It has been the desire of the ANC government ever since it came to power in 1994 to develop a unity of purpose and spirit that cherishes and celebrates the diverse nature of the South African population in terms of culture, language and religion and to transform existing inequalities that are deep-rooted in South African educational history and religion in particular. In order to satisfy this desire, a whole plethora of legislation and policies was developed. Amongst the developments entailed in these laws and policies were religious rights and freedoms guaranteed to all South Africans as well as the establishment of democratic structures vested with powers to govern schools while school principals manage them. In terms of education legislation, one of the functions of the governing body of a school is to develop and adopt a school policy on religion (as per the study) which is accordingly implemented by the school principal. It is in the policy implementation stage that the school principal is expected to play a mediating role and resolve possible conflicts erupting due to different religious interestThis study is based on the assumption that the management and leadership training they received and the position they hold as school managers and leaders, enabled participating school principals to mediate the implementation of new religion policies. The research question driving this study was “How do school principals deal with implementation of the National Policy on Religion and Education in schools?” Informed by this question the focus of the study was to explore “how principals describe and experience their mediating role in implementing the religion policy within an existing religious context in schools”. Following a qualitative research approach a phenomenological research design was employed in order to understand and describe the meaning of the lived, felt and narrated experiences of school principals. Data were collected by means of narrative interviews where twelve school principals pursuing postgraduate studies with the University of Pretoria and who have been in education for at least ten years, told their religion in education stories. These stories were subsequently transcribed, analysed and interpreted to determine the impact of principals’ past religious experiences and their management training on their implementation of religion policies at their schools. This study found that in dealing with the National Policy on Religion and Policy (2003) implementation in schools, participating principals ignore the policy in preference of maintaining the status quo. When faced with conflicts related to religious interests, they partially sub-contracted into the policy. They did not seem to consider transformative mediation as a possible leadership strategy for conflict resolution in the existing religious context of schools. The study also found that amongst these principals, there were those who displayed a confident attitude, values of openness, generosity and integrity and had used their past religious experiences to transform the quality of conflict interaction in schools. My recommendation in this regard would therefore be threefold. One, Higher Education Institutions should provide appropriate training by introducing suitable courses that will yield adequate knowledge, skills and opportunities for professional attitude, value attainment and determination for continuous learning and development to principals as key change agents. Two, there is a need for these organizations to re-evaluate and re-organise existing courses for better recognition of transformative mediation as a leadership strategy to conflict resolution in schools. The provincial departments of education need to provide appropriate training for prospective principals as part of professional development programmes to address the essential needs pertaining to policy implementation that could create conflict in schools. Training in mediation of conflict would therefore be essential. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2013 / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Some managers view innovative product development and convenient service delivery as necessary to business survival. However, unmotivated employees might negate any gains from the use of innovation. The purpose of this correlational study, grounded in diffusion of innovation theory, was to assess the relationship between creativity and support for innovation, resistance to change, and organizational commitment and employee motivation. A random sample of 81 information technology (IT) professionals from telecom service centers completed an online survey. Simultaneous multiple linear regression was the statistical technique used to analyze these data. The results indicated a poor model with low R2 to significantly predicted employee motivation, F (3, 78) = 5.481, p < .002, R2 = .174. In the final model, support for creativity and innovation were significant contributors to employees' motivation. Resistance to change was not a significant predictor to employees' motivation. Although the p-value was significant, the R2 was low and indicated a poor model fit. Future researchers might consider incorporating additional variables to make the model more useful. The implications for positive social change include the potential to enhance telecom managers' understanding of the factors that affect employee motivation; however, managers should consider incorporating additional variables specific to the work environment. Ultimately, a manager's ability to motivate workers is vital for implementing change, particularly when the introduction of technological innovation frequently occurs within an industry. .

