Project management is today a current and highly discussed area. How projects within the construction industry are managed has not changed significantly during the last decades. The construction market, the amount of different actors and the way that projects are procured today has however changed. This has led to a gap between the managerial view on how construction projects should be conducted today and how they actually are executed. This is reason enough to question this conservative industry and look into what possibilities there might be in the future.   The Agile project management approach is evolved from the software industry where it has grown and developed through empirical progress. It is suited for large complex projects where it is difficult to specify the product in advance. It is today used in different industries but mostly in the software business where the customer detects their needs through means of repeated tests and improvements to a prototype.   This thesis has researched what opportunities there might be in implementing the Agile project management approach in the design phase of construction projects.   The major advantages found with implementing the Agile approach is an increase in the client’s involvement. The Agile approach almost forces the client to increase their participation in the project compared to the situation today. It can also decrease the uncertainty and improve risk management. By the use of time management and specific meetings it will also be beneficial for keeping track of the project’s progression and status. / Projektledning är idag ett högaktuellt ämne diskuteras intensivt. Hur projekt inom byggbranschen styrs och leds har inte förändrats nämnvärt under de senaste decennierna. Byggmarknaden, mängden av olika aktörer och hur att projekten upphandlas dag har dock förändrats. Detta har lett till ett spricka mellan ledarskapssynen på hur byggprojekt skall utföras idag och hur de faktiskt genomförs. Detta är skäl nog att ifrågasätta denna konservativa bransch och titta närmre på vilka möjligheter det kan finnas i framtiden.   Den Agila projektledningsmetoden har utvecklats inom mjukvarubranschen där den har vuxit och förbättrats genom empiriska framsteg. Den är lämpad för stora komplexa projekt där det är svårt att ange och definiera produkten i förväg. Den används idag i olika branscher, men främst i mjukvaruindustrin där kunden upptäcker sina behov med hjälp av upprepade tester och förbättringar av en prototyp.    Denna avhandling har undersökt vilka möjligheter det kan finnas i att använda Agila projektledningsmetoder under projekteringsfasen i byggprojekt.   De största fördelarna som finns med att använda den Agila metoden är en ökning av kundens engagemang och involvering i projekten. Den Agila metoden tvingar nästan kunden att öka deras deltagande i projektet jämfört med hur situationen ser ut idag. Det kan också leda till minskad osäkerhet och förbättrad riskhantering. Genom användning av ”time management” och särskilda möten kommer de Agila metoderna också att vara till nytta för att hålla reda på projektets framåtskridande och status.

Digitaliseringen ökar och tar allt större plats i vårt samhälle, vilket ställer krav på att bankbranschen måste anpassa sig till utvecklingen och erbjuda sina kunder nya digitala tjänster. Bankbranschen har utvecklats i takt med digitaliseringen för att kunna effektivisera arbetssätt och erbjuda kunderna en ökad flexibilitet då kunderna inte behöver besöka ett bankkontor, utan kan sköta sina ärenden hemifrån via exempelvis sin mobiltelefon. Bankmedarbetarna kommer att påverkas av den digitala utvecklingen på olika sätt. Medarbetare kan exempelvis uppleva osäkerhet och hot kring att förlora sitt jobb i samband med att nya digitala arbetsuppgifter tillkommer. Studien utgår från en vald svensk bank och syftet med studien är att undersöka vad den pågående digitaliseringen av arbetsmiljön påverkar bankmedarbetare och hur det nya arbetssättet upplevs. I studien har tretton intervjuer genomförts med medarbetare på banken med en befattning inom kundservice samt privatrådgivare, där alla använder sig av digitaliseringen. De olika respondenterna visade på både positiva och negativa tankar och attityder kring digitaliseringen. Respondenterna ser digitaliseringen som en utvecklingsmöjlighet som effektiviserar deras arbetssätt, men digitaliseringen gör det även svårare att skapa en personlig kontakt med kunder. Majoriteten av respondenterna upplever också en ökad stress då digitaliseringen bidrar till att kontrollmöjligheterna från Finansinspektionen har ökat, vilket påverkar kraven på medarbetarna. / Digitization is increasing and taking up more and more space in our society, this requires the banking industry to adapt to developments and offer its customers new digital services. The banking industry has developed in step with digitalization in order to streamline working methods and offer customers increased flexibility as they do not have to visit a bank, instead they can handle their affairs from home via, for example, their mobile phone. Bank employees will be affected by the digital development in various ways. Employees may, for example, experience uncertainty and worries about losing their job due to the addition of new digital tasks. The study is based on a Swedish bank and the purpose of the study is to investigate how the ongoing digitalization of the work environment affects bank employees and how the new way of working is experienced. In the study, thirteen interviews were conducted with employees at the bank with a position in customer service or financial advisers, where everyone is affected by digitalization to some extent. The different respondents showed both positive and negative thoughts and attitudes about digitalization. The majority of the respondents also experience increased stress as digitalization contributes to increase the control capabilities from the Swedish Financial Supervisory, which in turn affects the demands on employees.

