Adapting to change in a constantly changing environment is a challenge that organisations face on a daily basis. In order to stay competitive globally, the management of resistance to change becomes crucial. Research done on leadership reveals the very strong effect that leaders have on followers’ behaviours and attitudes and it is emphasized the role leadership plays in the implementation and supporting of change. The purpose of this dissertation is to determine whether a relationship between leadership and resistance to change exist within the higher education sector. The study obtains data of 75 participants within the faculty of engineering. The survey was done by means of a questionnaire. The statistical analyses included frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlations, independent t-tests, Mann-Whitney tests, ANOVAs and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results indicated that employees’ reactions toward change could be influenced by the type of leadership style present in the organisation, therefore it is necessary that the correct leadership style within an organisation cannot be underestimated. It could mean the difference between success and failure. For the purpose of this study, the researcher considered the scales of the Resistance to Change questionnaire sufficiently reliable, but further exploration of the scales and its adaptation to this context may be needed in future to enhance reliability measures. An important insight of this research is that, to be more effective in creating and supporting change within organisations, managers need to learn to recognise and understand resistance within them as well as in others. This research contributes to the already vast content of research on leadership and resistance to change and does so by being focused on studying these constructs under a unique set of circumstances. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Partindo do contexto contemporâneo de Consumerização da TI, torna-se interessante observar de que maneira as organizações estão atendendo as demandas consequentes de um processo que parece intensificar-se a cada dia, incitando não apenas a discussão, mas o desenvolvimento de uma verdadeira capacidade que pode ultrapassar a simples adaptação. É exatamente a busca da compreensão desta capacidade que vem orientar a questão desta pesquisa. Para tanto, é proposto o conceito de “resiliência tecnológica”, com a definição do constructo e apresentação de seu modelo teórico, desenvolvido a partir das teorias de Difusão da Inovação, da Escolha Racional, da Resiliência e das Capacidades Dinâmicas. A metodologia qualitativa exploratória comparativa adotada para a pesquisa, a partir do estudo de casos múltiplos, contemplou cinco etapas: de formulação do modelo teórico, de validação do protocolo de pesquisa por juízes acadêmicos, de condução de estudo piloto, de replicação da investigação para outras duas organizações, finalizando com o estudo comparativo dos três Casos. Os resultados evidenciaram suporte aos pressupostos investigados, sinalizando ser a resiliência tecnológica uma capacidade desenvolvida a partir da interação entre contexto de transformação tecnológica e características organizacionais. Mostram também que, muito embora esta capacidade possa ser moderada pela presença de elementos de resistência à mudança assentados, especialmente, pelas áreas de tecnologia, pode, da mesma forma, ser indutora de vantagem competitiva. Tais constatações sugerem aderência do modelo de resiliência tecnológica proposto aos três contextos investigados, tanto no que diz respeito à situação de aceitação da Consumerização da TI em ambiente organizacional, como na situação de rejeição da prática, ambas analisadas a partir dos elementos que compõem o modelo teórico. / Based on the context of IT consumerization it is interesting to observe how organizations are facing the resulting demands from a process that seems to intensify each passing day, urging not only discussion, but also the development of a real capacity that exceeds simple adaptation. It is precisely the search to understand this capacity that guides the question of this research. To this end, this paper aims to propose the concept of “technological resilience” presenting its theoretical model, based on the theories of diffusion of innovation, rational choice, resilience and dynamic capabilities. The adopted methodology for this exploratory qualitative research included five stages: formulation of the theoretical model, validation of the research protocol, realization of a pilot case study, application of a validated protocol for other two organizations, concluding with the accomplishment of comparative study between these cases. The results showed support for the assumptions investigated, and stated resilience as a technological capability developed from the interaction between the context of technological change and organizational characteristics. They also showed that, while this capacity can be moderated by the organizational behavior of resistance to change, can likewise be competitive advantage inductor. These findings are consistent with the proposed model, in both situations: of acceptance of the consumerization of IT in organizational environment, and also of rejection, equally analyzed from the perspective of the elements that compose the technological resilience model.