Failure accompanies most organizational change efforts. Change agents' efforts focus on employee resistance or readiness to change without considering employee ambivalence. Motivational interviewing (MI) may reduce ambivalence and improve the success rate of organizational change initiatives. The purpose of this experimental research was to evaluate the effectiveness of MI to increase readiness to organizational change, to assess the influence of MI on change-related beliefs, and to investigate the relationship between beliefs and readiness to change. The theoretical framework was the transtheoretical model of change, the theory of planned behavior, and social cognitive theory. Through random assignment, 56 employees of a company undergoing change and located in the Midwest region of the United States populated the experimental and control groups. Members of the experimental group participated in 3 motivational interviewing sessions over a 30-day period. Participants indicated their readiness and underlying change-related beliefs by completing the Job Change Ladder and the Organizational Change Recipients' Belief Scale. Within and between group differences from a mixed ANOVA revealed that MI significantly increased readiness to change. There was not a significant difference between the beliefs of both groups as indicated by the results of the MANOVA test. Participants' beliefs explained readiness to change as evidenced by the results from the use of multiple regression. The findings indicate that leaders of organizational and societal change initiatives could incorporate MI to prepare individuals and groups to embrace the change process, thereby improving the chances that the change initiative will be successful.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att analysera vilket bemötande arbetstagare inom privat tjänstesektor i Sverige önskar av arbetsledningen inför en kommande organisationsförändring. Följande forskningsfrågor bevaras: Vilka psykologiska bakomliggande faktorer indikerar motstånd mot förändring bland arbetstagare inom privat tjänstesektor i Sverige Vad anser dessa arbetstagare vara ett bra bemötande av företagsledningen inför en kommande organisationsförändring Metod: Denna studie har en kvantitativ ansats genom en enkätundersökning där resultatet av undersökningen analyserats med hjälp av explorativ faktoranalys. Undersökningen genomfördes med 171 arbetstagare inom privat tjänstesektor i Sverige. I ett led att skapa en nyans till studien förekommer det kvalitativa inslag som grundar sig i en innehållsanalys av kommentarer skapade via en fritext-fråga i enkäten. Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet av denna studie visar att de psykologiskt bakomliggande faktorerna som indikerar förändringsmotstånd är: Känslorna styr inför en förändring, Konsekvent och principfast, Rutiner är av godo samt Nuet är viktigare än framtiden. Resultatet visar även att inför en förändring önskar arbetstagare följande bemötande av arbetsledningen: En tydlig och transparent kommunikation, Förberedelse med information i god tid, En öppen dialog och delaktighet i förändringsprocessen samt En socialt stödjande miljö som främjar trygghet och framtidstro. Examensarbetets bidrag: Denna studie har bidragit till att validera användandet av modellen “The Resistance to Change-scale". Resultatet av studien visar på att modellen kan användas som ett verktyg för att utreda hur arbetstagare inom privat tjänstesektor i Sverige kommer reagera på olika sätt inför en kommande organisationsförändring. Ytterligare ett bidrag är att resultatet av studien visar på att en tydlig, inbjudande och transparant kommunikation är av vikt för att förebygga uppkomsten av negativt förändringsmotstånd. Ledningen bör beakta de fyra kommunikationsstrategierna för att skapa ett informationsutbyte som passar alla individer i en organisation. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Förståelsen för fenomenet förändringsmotstånd är långt från färdigutvecklat och vi ser att det finns olika inriktningar framtida forskning kan ta för att utveckla förståelsen för ämnet. RTC-skalan behöver användas som ett verktyg i andra populationer för att testa skalans tillförlitlighet. Vi ser även att framtida forskning kan beröra hur en arbetstagares mående utanför arbetet påverkar dennes benägenhet att mer eller mindre uppvisa organisatoriskt förändringsmotstånd. Ett sista förslag är att koppla samman RTC-skalan med förändringskurvan (Five Stages of Grief). / Aim: The purpose of this study is to analyze what kind of treatment employees within the private service sector in Sweden seek from management before an upcoming organizational change. The research questions to be answered are: Which psychological underlying factors indicate resistance to change among employees in the private service sector in Sweden? What do these employees consider to be a good treatment from the management in the face of an upcoming organizational change? Method: This study has a quantitative approach through a survey where the results of the survey were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. The survey was conducted with 171 employees in the private service sector in Sweden. In order to provide nuance to the study, there is a qualitative element based on a content analysis of comments created via a free-text question in the survey. Results and conclusions: The results of this study show that the psychological underlying factors that indicate resistance to change are: Emotions rule before a change, Consistent and principled, Routines are good and The present is more important than the future. The results also show that before an organizational change, employees want the following treatment from management: Clear and transparent communication, Preparation with information in good time, An open dialogue and participation in the change process and A socially supportive environment that promotes security and belief in the future. Contribution of the thesis: This study has contributed to validating the use of the model "The Resistance to Change-scale" as a tool to investigate how employees in the private service sector in Sweden will react in different ways to an upcoming organizational change. A further contribution is that the results of the study show that clear, inviting and transparent communication is important to prevent the emergence of negative resistance to change. Management should consider the four communication strategies to create an information exchange that suits all individuals in an organization. Suggestions for future research: The understanding of the phenomenon of resistance to change is far from fully developed, and we see that there are therefore different directions that future research can take to continue developing the understanding of the subject. The RTC scale needs to be used as a tool in other populations to test the reliability of the scale. We also see that future research can refer to how an employee's mood outside of work affects their tendency to show more or less resistance to organizational change. A final suggestion is to connect the RTC scale with the change curve (Five Stages of Grief).