For rational theories of organisational change, organisational dysfunctionalities are nothing more than the inadequacy of organisations to maximise on their goals or lack of co-ordination of different types of inputs and processes. Usually, such observations are made in exclusion of the analysis of organisational realities and the experiences that are part of their daily realities. This thesis explores the experiences of organisational change in a single case of the provincial department of education, namely the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDE). Using the qualitative and exploratory methods of interviews and document analysis, it asks how and why the department was perceived to be in a state of crisis in terms of service delivery, eight years after its initial transformation. To explore these questions, the thesis looked at the interplay between context, organisational design and internal skills and capacities, as the triad of processes that influenced the patterns for organisational change in this context. Broadly, the findings revealed that issues of organisational efficiency and service delivery cannot be debated and analysed outside of the political processes that influence them. The ECDE revealed that it was caught in endless politics of networks of coalition which influenced the pattern of service delivery. As a result this thesis concluded that organisational change and service delivery debates have to extend beyond the rational inputs and outputs paradigms to look at the complexities of networks that were a coincidence of transitional politics. It therefore proposes a focus on relational and network analysis of organisations to unravel their politics and pattern of influence on service delivery.

There are increasing demands on businesses to take responsibility for sustainability, which raises the issue of how companies practically implement sustainability into their everyday operations. Previous research has indicated a need for further studies of the implementation of sustainability considering the application of organisational change and influential factors of leadership and organisational culture on the change process. However, studies of sustainability implementation in organisations have previously focused on either large and multi-national companies or studies of small enterprises. The aim of this study is to explore the organisational change process of sustainability implementation, and the influence of organisational culture and leadership, in ten medium sized companies in Sweden. The study employs a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews with multiple sustainability leaders to gather their perspectives on the change process of implementing sustainability. Thematic content analysis and a theoretical framework adapted from Kotter’s theory of organisational change, integrated with Schein’s three levels of organisational culture and a systems leadership perspective is used for analysis. Key findings indicate that the change process of implementing sustainability is continuous and includes an initial process of converting external demands to internal need and urgency within the company. The change process needs to be continually supported by top management and fostered through trust building as well as continually anchored in cultural values and identities. Based on the findings of the study, a model is developed for analysing the sustainability implementation process in medium sized companies through organisational change with culture and leadership.

This thesis reports an exploratory, quantitative study into the implementation of strategic. decisions. Implementation was viewed as a discontinuous organisational activity involving strategic change. The organisational vehicle of change is seen as "the project" and the specific unit of analysis adopted is the capital investment project. Manufacturing organisations were studied because these were shown to most frequently undertake such projects. ' Adopting a theoretical perspective derived from systems theory and cybernetics a model of implementation was developed which recognises two dimensions of implementation success (modes of organisational change) to be contingent upon a dimension of project uncertainty and two dimensions of information. From this model ten hypotheses were developed. Data on 45 projects was collected from a diversity of manufacturing companies. This was obtained using a structured questionnaire instrument administered to a single informant during a retrospective personal interview. Initially the data was analysed using principal components factor analysis to determine the factorial compositions and reliabilities of scales measuring theoretical constructs. Subsequently, causal modelling and stepwise regression techniques were employed to test the hypotheses. Analysis demonstrated that the essentially structural approach to implementation taken in the study adequately explained many of the observed associations between constructs. Hypothesised associations between organisational structure and implementation success could not, generally, be supported. Finally, the theoretical model adopted was not able to account for a number of empirically observed associations. These associations were explicable in terms of a behavioural or social dimension. The wider implications of the study are also discussed. / Economic and Social Research Council

