Domestic companies are increasingly trying to expand to become globalised firms or multinational corporations (MNCs). Existing business strategies, visions and information systems need to be re-analysed and perhaps reconstructed to fulfil the business goals, operations and characteristics of the global organisation. Information technology is a critical element in enabling globalisation, and enterprises need to identify and consider information technology and system management issues. Depending on the structure of multinational organisations, different emphases need to be placed on issues such as business information systems management, information technology management, people management, end-user management, and culture. A global transition issue priority model is constructed to support the following hypothesis: the global transition issue priority varies depending on the type of organisational structure. With the assistance of this model, MNCs are able to pinpoint the emphasis of issues in preparing the globalisation process according to their organisational structures. Surevsy were onducted to investigate the priority of issues, and outcomes suggest that the emphasis of each issue class is dependent on the type of organisational structure. The main contribution of this research is to develop a global information systems management priority model that will assist MNCs in preparing the strategic plan in the global transition process, and develop a global transition framework for enterprises which will facilitate construction of their global information systems. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis explores the impact of institutional changes in the Australian Higher Education Sector (AHES) on academics in entrepreneurial graduate schools of business. It addresses questions about the causes, nature and effects of change, and ultimately, the impact on the values and lives of 21 academics at two points in time, 2002-3 and 2008. In addition to reviewing literature, qualitative methods of document analysis and interviews provide the data for the research. The framework for the analysis of data is based on Laughlin’s (1991) ‘skeletal’ theory of organisation change which adapts concepts from Habermas’ (1984; 87) theory of societal change. The impacts of change are viewed from the perspective of organisation participants, the academics. For the majority of these academics, the findings of the research indicate that, in the face of loss of ownership and the imposition of modernisation practices, they maintained their belief in academic values but withdrew from active engagement with their school and institution. The thesis is presented in six chapters and six papers. With the exception of Chapter One, which introduces the thesis and its contributions, and Chapter Six, which summarises and concludes the work, the four chapters in between provide background detail on the literature; the theoretical approach; the research design and method; and the findings. The six papers complement the chapters by presenting the outcomes of the research at various stages. They are ordered in such a way as to offer general overviews of the Australian Higher Education Sector (Paper One) and business schools (Paper Two) before providing more specific focus on the impacts of modernisation practices (Paper Three); effects of change on academic identity (Paper Four); and the role of disciplinarity on academic values and identity (Paper Five). Research results from the first period of research, 2002-3, are reported in Papers Three, Four and Five. Paper Six is the final paper. It provides a comparison of results for both periods with an analysis of change and its impacts using Laughlin’s (1991) framework for organisation change. Chapter Six concludes the thesis with suggested implications for policy and further research. In relation to policy, it is suggested that current government intentions to shift higher education institutions from economic to social institutions will be dependent on the ability of institutions to unravel ten years of modernisation practices aimed at controlling rather than supporting academic endeavour. Arising from this is a challenge to business schools to develop value propositions that better reflect their role as part of a social institution and not an institutional ‘cash cow’. Further research is suggested in two areas: first, in understanding the lifeworld perspectives of academic executives and heads of school about their role in absorbing or facilitating change; and second, in understanding how business schools are able to develop and implement appropriate value propositions. Overall this thesis is a response to Henkel’s (2005, p. 166) call for further empirical research into academics’ lives “to test the strength of values and identity in different institutional settings”. It does this by addressing several gaps in the literature on higher education, specifically Australian higher education. The production of a qualitative and longitudinal study within a theoretical framework contributes to overcoming the paucity of research employing these methods or applying theoretical interpretations of data within higher education. Additionally, the thesis makes a contribution to the under-researched areas of academic values and value change generally, and Australian business schools, specifically by focusing on the values of Australian business school academics in times of change.