Sammanfattning Titel: Medarbetarnas förståelse – avgörande för framgångsrika förändringar Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Eva-Lisa Blom och Victor Hildesson Handledare: Emilia Kvarnström Datum: 2024 – januari Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för hur medarbetare upplever en förändringsprocess på arbetsplatsen. Med fokus på kommunikation, ledarskap och medarbetarnas möjlighet till att komma med feedback, förväntas studien ge svar på hur dessa faktorer påverkar medarbetarnas upplevelse av förändringen, och hur brister i dessa kan skapa motstånd. Metod: Resultatet av denna studie bygger på en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts för att samla in empirin. Det empiriska materialet innefattar totalt nio intervjuer med medarbetare på en arbetsplats som nyligen genomgått en större förändring. Medarbetarna har svarat på frågor relaterade till denna förändring för att återge deras egen uppfattning om hur den upplevts. Därefter har det empiriska materialet kodats och bearbetats för att hitta likheter och skillnader i hur medarbetarna har upplevt förändringen. Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet visar att det förekommer en skillnad i hur medarbetarna har upplevt förändringen. Resultatet visar också på att samtliga medarbetare i studien har sett förändringsprocessen som något positivt, men att kommunikationen och informationen mellan ledningen och medarbetarna var bristfällig. Medarbetarna hade önskat mer direkt kommunikation, mer information och många menade att de inte fått vara med och bestämma, trots att det är just medarbetarna som har bättre koll på hur arbetet utförs ”på golvet”. Vad gäller ledarskapet så upplever en majoritet av medarbetarna att det är bättre nu än tidigare, och att det utgörs av egenskaper som att lyssna, bry sig om, och att vara närvarande. Medarbetarna uppger också att många tidigare kollegor sagt upp sig i samband med förändringen, och att det beror på att de inte var nöjda med vad den skulle leda till och att de upplevde att de inte fick vara med. Dessa medarbetare har dessvärre inte haft möjlighet att delta i denna studie. Examensarbetets bidrag: Detta arbete har bidragit med både teoretiska och praktiska insikter för det företagsekonomiska ämnet. Studien styrker befintliga teorier kring att medarbetare värdesätter tydlig kommunikation och möjligheten till att vara delaktiga i en förändringsprocess. Studien visar också att brister i kommunikation och delaktighet inte spelar lika stor roll när medarbetarna själva ser behovet av en förändring, och därför inte uppvisar något större motstånd mot förändring. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: För vidare forskning finns intresse för att inkludera de medarbetare som sagt upp sig på grund av missnöjda med förändringen. Samt intresse för att genomföra en komparativ studie för att se hur medarbetarnas åsikter skiljer sig från ledningens. Nyckelord: förändringsprocess, kommunikation, ledarskap, feedback, medarbetarperspektiv, motstånd till förändring / Abstract Title: Employees ́ understanding - crucial for successful changes Level: Bachelor's degree thesis in business administration Authors: Eva-Lisa Blom and Victor Hildesson Supervisor: Emilia Kvarnström Date: 2024 – January Aim: The aim of this study is to increase the understanding of how employees experience a change at the workplace. With focus on communication, leadership and the employees’ opportunity to provide feedback, it is expected to study how these factors affect the employees’ experience, and how deficiencies in these can create resistance. Method: The result of this study is based on a qualitative method where semi-structured interviews have been conducted to collect the empirical evidence. The empirical material includes a total of nine interviews with employees at a workplace that has recently undergone a major change. Employees have answered questions related to this change to reflect their own perception of how it was experienced. The empirical material has then been coded and processed to find similarities and differences in how the employees have experienced the change. Results and conclusions: The result shows that there is a difference in how the employees have experienced the change. The results also show that all employees in the study have seen the change as something positive, but that the communication and information between management and employees was insufficient. The employees had wanted more direct communication, more information and many believed that they were not allowed to participate in making decisions, even though it is the employees who have better control of how the work is carried out "on the floor". As for the