Purpose - The thesis determined how policy implementation and change management can be improved in Nigeria, with the health insurance scheme as the basis for narrative exploration. It sets out the similarities and differences in assumptions between supra-national organisations such as the World Bank and World Health Organisation on policy implementation and change management and those contained in the Nigerian national health policy; and those of people responsible for implementation in Nigerian organisations at a) the federal or national level and b) at sub-federal service delivery levels of the health insurance scheme. The study provides a framework of the dimensions that should be considered in policy implementation and change management in Nigeria, the nature of structural and infrastructural problems and wider societal context, and the ways in which conceptions of organisations and the variables that impact on organisations¿ capability to engage in policy implementation and change management differ from those in the West. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative approach in the form of a case study was used to track the transformation of a policy into practice through examining the assumptions and expectations about policy implementation of the organisations financing the policy's implementation through an examination of relevant documents concerning policy, strategy and guidelines on change management and policy implementation from these global organisations, and the Nigerian national health policy document. The next stages of field visits explored the assumptions, expectations and experiences of a) policy makers, government officials, senior managers and civil servants responsible for implementing policy in federal-level agencies through an interview programme and observations; and b) those of sub-federal or local-level managers responsible for service-level policy implementation of the health insurance scheme through an interview programme. Findings - There are conflicts between the rational linear approaches to change management and policy implementation advocated by supra-nationals, which argue that these processes can be controlled and managed by the rational autonomous individual, and the narratives of those who have personal experience of the quest for 'health for all'. The national health policy document mirrors the ideology of the global organisations that emphasise reform, efficiencies and private enterprise. However, the assumptions of these global organisations have little relevance to a Nigerian societal and organisational context, as experienced by the senior officials and managers interviewed. The very nature of organisations is called into question in a Nigerian context, and the problems of structure and infrastructure and ethnic and religious divisions in society seep into organisations, influencing how organisation is enacted. Understandings of the purpose and function of leadership and the workforce are also brought into question. Additionally, there are religion-based barriers to policy implementation, change management and organisational life which are rarely experienced in the West. Furthermore, in the absence of future re-orientation, the concept of strategy and vision seems redundant, as is the rationale for a health insurance scheme for the majority of the population. The absence of vision and credible information further hinder attempts to make decisions or to define the basis for determining results. Practical implications - The study calls for a revised approach to engaging with Nigerian organisations and an understanding of what specific terms mean in that context. For instance, the definitions and understanding of organisations and capacity are different from those used in the West and, as such, bring into question the relevance and applicability of Western-derived models or approaches to policy implementation and change management. A framework with four dimensions - societal context, external influences, seven organisational variables and infrastructural/structural problems - was devised to capture the particular ambiguities and complexities of Nigerian organisations involved in policy implementation and change management. Originality/value - This study combines concepts in management studies with those in policy studies, with the use of narrative approaches to the understanding of policy implementation and change management in a Nigerian setting. Elements of culture, religion and ethical values are introduced to further the understanding of policy making and implementation in non-Western contexts.

