In the current global market, companies are forming partnerships with other organisations with the aim of sustaining their competitive advantage. Most organisations participate in transactions such as mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures in order to maintain their competitive advantage (Sorge, 2002). South Africa forms part of the global market and is not immune towards the stipulated growth strategies. It is believed that South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rate internationally (Human Capital Mangement, 2005). There are various reasons that have contributed towards this perception; factors such as structural changes in the labour market have been highlighted as one of the factors that have contributed to the high unemployment rate (HCM, 2005). It is further said that when mergers and acquisitions occurs, structural changes are bound to occur (Greeve, 2008). Despite the constant merger activities that are occurring in various industries, research has shown that most mergers add no value or reduce shareholders value for the acquiring firm (Kusewitt, 2007). The primary objective of this research is to investigate how organisational behaviour is influenced in an acquired firm.There seems to be high level of uncertainity, trust and communication breakdown amoung employees of Kansai Plascon. This research will investigate whether this perception is related to the acquisition transaction that has occurred. The study will collect its primary data using a set of questionnaires that will be distributed to the employees of Kansai Plascon. The data will be analysed and interpreted.

The research component of the study was undertaken in two global industries locally. The pilot study was conducted in the airline industry. Due to the very nature of an Airline as a global operator in the service industry, the choice of the Airline Industry as research domain was logical. There exists an expectation that because of the global activities an Airline takes part in and global services that it offers, it should be exceptionally positioned to embrace globalisation and its accompanying shaping forces and trends.

National Ports Authority of South Africa (NPASA) adopted and declared its commitment to a set of eleven corporate values, included them in their performance management toolkit and regarded them as the organizational driving force. It was therefore important that a study to determine how these values have been embraced is conducted. This is critical since the organization might think that having corporate values equates to being a value based organization. In most cases, senior leadership has an impression that all is well in the organization and most if not all employees are indeed committed to these corporate values. The study was therefore aimed at critically reviewing the corporate values with the focus being on the perception of employees. The perception of employees is an ideal measure on determining whether NPASA is gaining ground on its strategic drive of being a value based organization. The perception held by employees has a bearing on the organizational performance. It is indeed critical that organizations communicate and listen honestly to the opinion of staff as they are integral in driving business. A questionnaire on the set corporate values of NPASA was developed to allow the employees to choose whether they agree or disagree with the given statements. The statements in the questionnaire were linked to the research objectives. The study has found that the employees do perceive NPASA as a value driven organization and are of the opinion that their experiences as staff members are in keeping with the professed corporate values. The employees have shown an understanding of the values and saw the enactment of corporate values as bringing positive developments to the organization. The employees have also indicated to NPASA what needs to be done so as to facilitate and encourage commitment to corporate values. The study concludes that the majority of employees are generally identifying with the set corporate values. Although the employees are embracing and showing commitment to the current corporate values, it is still critical that NPASA continue to review, facilitate and encourage commitment from all its employees. The employees of NPASA are of diverse background and the perception that their, organization is driven by corporate values is a positive achievement for the organization. Corporate values bring these, employees together and the belief that NPASA is value driven assist in building commitment to the organization which ultimately translates to better performance. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