leadership, most of the employees feel that it is better now than before, and that it consists of qualities such as listening, caring and being present.The employees also state that many former colleagues resigned at the beginning of the change, because they were not satisfied with what it would lead to and that they felt that they were not allowed to participate. Unfortunately, these employees have not had the opportunity to participate in this study. Contribution of the thesis: This work has contributed with both theoretical and practical insights for the business economics subject. The study confirms existing theories about employees valuing clear communication and the opportunity to be involved in a change process. The study also shows that deficiencies in communication and participation are offset by the fact that the employees themselves see the need for a change, and therefore do not show any major resistance to change. Suggestions for future research: For further research, there is interest in including the employees who resigned due to dissatisfaction with the change. As well as interest in conducting a comparative study to see how employees' opinions differ from managements. Key words: change process, communication, leadership, feedback, employee perspective, resistance to change

En stor bidragande faktor till miljöproblem som global uppvärmning och icke förnybar resursförbrukning är aktiviteter inom fastighetsbranschen. Det beräknas att 40% av all världens koldioxidutsläpp produceras av byggnader samtidigt ses miljöcertifiering av fastigheter som en del av lösningen för att sänka mängden koldioxid och nå hållbar utveckling. Miljöcertifieringar för med sig en rad fördelar, bland annat en minskad användning av naturresurser och ett högre fastighetsvärde. Trots de fördelar som miljöcertifiering för med sig är knappt 1% av det svenska fastighetsbeståndet certifierat. Studiens syfte är att bidra till kunskap rörande vilka barriärer som föreligger samt hur de kan mildras på den svenska fastighetsmarknaden. Denna studie bidrar med unikt material eftersom tidigare forskning är bristfällig på den svensk fastighetsmarknaden. Studien är av mixad metod och använder sig av en kvantitativ online-enkätundersökning samt en intervjustudie om 3 respondenter från den svenska fastighetsmarknaden. Enkätundersökningen utgick från tidigare internationell forskning och intervjustudien möjliggjorde en mer djupgående analys kring den svenska marknaden. De svenska aktörerna i studien ansåg att Brist på efterfrågan hos konsumenter, Höga Kostnader, Låg miljömedvetenhet hos konsumenter och Brist på statliga incitament var barriärer på den svenska fastighetsmarknaden. Brist på tid och extra administrativt arbete identifierades som nya barriärer som inte har blivit belysts i tidigare forskning. Studien visar även på att barriärer kan mitigeras genom företagsstrategier där svenska aktörer automatiserar och standardiserar sina arbetssätt utifrån de krav som miljöcertifikat ställer. / A major contributing factor to environmental problems such as global warming and non-renewable resource consumption are activities in the real estate industry. It is estimated that 40% of all the world's carbon dioxide emissions are produced by real estate and green certificates are seen as part of the solution to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and achieve sustainable development. Green certifications have several benefits, including a reduced use of natural resources and a higher property value. Despite the benefits that green certification brings, just under 1% of the Swedish property portfolio is certified. The purpose of the study is to contribute to knowledge regarding what barriers exist and how they can be mitigated in the Swedish real estate market. This study contributes unique material because previous research is deficient in the Swedish real estate market. The study is of a mixed method and uses a quantitative online survey and an interview study of 3 respondents from the Swedish real estate market. The questionnaire was based on previous international research and the interview study enabled a more in-depth analysis of the Swedish market. The Swedish actors in the study considered that Lack of consumer demand, High Costs, Low environmental awareness among consumers and Lack of government incentives were barriers in the Swedish real estate market. Lack of time and extra administrative work were identified as new barriers that have not been highlighted in previous research. The study also shows that barriers can be mitigated through company strategies where Swedish actors automate and standardize their ways of working based on the requirements set by green certificates.