In marine environments, eukaryotic marine microalgae coexist with the viruses that infect them. Marine microalgae are the main primary producers in the oceans and are at the base of the marine food web. Viruses play important roles in top-down control of algae populations, cycling of organic matter, and as evolutionary drivers of their hosts. Algae must adapt in response to the strong selection pressure that viruses impose for resistance to infection. In addition to biotic selection pressures such as viral infections, algae must also adapt to their abiotic environment. Global climate change is affecting temperature, salinity, pH, light and nutrient concentrations in the oceans, particularly in surface waters, where microalgae live. Currently, little is known about how consistent the effects of viruses on their hosts are, whether the cost of host resistance varies across environments, and whether there is a trade-off between maintaining resistance to viruses and adapting to other environmental changes. The marine picoeukaryote Ostreococcus tauri is abundant in Mediterranean lagoons, where it experiences large fluctuations in environmental conditions and co-occurs with lytic viruses (Ostreococcus tauri viruses – OtVs). Viral infection causes lysis of susceptible (S) cells, however a small proportion of cells are resistant (R) and avoid lysis. Some resistant O. tauri populations can coexist with infectious viruses, and it has been proposed that these viruses are produced by a minority of susceptible cells within a mainly resistant population. These populations are referred to as resistant producers (RP). Virus production in RP populations is unstable and eventually they shift to R populations. I used O. tauri and one of its viruses, OtV5, as a model system to investigate whether cells that are susceptible or resistant to virus infection adapt to environmental change differently and whether there is a cost of being resistant. For the first time, I evolved susceptible and resistant hosts of a marine alga separately under a range of environments and directly compared their plastic and evolved responses. I showed that resistant populations of O. tauri maintained their resistance for more than 200 generations in the absence of viruses across all environments, indicating that the resistance mechanism is difficult to reverse. Furthermore, I did not detect a cost of being resistant, as measured by population growth rate and competitive ability. Virus production in RP populations stopped in all environments and all populations became R. In addition, I found that virus production in RP O. tauri populations can fluctuate before completely ceasing, and that phosphate affected the length of time it took for virus production to stop. These results, combined with mathematical modelling of O. tauri infection dynamics, provide support for the prediction that RP populations consist of a mixed population of susceptible and resistant cells. By examining multiple environments and resistance types, we can better understand first, how microalgae populations adapt to environmental change and second, the ecological and evolutionary consequences of maintaining resistance to viruses in common marine picoeukaryotes.

Several variables have been shown to influence resistance to change including rate, magnitude, and delay to reinforcement (Nevin, 1974). One variable that has not been studied with humans concerns the evaluation of resistance to change with unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers. In Experiment 1 (Resistance to Extinction Assessment), 5 participants' behaviors were reinforced during a baseline phase on a mult VI 30 s VI 30 s schedule with either a conditioned (i.e., token) or unconditioned reinforcer (i.e., food). Following equal reinforcement rates across components, extinction was introduced as a disruptor. All participants showed greater resistance to extinction in the component associated with conditioned reinforcers than unconditioned reinforcers. In Experiment 2 (Varied Distractors Assessment), 4 participants experienced a baseline phase the same as Experiment 1 (i.e., mult VI 30 s VI 30 s). Each participant was then exposed to prefeeding and distraction as disruptors in separate analyses. Results showed that behaviors were more resistant to distraction with conditioned than unconditioned reinforcers, similar to Experiment 1. However, when prefeeding disrupted responding, greater resistance to change was observed with unconditioned reinforcers than conditioned reinforcers. Implications of the results are discussed.

Partindo do contexto contemporâneo de Consumerização da TI, torna-se interessante observar de que maneira as organizações estão atendendo as demandas consequentes de um processo que parece intensificar-se a cada dia, incitando não apenas a discussão, mas o desenvolvimento de uma verdadeira capacidade que pode ultrapassar a simples adaptação. É exatamente a busca da compreensão desta capacidade que vem orientar a questão desta pesquisa. Para tanto, é proposto o conceito de “resiliência tecnológica”, com a definição do constructo e apresentação de seu modelo teórico, desenvolvido a partir das teorias de Difusão da Inovação, da Escolha Racional, da Resiliência e das Capacidades Dinâmicas. A metodologia qualitativa exploratória comparativa adotada para a pesquisa, a partir do estudo de casos múltiplos, contemplou cinco etapas: de formulação do modelo teórico, de validação do protocolo de pesquisa por juízes acadêmicos, de condução de estudo piloto, de replicação da investigação para outras duas organizações, finalizando com o estudo comparativo dos três Casos. Os resultados evidenciaram suporte aos pressupostos investigados, sinalizando ser a resiliência tecnológica uma capacidade desenvolvida a partir da interação entre contexto de transformação tecnológica e características organizacionais. Mostram também que, muito embora esta capacidade possa ser moderada pela presença de elementos de resistência à mudança assentados, especialmente, pelas áreas de tecnologia, pode, da mesma forma, ser indutora de vantagem competitiva. Tais constatações sugerem aderência do modelo de resiliência tecnológica proposto aos três contextos investigados, tanto no que diz respeito à situação de aceitação da Consumerização da TI em ambiente organizacional, como na situação de rejeição da prática, ambas analisadas a partir dos elementos que compõem o modelo teórico. / Based on the context of IT consumerization it is interesting to observe how organizations are facing the resulting demands from a process that seems to intensify each passing day, urging not only discussion, but also the development of a real capacity that exceeds simple adaptation. It is precisely the search to understand this capacity that guides the question of this research. To this end, this paper aims to propose the concept of “technological resilience” presenting its theoretical model, based on the theories of diffusion of innovation, rational choice, resilience and dynamic capabilities. The adopted methodology for this exploratory qualitative research included five stages: formulation of the theoretical model, validation of the research protocol, realization of a pilot case study, application of a validated protocol for other two organizations, concluding with the accomplishment of comparative study between these cases. The results showed support for the assumptions investigated, and stated resilience as a technological capability developed from the interaction between the context of technological change and organizational characteristics. They also showed that, while this capacity can be moderated by the organizational behavior of resistance to change, can likewise be competitive advantage inductor. These findings are consistent with the proposed model, in both situations: of acceptance of the consumerization of IT in organizational environment, and also of rejection, equally analyzed from the perspective of the elements that compose the technological resilience model.