Modern organizations require new structural forms to cope with uncertainties arising from the challenges of global competition and rapid technological and environmental changes (Clarke and Clegg, 1998). One of the most important developments in the area of planned change has been on how to work with large systems so as to initiate and sustain change over time. It was from such contexts that the matrix concept emerged. During the 1950s the term matrix emerged in the United States aerospace industry and, as it has developed through the years, the term has come to be accepted in both business and academic circles. In the 1960s the matrix was sought as a fundamental alternative for dealing with unique management problems of coordination, communication and control (Davis and Lawrence, 1977). In the 1970s and 1980s interest in matrix organizational structures peaked. Since that time, research and literature on the matrix has diminished; contrarily, organizations continue to adopt the matrix as a viable alternative to deal with their increasingly complex business environment. In the recent past, some of the companies that applied a complex global matrix structure have included Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Zurich (1991); Brown & Root (BR), UK (1999); Hatch (1999) – Formerly BHPE and Kaiser mergers; IMC (1999); Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), (1999); and Sinclair Knight and Merz (SKM), (2002). These companies have used matrix structures to achieve worldwide economies of scale, combined with local flexibility and responsiveness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of political theories of organizations in major international companies that have implemented matrix structure, with a focus that includes identifying: i. The key factors behind the strategic decision to change the corporate organization in international companies to a matrix structure. ii. The weaknesses and strengths of these matrix structures for subsequent organizational performance. iii. The effects of transition to matrix structure on organizational performance. iv. The factors used to maintain a power balance between divisions. v. A model that seeks to diminish or reduce matrix structure weaknesses to increase organizational effectiveness. The research was conducted in the form of a questionnaire survey and semistructured interviews. To illustrate the implementation of the matrix structure that occurred in a real world environment, SKM has been researched as an intensive case study. Preface As a professional engineer I have had opportunities to be involved with major projects in various international organizations. I have also had opportunities to observe organizations and to analyse their operations by exploring existing procedures and manuals. It was noticeable that the overall success of the projects relied very much on organizational decision making. This observation led my paradigm shift from projects to organizational studies and to the idea of conducting research that aims to investigate the weaknesses and strengths of matrix structures for organizational performance. Introduction Thesis structure This thesis presents a detailed account of the research activities undertaken by Nursen Saracoglu and the outcomes of that research. The purpose of this research is to investigate the validity of political theories of organizations in major international companies that have implemented matrix structure. Data has been collected using a combination of methods, including questionnaires, semistructured interviews, and direct examination of library catalogues and databases. The structure of this thesis is designed as follows: Chapter 1 introduces, and describes the background to the research project. The theories that provide a background to the various factors involved in organizations choosing to change to matrix structures, and the resulting positive and negative effects on the organization, are presented in this chapter. Chapters 2 reviews and analyses the literature review that has been conducted to focus, especially, on how changes to the structure and design of power in matrix organizations can have important implications and consequences. The literature review looks in detail at different organizational theories, particularly theories on power within organizations, which have a bearing on the effect of a matrix structure on an organization. Each theory is critiqued in terms of its relevance to matrix structure analysis. Strategic Contingencies Theory (SCT) and Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) best explain the effect of different levels of power inside a matrix structure. Chapter 3 details the research design and methodology. This chapter describes the advantages and disadvantages of quantitative and qualitative approaches and presents the rationale of selecting research methodology. The participating organization, SKM, is described in terms of its history and its matrix structure is outlined. Chapter 4 illustrates the results of research that defines potential areas of concern associated with matrix structures. The discussion mainly centres on the methods used to analyse the data and then focuses on the different dependent and independent variables derived from the data that are used in the analysis for correlation purposes. The aim of this chapter is to explain the various statistics used to analyse the data and to list the variables that came up as a result of answers to questionnaire. These variables are then analysed against each other in order to develop a sense of the effectiveness of the matrix structure in SKM. In Chapter 5 the qualitative data was examined using the responses obtained from interviews with the top managers of SKM. This chapter aims to identify the themes that have emerged from these interview responses and present them in order of most to least common within each area of research, illustrated with comments from some of the respondents. Chapter 6 discusses the survey and interview results in order to exploit quantitative findings to identify patterning in qualitative data. In parallel with SCT and RDT, the relationship between power and performance in matrix organizations is presented. The new concepts that emerged based on the research findings are introduced and discussed according to the relevance to the research objectives. Chapter 7 This chapter concludes the research and presents research limitations, boundaries, the contribution to the body of knowledge and a summary of future research opportunities. The case studies give a sense of how various elements of Matrix structure that outlined in this research were actually applied by other particular organizations are exhibited in Appendix A.