Detta kandidatarbete i psykologi undersöker motstånd mot förändringar på arbetsplatsen med fokus på cynism gentemot förändringar genom en jämförande studie mellan svenska offentliga organisationer och en tidigare genomförd australiensisk studie. Studien använder begreppet cynism för att analysera medarbetarnas attityder gentemot förändringar och utforskar dess två underdimensioner: pessimism och dispositionell tillskrivning. Studien visar på att det finns en skillnad mellan det svenska och det australienska urvalet, där det svenska urvalet är mer cyniskt inställt gentemot förändringar än det australiensiska. Däremot identifierar studien inte att det finns en skillnad mellan personer med högre utbildningsnivå jämfört med lägre utbildningsnivå eller med personer med mer arbetlivserfarenhet jämfört med lägre arbetslivserfarenhet rörande hur cyniska de är gentemot förändringar på arbetsplatsen. / This undergraduate thesis in psychology explores resistance to changes in the workplace, focusing on cynicism towards changes through a comparative study between Swedish public organisations and a previously conducted Australian study. The study utilises the concept of cynicism to analyse employees' attitudes towards changes and explores its two sub-dimensions: pessimism and dispositional attribution. The study indicates that there is a difference between the Swedish and Australian samples, where the Swedish sample is more cynical towards changes than the Australian one. However, the study does not identify a difference between individuals with higher levels of education compared to those with lower levels of education, or among individuals with more working life experience compared to those with less working life experience in terms of how cynical they are towards workplace changes. Keywords:

The study was conducted to determine the key obstacles to strategy implementation at the Social Security Commission. The objective was to establish various factors that inhibit successful strategy implementation and explore alternative approaches that could be adopted to facilitate effective implementation of strategic decisions. The data was collected through questionnaires distributed to the personnel of the institution. 34 respondents out of a population of 56 participated in the study. The results showed serious lack of change management practice which could be regarded as the reason why resistance to change from the majority of the personnel is being experienced. Indications are also prevalent from the results obtained that show lack of ownership of the implementation process. In addition, lack of commitment to achieve positive results, lack of control of the implementation plan, ineffective information sharing methods as well as negative organizational culture are influencing the outcome of the strategy implementation process. / Business Management / M. Tech. (Business Administration)

Change is invariable and continuous, and has become inevitable in almost every sphere of business. The FNB Namibia operates in a highly vibrant competitive environment that is influenced by external and internal change drivers, and has not been resistant to any forces of change. This study was conducted to examine the relationship between corporate culture and organisational change of FNB Namibia. In this study corporate culture is the independent variable while organisational change is the dependent variable under the investigation. The data were collected through the questionnaires distributed to the staff members of the bank. A total of 50 questionnaires were administered, 33 of the questionnaires were correctly completed and returned. The findings showed that there is a relationship between corporate culture and organisational change. The findings also showed that the dominant existing organisational culture at the bank is hierarchy culture. Even though hierarchy culture is found to be the dominant organisational culture of the bank, the findings however, further revealed that the bank has adopted all four types of organisational culture. The study also found that different types of organisational culture have different levels of perceptions towards organisational change. / Business Management / M. Tech. (Business Administration)

Organisations and job content will continually change irrespective of the employee or job context. The ability to understand, initiate and manage change is therefore, an essential skill for any change agent. The general aim of this research was to investigate the impact of change management on role conflict, role ambiguity and job satisfaction. "Change management", "role conflict", "role ambiguity" and "job satisfaction" were conceptualised. This change process was described and the effect of change management on role conflict, role ambiguity and job satisfaction was determined. Instruments for measuring these concepts were administered among 116 employees who have been subjected to extensive organisational change within a large transport organisation. It was found that change management has a significant impact on role conflict, role ambiguity and job satisfaction. The change management process used in this research potentially enables Human Resources managers and change agents to reduce role conflict, role ambiguity and job satisfaction during large scale organisation change. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Comm. (Industrial Psychology)