This research will address the adoption of Artificial Intelligence by firms within emerging markets, focusing on the Pakistani garment industry. AI technologies are fast evolving business practices across the globe. Countries in the league of emerging markets have challenges and opportunities that can most likely change their operational landscape of competition and efficiencies. Thus, the central question of this research looks at AI integration in two aspects: that is, the challenges it brings to the with adoption and the opportunities it presents to firms operating within these markets.In its methodological approach, the research uses qualitative analysis. This remains a case study-based work into the experiences of a medium-sized garment manufacturing organization in Pakistan: Al-Habib Textiles. In many ways, the experiences of this firm are a sort example for what appears to be happening in the broader industry as a whole. The qualitative method approach thus relied on semi-structured interviews with major stakeholders within the company, including executives and staff. By doing, this enabled a complete understanding of the micro impact of AI on individual roles, along with the strategic outcomes at a macro level for the company.The study reveals that while AI can improve operational efficiency and competitiveness, it faces challenges like infrastructural deficiencies, skill gaps, regulatory uncertainties, and cultural resistance. Opportunities include strategic partnerships, increased competitiveness, and cost efficiency. Effective AI investments require infrastructure, training programs, policy advocacy, and work acceptance initiatives.

Yes / This research highlights a contextual application for big data within a HR case study setting. This is achieved through the development of a normative conceptual model that seeks to envelop employee behaviors and attitudes in the context of organizational change readiness. This empirical application considers a data sample from a large public sector organization and through applying Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) identifies salary, job promotion, organizational loyalty and organizational identity influences on employee job satisfaction (suggesting and mediating employee readiness for organizational change). However in considering this specific context, the authors highlight how, where and why such a normative approach to employee factors may be limited and thus, proposes through a framework which brings together big data principles, implementation approaches and management commitment requirements can be applied and harnessed more effectively in order to assess employee attitudes and behaviors as part of wider HR predictive analytics (HRPA) approaches. The researchers conclude with a discussion on these research elements and a set of practical, conceptual and management implications of the findings along with recommendations for future research in the area.

The aim of this study was to explore the role of feedback in managing resistance to organisational change. A general systems theoretical model of individual resistance to change was developed. It describes the origin, function and outcomes of individual resistance to planned organisational change. The role of feedback within this process was identified as a central one and feedback was therefore identified as an important point of leverage in managing resistance to change. The survey feedback approach was adopted in a retail organisation undergoing significant change. Staff were asked to respond to a survey on their experience of the change. Results were analysed and then fed back to them during group discussions. The process was repeated. It was concluded that the survey feedback approach significantly contributed to a reduction in resistance to change and that both survey feedback approach and the model of individual resistance to change merit further investigation. / Industrial Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

The intention of this study was theory creation in the field of organisational change, directed towards the creation of a conceptual change framework. A qualitative research approach was followed and a grounded theory methodology adopted. This study involved a theoretical investigation of organisational change and leadership within South African organisations, although insights gained could be transferred across contexts or settings. The primary aim was to create a practical change framework to ensure sustainable organisational change. Secondly, to determine the impact of leadership on successful organisational change. Thirdly, to establish whether any fundamental elements can be identified as essential for inclusion in such a change framework. Fourthly, to identify non-negotiable success factors that can ensure successful change. Fifthly, to determine the human elements that should be included in order to minimise negative outcomes such as resistance and noncompliance. The final aim was to ascertain what meta-insights can be gained from organisational change and leadership. The research findings concluded that the first perception when speaking about change is fear, anxiety and increased stress, resulting in impaired functioning. Organisations struggle to handle increased stress levels during periods of change and require improved methods of dealing with stress to ensure optimal individual functioning. Only through reduced stress levels will individuals be able to engage with organisational change initiatives. Alternative intervention technologies were suggested which could assist the individual change journey through reduced stress and/or increased consciousness. These alternative intervention technologies were suggested because of the paucity of current literature. It practically aids organisations on how to deal with the stress dilemma. This research introduced the concepts of anti-leader and anti-manager. These concepts depict the negative characteristics of leadership and management which invariably increases individual stress levels. Emotions elicited by the anti-leader and/or anti-manager could potentially split, divide and fragment a workforce. The ideal organisational approach should be designed by the people, be inclusive of all, involve, empower and allow individuals to make the required decisions. As organisational change can only be effected through individual change, this thesis places the individual in the centre. Without individual change, vicissitude and sustainable organisational change become highly unlikely. / Business Management / DBL