Modern organizations require new structural forms to cope with uncertainties arising from the challenges of global competition and rapid technological and environmental changes (Clarke and Clegg, 1998). One of the most important developments in the area of planned change has been on how to work with large systems so as to initiate and sustain change over time. It was from such contexts that the matrix concept emerged. During the 1950s the term matrix emerged in the United States aerospace industry and, as it has developed through the years, the term has come to be accepted in both business and academic circles. In the 1960s the matrix was sought as a fundamental alternative for dealing with unique management problems of coordination, communication and control (Davis and Lawrence, 1977). In the 1970s and 1980s interest in matrix organizational structures peaked. Since that time, research and literature on the matrix has diminished; contrarily, organizations continue to adopt the matrix as a viable alternative to deal with their increasingly complex business environment. In the recent past, some of the companies that applied a complex global matrix structure have included Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Zurich (1991); Brown & Root (BR), UK (1999); Hatch (1999) – Formerly BHPE and Kaiser mergers; IMC (1999); Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), (1999); and Sinclair Knight and Merz (SKM), (2002). These companies have used matrix structures to achieve worldwide economies of scale, combined with local flexibility and responsiveness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of political theories of organizations in major international companies that have implemented matrix structure, with a focus that includes identifying: i. The key factors behind the strategic decision to change the corporate organization in international companies to a matrix structure. ii. The weaknesses and strengths of these matrix structures for subsequent organizational performance. iii. The effects of transition to matrix structure on organizational performance. iv. The factors used to maintain a power balance between divisions. v. A model that seeks to diminish or reduce matrix structure weaknesses to increase organizational effectiveness. The research was conducted in the form of a questionnaire survey and semistructured interviews. To illustrate the implementation of the matrix structure that occurred in a real world environment, SKM has been researched as an intensive case study. Preface As a professional engineer I have had opportunities to be involved with major projects in various international organizations. I have also had opportunities to observe organizations and to analyse their operations by exploring existing procedures and manuals. It was noticeable that the overall success of the projects relied very much on organizational decision making. This observation led my paradigm shift from projects to organizational studies and to the idea of conducting research that aims to investigate the weaknesses and strengths of matrix structures for organizational performance. Introduction Thesis structure This thesis presents a detailed account of the research activities undertaken by Nursen Saracoglu and the outcomes of that research. The purpose of this research is to investigate the validity of political theories of organizations in major international companies that have implemented matrix structure. Data has been collected using a combination of methods, including questionnaires, semistructured interviews, and direct examination of library catalogues and databases. The structure of this thesis is designed as follows: Chapter 1 introduces, and describes the background to the research project. The theories that provide a background to the various factors involved in organizations choosing to change to matrix structures, and the resulting positive and negative effects on the organization, are presented in this chapter. Chapters 2 reviews and analyses the literature review that has been conducted to focus, especially, on how changes to the structure and design of power in matrix organizations can have important implications and consequences. The literature review looks in detail at different organizational theories, particularly theories on power within organizations, which have a bearing on the effect of a matrix structure on an organization. Each theory is critiqued in terms of its relevance to matrix structure analysis. Strategic Contingencies Theory (SCT) and Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) best explain the effect of different levels of power inside a matrix structure. Chapter 3 details the research design and methodology. This chapter describes the advantages and disadvantages of quantitative and qualitative approaches and presents the rationale of selecting research methodology. The participating organization, SKM, is described in terms of its history and its matrix structure is outlined. Chapter 4 illustrates the results of research that defines potential areas of concern associated with matrix structures. The discussion mainly centres on the methods used to analyse the data and then focuses on the different dependent and independent variables derived from the data that are used in the analysis for correlation purposes. The aim of this chapter is to explain the various statistics used to analyse the data and to list the variables that came up as a result of answers to questionnaire. These variables are then analysed against each other in order to develop a sense of the effectiveness of the matrix structure in SKM. In Chapter 5 the qualitative data was examined using the responses obtained from interviews with the top managers of SKM. This chapter aims to identify the themes that have emerged from these interview responses and present them in order of most to least common within each area of research, illustrated with comments from some of the respondents. Chapter 6 discusses the survey and interview results in order to exploit quantitative findings to identify patterning in qualitative data. In parallel with SCT and RDT, the relationship between power and performance in matrix organizations is presented. The new concepts that emerged based on the research findings are introduced and discussed according to the relevance to the research objectives. Chapter 7 This chapter concludes the research and presents research limitations, boundaries, the contribution to the body of knowledge and a summary of future research opportunities. The case studies give a sense of how various elements of Matrix structure that outlined in this research were actually applied by other particular organizations are exhibited in Appendix A.