abstract: Owner organizations in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry are presented with a wide variety of project delivery approaches. Implementation of these approaches, while enticing due to their potential to save money, reduce schedule delays, or improve quality, is extremely difficult to accomplish and requires a concerted change management effort. Research in the field of organizational behavior cautions that perhaps more than half of all organizational change efforts fail to accomplish their intended objectives. This study utilizes an action research approach to analyze change message delivery within owner organizations, model owner project team readiness and adoption of change, and identify the most frequently encountered types of resistance from lead project members. The analysis methodology included Spearman's rank order correlation, variable selection testing via three methods of hierarchical linear regression, relative weight analysis, and one-way ANOVA. Key findings from this study include recommendations for communicating the change message within owner organizations, empirical validation of critical predictors for change readiness and change adoption among project teams, and identification of the most frequently encountered resistive behaviors within change implementation in the AEC industry. A key contribution of this research is the recommendation of change management strategies for use by change practitioners. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Construction 2014

Partindo do contexto contemporâneo de Consumerização da TI, torna-se interessante observar de que maneira as organizações estão atendendo as demandas consequentes de um processo que parece intensificar-se a cada dia, incitando não apenas a discussão, mas o desenvolvimento de uma verdadeira capacidade que pode ultrapassar a simples adaptação. É exatamente a busca da compreensão desta capacidade que vem orientar a questão desta pesquisa. Para tanto, é proposto o conceito de “resiliência tecnológica”, com a definição do constructo e apresentação de seu modelo teórico, desenvolvido a partir das teorias de Difusão da Inovação, da Escolha Racional, da Resiliência e das Capacidades Dinâmicas. A metodologia qualitativa exploratória comparativa adotada para a pesquisa, a partir do estudo de casos múltiplos, contemplou cinco etapas: de formulação do modelo teórico, de validação do protocolo de pesquisa por juízes acadêmicos, de condução de estudo piloto, de replicação da investigação para outras duas organizações, finalizando com o estudo comparativo dos três Casos. Os resultados evidenciaram suporte aos pressupostos investigados, sinalizando ser a resiliência tecnológica uma capacidade desenvolvida a partir da interação entre contexto de transformação tecnológica e características organizacionais. Mostram também que, muito embora esta capacidade possa ser moderada pela presença de elementos de resistência à mudança assentados, especialmente, pelas áreas de tecnologia, pode, da mesma forma, ser indutora de vantagem competitiva. Tais constatações sugerem aderência do modelo de resiliência tecnológica proposto aos três contextos investigados, tanto no que diz respeito à situação de aceitação da Consumerização da TI em ambiente organizacional, como na situação de rejeição da prática, ambas analisadas a partir dos elementos que compõem o modelo teórico. / Based on the context of IT consumerization it is interesting to observe how organizations are facing the resulting demands from a process that seems to intensify each passing day, urging not only discussion, but also the development of a real capacity that exceeds simple adaptation. It is precisely the search to understand this capacity that guides the question of this research. To this end, this paper aims to propose the concept of “technological resilience” presenting its theoretical model, based on the theories of diffusion of innovation, rational choice, resilience and dynamic capabilities. The adopted methodology for this exploratory qualitative research included five stages: formulation of the theoretical model, validation of the research protocol, realization of a pilot case study, application of a validated protocol for other two organizations, concluding with the accomplishment of comparative study between these cases. The results showed support for the assumptions investigated, and stated resilience as a technological capability developed from the interaction between the context of technological change and organizational characteristics. They also showed that, while this capacity can be moderated by the organizational behavior of resistance to change, can likewise be competitive advantage inductor. These findings are consistent with the proposed model, in both situations: of acceptance of the consumerization of IT in organizational environment, and also of rejection, equally analyzed from the perspective of the elements that compose the technological resilience model.

