SASCCO is at present constructing a multi-million Emalangeni Cooperative Centre that will be wholly funded by its members. Dividends for members are expected to be not less than 12% a year. The cooperative is at its maturity stage. Its grand strategy is joint venturing with other cooperatives. It has further formed partnerships and strategic alliances with both local and international organizations. Its generic strategy is to create, market unique products and services for varied customer groups through differentiation. Its mission statement is "to be a member controlled and owned financial cooperative that establishes financially strong and sound savings and credit cooperative societies by providing them with quality financial, education and technical services in order to improve the socio-economic needs of their members at grass roots level". The management problem is finding a suitable reorganization strategy that will maximise shareholders' wealth and correctly position the Cooperative for the proposed Cooperative Bank. The Cooperative has serious financial problems, operating a poor balance sheet and lacks some key skills. The main objective of the research is, therefore, to analyze, assess and evaluate suitability of the Cooperative's current strategy based on both strategic and financial management views and then recommend a right way to a successful reorganization. A modified model adapted from (Johnson and Scholes, 1999) was used to map the whole study. The main findings centred on the Cooperative's reorganization's strategy and its suitability. Management is clear with the strategic direction. However, the strategy is not implemented and executed very well. SASCCO is capable and has the opportunity to own the largest market share in the financial arena due to the low interest rates it offers. It was concluded that the cooperative suffers because of its imbalanced capital structure and recommended that a suitable optimal capital structure would be found by gearing the cooperative adequately. However, due to the exploratory nature of the study, it was difficult to empirically investigate some of the issues fully. As a result, a further, more representative sample that will be able to generalize the results to the whole population is recommended. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

Despite the predominantly negative perception that resistance adversely affects a change process, understanding it may be used to successfully implement many changes in organisations. This qualitative study identified inhibitors and enhancers, as perceived by employees with respect to the proposed implementation of a Human Resource Information System technology, at the adaptive and high-adaptive change levels. This issue was examined in the context of large-scale manufacturing company Hulett Aluminium. Based on a review of change theory, innovation diffusion and technology adoption models variables known to relate to technology change were identified and used to formulate a research framework. A quantitative computer attitude survey was initially used to identify a more representative sample frame, after which semi-structured interview techniques were utilised to collect data from eleven general employees and seven Human Resource employees. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis, domain analysis and the constant comparative concept taken from grounded theory. The findings of this study identified clear communication and employee participation as crucial factors in implementing change at any level. The technology characteristics relative advantage, compatibility and complexity were prominent between both samples. Relative advantage was found to mediate time availability and social influence. Respondents believed trialability allowed them to become familiar with the technology. The support factor training was also dominant and found to mediate respondents' anxiety and uncertainty. The theme that computer experience mitigates anxiety was also evident. Owing to experience of poor technical support, respondents' cited it as an important variable in resistance to technology, which is evident of how experience influences perspective. This study allows researchers and change agents to understand the role individual, technological, propagation and external factors have in employees' perceived resistance to adoption of the proposed technology. By accurately gauging resistance in advance, change agents can anticipate the likely response of the organisation and thus implement appropriate strategies. The research also adds to the expanding base of research investigating resistance to technology adoption in general. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

The research focused using System Dynamics to model and simulate an engineering project with the main aim of understanding: - Why change orders are notorious for negatively impacting on project execution; - The root cause(s) of the behavior in order to find ways to better manage change orders in future projects; The research was carried out at a leading KZN-based engineering consultancy using data from a recently completed project as a basis for the model. The research took the following approach and sequence: Introduction: In this section I present the dominant school of thought, the reductionist scientific perspective and its strengths. I then highlight the weakness of the school and present systems thinking as an alternative way of viewing life issues. I then propose system dynamics as one of the better methodologies that can help us understand a dynamic and non-linear system. Literature Survey: In this section I review literature on project management with the primary aim of highlighting that projects, regardless of size, are complex non-linear systems. I then cover literature on system dynamics with the aim of justifying my perspective, that it is suitable for application in the project management context. Research Methodology and Results Analysis: This section presents the methodology I followed in executing the research. The research process started off with extensive data reviewing from a recently completed project. It also covered conversations with the research participants in order to help me fully understand the project that was to be modelled. The data reviewing and interviews culminated in a group model building exercise where a number of “what if” scenarios were explored and discussed with the participants. The final stage of the research was to get the participants to respond to a post-modelling questionnaire. The outcomes from these processes were then used to answer the original research questions and to draw any additional insights. The resultant model can now be used as a learning tool for teaching clients of the unintended consequences that can result from issuing change orders. Conclusion: I then close off the research by concluding that change orders do have a non-linear impact on project execution and they require careful management. I then suggest that the best way to manage this is by educating all the project participants, especially the client of how their well meaning requests can be detrimental to the project if not well managed. Additionally it was surprising to all participants that for some reason, exploration of change orders that are not approved is rarely ever charged for. This “work for no pay” can negatively impact on the financial situation of the service provider which may have a knock-on effect to other areas of the project. Value: This research eventually revealed itself to be about learning to effectively lead a group modeling exercise and what pitfalls to look out for when creating models. There is great value for people interested in finding progressive and well informed ways for model building and managing change orders in projects. This system dynamics in project management research is grounded on the concepts of the learning organization and systems thinking as the core drivers. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.