Modern organizations require new structural forms to cope with uncertainties arising from the challenges of global competition and rapid technological and environmental changes (Clarke and Clegg, 1998). One of the most important developments in the area of planned change has been on how to work with large systems so as to initiate and sustain change over time. It was from such contexts that the matrix concept emerged. During the 1950s the term matrix emerged in the United States aerospace industry and, as it has developed through the years, the term has come to be accepted in both business and academic circles. In the 1960s the matrix was sought as a fundamental alternative for dealing with unique management problems of coordination, communication and control (Davis and Lawrence, 1977). In the 1970s and 1980s interest in matrix organizational structures peaked. Since that time, research and literature on the matrix has diminished; contrarily, organizations continue to adopt the matrix as a viable alternative to deal with their increasingly complex business environment. In the recent past, some of the companies that applied a complex global matrix structure have included Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Zurich (1991); Brown & Root (BR), UK (1999); Hatch (1999) – Formerly BHPE and Kaiser mergers; IMC (1999); Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), (1999); and Sinclair Knight and Merz (SKM), (2002). These companies have used matrix structures to achieve worldwide economies of scale, combined with local flexibility and responsiveness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of political theories of organizations in major international companies that have implemented matrix structure, with a focus that includes identifying: i. The key factors behind the strategic decision to change the corporate organization in international companies to a matrix structure. ii. The weaknesses and strengths of these matrix structures for subsequent organizational performance. iii. The effects of transition to matrix structure on organizational performance. iv. The factors used to maintain a power balance between divisions. v. A model that seeks to diminish or reduce matrix structure weaknesses to increase organizational effectiveness. The research was conducted in the form of a questionnaire survey and semistructured interviews. To illustrate the implementation of the matrix structure that occurred in a real world environment, SKM has been researched as an intensive case study. Preface As a professional engineer I have had opportunities to be involved with major projects in various international organizations. I have also had opportunities to observe organizations and to analyse their operations by exploring existing procedures and manuals. It was noticeable that the overall success of the projects relied very much on organizational decision making. This observation led my paradigm shift from projects to organizational studies and to the idea of conducting research that aims to investigate the weaknesses and strengths of matrix structures for organizational performance. Introduction Thesis structure This thesis presents a detailed account of the research activities undertaken by Nursen Saracoglu and the outcomes of that research. The purpose of this research is to investigate the validity of political theories of organizations in major international companies that have implemented matrix structure. Data has been collected using a combination of methods, including questionnaires, semistructured interviews, and direct examination of library catalogues and databases. The structure of this thesis is designed as follows: Chapter 1 introduces, and describes the background to the research project. The theories that provide a background to the various factors involved in organizations choosing to change to matrix structures, and the resulting positive and negative effects on the organization, are presented in this chapter. Chapters 2 reviews and analyses the literature review that has been conducted to focus, especially, on how changes to the structure and design of power in matrix organizations can have important implications and consequences. The literature review looks in detail at different organizational theories, particularly theories on power within organizations, which have a bearing on the effect of a matrix structure on an organization. Each theory is critiqued in terms of its relevance to matrix structure analysis. Strategic Contingencies Theory (SCT) and Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) best explain the effect of different levels of power inside a matrix structure. Chapter 3 details the research design and methodology. This chapter describes the advantages and disadvantages of quantitative and qualitative approaches and presents the rationale of selecting research methodology. The participating organization, SKM, is described in terms of its history and its matrix structure is outlined. Chapter 4 illustrates the results of research that defines potential areas of concern associated with matrix structures. The discussion mainly centres on the methods used to analyse the data and then focuses on the different dependent and independent variables derived from the data that are used in the analysis for correlation purposes. The aim of this chapter is to explain the various statistics used to analyse the data and to list the variables that came up as a result of answers to questionnaire. These variables are then analysed against each other in order to develop a sense of the effectiveness of the matrix structure in SKM. In Chapter 5 the qualitative data was examined using the responses obtained from interviews with the top managers of SKM. This chapter aims to identify the themes that have emerged from these interview responses and present them in order of most to least common within each area of research, illustrated with comments from some of the respondents. Chapter 6 discusses the survey and interview results in order to exploit quantitative findings to identify patterning in qualitative data. In parallel with SCT and RDT, the relationship between power and performance in matrix organizations is presented. The new concepts that emerged based on the research findings are introduced and discussed according to the relevance to the research objectives. Chapter 7 This chapter concludes the research and presents research limitations, boundaries, the contribution to the body of knowledge and a summary of future research opportunities. The case studies give a sense of how various elements of Matrix structure that outlined in this research were actually applied by other particular organizations are exhibited in Appendix A.

Organisational climate, as represented by the aggregation of the perceptions of the individual employees within the organisation, has been the focus of considerable empirical research that can be traced back to the work of Lewin, Lippit and White (1939).The debate around organisational climate research, concentrates on the methodological issue of how the construct of such climate can be translated into an indicator of organisational effectiveness. Schneider and Bowen (1985), Bacayan and White (1993) have provided evidence that a worthy and functional organisational climate does have a positive effect upon service outcomes and hence improves organisational success. The study examines the influence of organisational participants’ perception of work environment on job performance in a sample of employees within the various departments of Transnet National Ports Authority. The paper presents that the perception of organisational climate has a significant effect on job performance of some employees while it is not so for others. The research sample consists of 71 employees working in the marine and operations, engineering, human resource, marketing and legal departments. One questionnaire was designed by the researcher to measure organisational climate and the effectiveness of job performance. The climate dimensions of communication, management and supervision, reward and recognition and training are significantly related to job performance. The research consisted of the organisational climate and job performance literature and the subsequent link between these two constructs within Transnet National Ports Authority. In conclusion the report presents the authors findings, conclusions and recommendations derived from the study.