Experimentos têm mostrado que ratos criados isolados consumem mais álcool durante a idade adulta que ratos criados em condições de interação social; no entanto, poucos experimentos têm explorado os efeitos do isolamento sobre a persistência na procura de álcool. A presente serie de estudos avaliou os efeitos do isolamento em etapas iniciais do desenvolvimento sobre a persistência na procura de álcool em contextos associados à sua entrega. Nos estudos, ratos foram distribuídos imediatamente depois do desmame em duas condições alojamento: isolamento (ISO) e interação (INT). Na idade adulta, os ratos foram treinados em esquemas múltiplos nos quais diferentes contextos de estímulos foram associados a diferentes taxas de entrega de álcool -magnitudes ou a reforçadores diferentes-. A persistência na procura de álcool foi avaliada como resistência à mudança em sessões de extinção. No Capítulo I foi avaliada a persistência em contextos associados a diferentes frequências de entrega de álcool. Foi achado que ratos ISO mostraram maior persistência que ratos INT em contextos associado a frequências altas e baixas de entrega de álcool. No Capítulo II foi estudado o efeito da concentração (5% ou 15%) de álcool sobre a persistência do comportamento de procura. Os resultados mostraram que concentrações altas de álcool geram maior persistência do comportamento de procura, embora gerem taxas baixas de resposta na linha de base. No capítulo III foram realizados dois estudos nos quais foi achado que ratos criados em isolamento persistem mais em contextos associados a concentrações altas de álcool (Experimento 3) e que o isolamento afeta particularmente a procura em contextos associados ao álcool quando comparados com contextos associados a outros reforçadores (Experimento 4). Os achados gerais demonstram que o isolamento em etapas inicias do desenvolvimento incrementa tanto o consumo quanto a persistência na procura por álcool, o que sugere que o estresse social em etapas iniciais do desenvolvimento é um fator de risco para o desenvolvimento de dependência ao álcool / Several experiments have shown increased alcohol consumption in rats reared in social isolation compared to rats reared in group conditions; however, few experiments had explored the effects of social isolation on persistence of alcohol seeking. The studies presented here assessed the effects of social isolation on persistence of seeking in alcoholrelated contexts. For the studies, rats were assigned to on of two conditions after weaning: Social Isolation (ISO) or social Interaction (INT). During adulthood, rats were trained within a multiple schedule of reinforcement, in which different contextual stimuli were related to differential frequencies, magnitudes or qualities of alcohol. Persistence was assessed as resistance to extinction in extinction sessions. Chapter I measured persistence by ISO and INT rats in contexts related to high and low rates of alcohol reinforcement. It was found that ISO rats persisted more than INT rats regardless of the frequency of reinforcement. In Chapter II was studied the effect of alcohol concentration (5% and 15%) on persistence of alcohol seeking. Results showed that high alcohol concentrations are related to higher persistence during extinction. Chapter III presented two studies that found that ISO rats are more persistent in contexts related to high alcohol concentrations (Experiment 3), also that isolation differentially increased persistence in contexts related to alcohol compared to contexts related to other reinforcers (Experiment 4). General findings show that social isolation increase both consumption and persistence in alcohol related contexts, suggesting that social stress early in the development could be a considered a risk factor for alcohol use disorders

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / The aim of this study is to investigate why the implementation of Enterprise Architecture (EA)in the Provincial Government of the Western Cape (PGWC)adopted in 2006,failed to be ineffective to address application duplication.

Magister Commercii - MCom / In modern organisations, diversity management is seen as an important factor for success. If diversity is not managed correctly, it could impact how and if organisations meet their goals. The purpose of diversity management is to get to a point of utilisation of skills of individuals. Research (Erasmus, 2007) suggests that diversity management success is highly dependent on perceptions of employees. The main intent of the current research was to gain an insight into employee perceptions around workforce diversity. These perceptions were evaluated using the Workplace Diversity Survey with a sample of public sector employees to ascertain whether there are statistically significant differences in employee perceptions based on age, gender, population group and directorate. Informed consent was sought from the HR manager in the public service department where the research was undertaken. A cross sectional study was conducted and based on a convenience sample of 200 voluntary participants within the public sector. Data was captured and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. The results indicate that there are statistically significant differences with respect to gender, age, population group and , respectively, and perceptions of diversity. These findings suggest, that, despite 20 years of democracy within South Africa, on-going training and development of employees is required, along with frequent surveys to determine how individuals react to a heterogeneous workforce.