D.Phil. / One of the principal reasons people form organisations is to focus attention and energy on a selected goal - this goal being the provisioning of products and/or services to clients. Due to forces demanding change, organisations are required to change to be able to continue their existence, making change unavoidable and part of the organisation's life cycle. The premise is that if change is unavoidable, it needs to be managed to serve the best interests of the organisation, thus the need for change management. Research indicates that 50 to 75% of all major corporate change efforts fail and that resistance is the "little-recognised but critically important contributor'' to the failure of change efforts, and central to the change problem. Also, central to the change problem and successful change management lie the following factors: • The reality that people tend to resist change. • The issue of measurement for change management intervention purposes. Research Objectives The objectives of this study are divided into literature and empirical research objectives, each posing primary and secondary objectives. The primary literature review objective is to create a theoretical frame of reference for the interrelated concepts of change, change management and barriers-to-change. The primary empirical research objective is to apply Barriers-to-Change Questionnaire (BCQ), developed in meeting the literature review objectives, to a Governmental service delivery type organisation with the purpose of determining which barriers-to-change is evident in such an environment. Literature Research A review of the literature revealed that there is no integrated view on change and barriers-to-change, but it also revealed that the concept of barriers-to-change has been prominent in organisational and management literature for quite some time. However, no evidence could be found of a measuring instrument focused on measuring barriers-to-change as a whole. During the literature research the concepts of organisational development, organisational change, change management, resistance to change and barriers-tochange were investigated, clarified and reported upon. The above-mentioned concepts were integrated into a theoretical frame of reference called the SCM, which served the purposes of providing a framework from where barriers-to-change can be understood, explained and managed as well as providing a firm base from where the BCQ was developed to measure barriers-to-change in a specific environment. It was concluded, for the purposes of this study, that barriers-to-change can be grouped into two types of barriers, being hard and soft. It was also concluded that there are four causes (or groupings) of barriers-to-change, being barriers inherent to the change project, people barriers, organisational barriers and barriers from the environment, each with specific sub-dimensions. Each sub dimension is supported by an appropriate number of questionnaire items, contained in the BCQ, which were administered to the target organisation.

M.Com. (Business Management) / "In the three short decades between now and the twenty first century, millions of ordinary, psychologically normal people will face an abrupt collision with the future. Citizens of the world's richest and most technically advanced nations, many of them, will find it increasingly painful to keep up with incessant demand for change that characterises our time." (Toftler, 1983:18.) More than ajlecade and a half has passed since Alvin Toffler wrote his best seller, Future Shock. The year 2000 is less than 10 years away. Future shock is something each of us lives with every day. Things change around us constantly - from there the saying: "the only constant in life is change". As individuals, our lives become more and more complicated. As managers, we face increasing pressure and uncertainty (Manning, 1987:1). One of the most important skills a manager can have in his of her repertoire these days is the skill to manage change (Burke et a/.,1991:87). Managers must manage today's business effectively while creating a new and radically different kind of business for tomorrow. It's a daunting task, but it's one that cannot be postponed - the future simply won't wait (Manning, 1987:1). Within the South African context great challenges face management. South Africa is faced with addressing major political, economic and social imbalances. Traditionally, the business community has often been reluctant to play an upfront role in the political realm. The business of business is business, was a commonly heard adage. In 1988, the formation of the Consultative Business Movement was a small sign that business was starting to take seriously it's role in a changing society (Eloff, 1992:12).

"This thesis investigates organizational change strategies for e-business transformation. It proposes an instrument to measure the strength of a company's organizational change capabilities to make this transformation. Most "brick and mortar" business in the year 2000 are faced with a massive wave of change associated with the Internet. It is impacting the fundamental rules of business and changing their relationship with customers, suppliers and how work gets done. Firms that successfully make an e-business transformation will be rewarded with growth and strong returns. Many of those who are unable to change will not survive in the long run. A fundamental issue in e-business transformation is disruptive organizational change. A review of the academic literature identifies ten dimensions of organizational change capability that can increase the probability that a company can make a successful disruptive organizational change. These include: emotional unifying vision; use of symbols; enabling the free flow of emotions; providing a transition to the past; creating a playful environment; change infrastructure; first line supervisor buy-in; project management; training; and the reward system. An expert panel was surveyed to get their opinion on the dimensions. Dimensions were added and altered based on these opinions. An instrument was proposed to uncover these dimensions. It was reviewed by an expert panel, and then was then edited based on their feedback. It was found that the opinions of the expert panel were highly correlated with the dimensions identified in the academic literature. The instrument has a reasonable chance to measure the strength of an organization's change capabilities to make an e-business transformation. Further research could apply this instrument with a representative group of companies to determine the strength of each dimension."

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Economics, 2001. / Bibliography: leaves 350-402.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 154-155).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-149).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-155). Also available in print.

Thesis (D.Psych.Ed.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

M.Comm. / Change is an ongoing process right around the globe. South Africa is even more subject to change as a result of socio-economic and political transformation. This community tendency affects the South African organisation intensely, and a need exists for comprehensive guidelines for the handling of this transformation process. There are few publications which are relevant to the field of organisation development in South Africa. In this literature study attention was firstly given to the theoretical description of the term organisation development, the works of a number of theorists were examined. In the second place the historical development of the study field of organisation development was researched and the progress over time was reflected. Five approaches to organisation development were identified as they developed chronologically, viz. (a) laboratory training, (b) survey research and feedback, (c) action research (d) quality of working life, and (e) strategic change as the most recent contribution. The conclusion was reached that all five approaches still have merit, and that not one can be summarily eliminated for current usage. In the third place the organisation development process was examined in detail. Theories and models addressing the nature of planned change were examined with a view to establishing a generic model of change. This model comprises four phases which are each discussed in reasonable depth, viz. (a) initialising and contracting, (b) diagnosing, (c) planning and implementation, and (d) evaluation and institutionalisation. In the fourth place the organisational development practitioner was closely examined and an attempt was made to identify the skills, knowledge and qualifications which distinguish successful practitioners from those who achieve less success. The broad South African socio-economic and political environment, with its differing community trends, was investigated in order to draw up a scenario within which the South African organisation development practitioner must function at present. A skills profile as well as basic guidelines for the successful practitioners were finally established. The conclusion was reached that the organisation development practitioner within the South African environment must possess expertise, additional to the identified skills profile of the international practitioner, in order to be effective.

This research sampled a group of 261 nurse managers to test the relationships among organizational structural variables and the utilization of nursing practice innovations. Subjects completed instruments that measured organizational complexity, centralization, formalization and the utilization of nursing practice innovations. Pearson correlations revealed a significant positive relationship between utilization of nursing practice innovations and individual perception of autonomy in decision-making. Within organizational centralization the decision-making components of organizational centralization entered into a multiple regression equation which explained 27% of the variance in utilization of nursing practice innovations, with total decision-making contributing the greatest amount of variance. Organizational complexity variables entered into a multiple regression equation which explained 2% of the variance in utilization of nursing practice innovations with the certification variable explaining the majority of the variance. Five variables related to organizational centralization and complexity together explained 28% of the variance in utilization of nursing practice innovations with the total decision-making variable explaining the majority of the variance.