This thesis addresses the problem of the influence of a control system on the behaviour of an actor in a social or socio-technical system. In particular, the influence of a performance measurement mechanism on the behaviour of an actor and on the development of workarounds is being studied. <br /><br /> Current literature on those topics generally addresses only selected and rather obvious reasons for the existence of dysfunctional behaviour or the workarounds. However, no precise models of the cognitive processes or the explanation of the mechanisms, which govern this problem, are proposed in a satisfactory manner. In addition, most researchers have focused only on the system?s point of view of the task, paying less attention to the actors? perception of that task. Furthermore, the existing body of work mainly uses a case study format to explain the phenomenon or to validate the proposed solutions and theories. <br /><br /> In this thesis, the problem of the influence control system on the behaviour of the actor is framed in terms of four major concepts: (1) the concept of complexity of the task not being fully captured by the performance measurement mechanism; (2) the concept of an actor perceiving that extra complexity is not being captured by the system and thus choosing alternate paths other than the system-prescribed path; (3) the concept of a network of valence forces associated with alternate paths; and finally, (4) the concept of similarity judgment between the alternative paths and the system-prescribed path based on the actor?s model of the control system?s point of view. <br /><br /> This thesis develops the theoretical framework for analyzing and understanding the issues of dysfunctional behaviour and workarounds. It also presents an empirical experimental study in support of the theoretical discussion and the hypothesis. The experiment examines subjects? rating of quality, defined as a degree of similarity to a target object, of several objects on a page under various performance measurement conditions. The stimulus used for experiment was made up of two dimensional quadrangle figures, including rectangle, parallelograms and trapezes, in various shades of red colour.

With social structure and technology rapidly changing, business globalisation has been regarded as a worldwide trend. While there have been many cases and literature on management of culture integration for merger and acquisition from a Western perspective, few have discussed cultural integration in an Asian context. This study provides a case study of cultural integration strategies Lenovo has undertaken to manage employees from both teams after the M&A. It adopts a semi-structure face-to-face interview research method, which 5 participants were selected from the culture integration committee for interview. During the interview, each participant answered the questions from their perspective of the job position they are currently in. The method would enhance the quality of the research as it looks into the problems and strategy that Lenovo has encountered and undertaken from various points of view. However, as no employees from IBM PC-D on the committee were available to participate in the research, it might place some limitations on the research simply because IBM team’s opinions were not taken into account. After analysing the results obtained from the participants, the researcher found that there were several motives for Lenovo to acquire IBM PC-D, including: - 1) internationalization, 2) acquiring technology and skills, 3) acquiring a brand, 4) obtaining access to new customers, 5) increase bargaining position to suppliers. Among these five motives, acquiring brand was considered to be the most important motive. As Chinese product has always been marketed at the lower end of the product line with low costs and poor quality, acquiring IBM’s brand would enable Lenovo to boost its product image and to gain access to customers outside the Chinese market. In managing two teams within the organisation, Lenovo has taken very few steps to integrate two teams into one. Instead, a separate management mode was encouraged by Lenovo to allow IBM PC-D to maintain its own management system and procedures. In addition, a culture integration committee was voluntarily set up by employees from various departments to design initiatives to encourage communication between two teams. When problems arise due to the difference between two teams, Lenovo has adopted an accommodation strategy by making adjustments to the work schedule of its employee in the Lenovo team in order to accommodate employees in IBM team. As a result, it has increased the workload for staff in Lenovo team and this may thus lead to stress and work-life imbalance to its employees. Overall, the strategy that Lenovo has adopted to manage two teams seems to have worked well and the culture integration committee appears to have served well in encouraging the communication between two teams. On the other hand, as the participants in the interview were not directly involved with the designing and crafting the strategy of culture integration, that might have some limitation on the result. Therefore, it is suggested that further research can be done to capture the opinion from members that are directly involved in the design of culture integration strategy as well as teams from IBM PC-D in order to ensure a well provided empirical and consistent view.

Most of the empirical and theoretical work on organizations has dealt with large and structurally complex corporations. Small firms, however, are increasingly common and contribute in important ways to our society, economically, politically and socially. Can we really do research on small firms using our traditional understanding of organizations? Is it not necessary to treat small firms as a special form of organization, fundamentally different from large companies? If they are special, in what way do they differ from larger companies? This dissertation concerns the nature of small firms from a managerial perspective. Intensive empirical studies of organizational processes in two small growing firms are employed to build up a proposal for a new set of concepts with which we can better describe and analyze small firm behavior. Equipped with these concepts the author analyzes three central topics: Does small firms have special small scale advantages? Does increased firm size pose a threat to these advantages? Can these advantages be reproduced in large corporations? The reader will be offered a perspective in which the small firm is more than a firm. It is a person making a great performance,