This thesis is about the role that shop floor workers play in organisational change. In particular, it investigates the manner in which a distinct group of worker-level leaders and change agents affected the generation and implementation of change and helped to shape the change process in an organisation undergoing planned change. The data for the thesis were obtained from a three-year, longitudinal case-study of organisational change in a medium-sized automotive components manufacturer, Moving Metals Limited (MML). Data were collected at MML during a move from traditional mass production to lean production and the research was conducted using processual action research, while the researcher adopted the dual roles of researcher and consultant to the company. The research identified a distinct group of workers, with no supervisory capacity, who were able to shape the change process in the organisation. These workers are referred to as workers of influence. This group of workers emerged as central characters in the process of organisational change and as leaders and change agents in the organisation. Drawn from the empirical data, criteria for identifying workers of influence are developed in this thesis, based on the authority vested in them by the workforce and their access to management decision-making. A taxonomy of workers of influence is developed in this thesis using these criteria, as well as the duration of tenure of influence. In much of the literature, shop floor workers are portrayed as either passive participants in, or active resistors of organisational change. This research provides evidence of some workers acting as leaders and change agents in an active and influential manner. The research examines issues of power, influence, autonomy and control and their impact on workers' capacity to participate in change. In so doing, this research identifies and opens up an important area of study with implications for organisational theory, literature and the implementation of planned interventions in organisations. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Department of Social Inquiry, 2000.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis explores the impact of institutional changes in the Australian Higher Education Sector (AHES) on academics in entrepreneurial graduate schools of business. It addresses questions about the causes, nature and effects of change, and ultimately, the impact on the values and lives of 21 academics at two points in time, 2002-3 and 2008. In addition to reviewing literature, qualitative methods of document analysis and interviews provide the data for the research. The framework for the analysis of data is based on Laughlin’s (1991) ‘skeletal’ theory of organisation change which adapts concepts from Habermas’ (1984; 87) theory of societal change. The impacts of change are viewed from the perspective of organisation participants, the academics. For the majority of these academics, the findings of the research indicate that, in the face of loss of ownership and the imposition of modernisation practices, they maintained their belief in academic values but withdrew from active engagement with their school and institution. The thesis is presented in six chapters and six papers. With the exception of Chapter One, which introduces the thesis and its contributions, and Chapter Six, which summarises and concludes the work, the four chapters in between provide background detail on the literature; the theoretical approach; the research design and method; and the findings. The six papers complement the chapters by presenting the outcomes of the research at various stages. They are ordered in such a way as to offer general overviews of the Australian Higher Education Sector (Paper One) and business schools (Paper Two) before providing more specific focus on the impacts of modernisation practices (Paper Three); effects of change on academic identity (Paper Four); and the role of disciplinarity on academic values and identity (Paper Five). Research results from the first period of research, 2002-3, are reported in Papers Three, Four and Five. Paper Six is the final paper. It provides a comparison of results for both periods with an analysis of change and its impacts using Laughlin’s (1991) framework for organisation change. Chapter Six concludes the thesis with suggested implications for policy and further research. In relation to policy, it is suggested that current government intentions to shift higher education institutions from economic to social institutions will be dependent on the ability of institutions to unravel ten years of modernisation practices aimed at controlling rather than supporting academic endeavour. Arising from this is a challenge to business schools to develop value propositions that better reflect their role as part of a social institution and not an institutional ‘cash cow’. Further research is suggested in two areas: first, in understanding the lifeworld perspectives of academic executives and heads of school about their role in absorbing or facilitating change; and second, in understanding how business schools are able to develop and implement appropriate value propositions. Overall this thesis is a response to Henkel’s (2005, p. 166) call for further empirical research into academics’ lives “to test the strength of values and identity in different institutional settings”. It does this by addressing several gaps in the literature on higher education, specifically Australian higher education. The production of a qualitative and longitudinal study within a theoretical framework contributes to overcoming the paucity of research employing these methods or applying theoretical interpretations of data within higher education. Additionally, the thesis makes a contribution to the under-researched areas of academic values and value change generally, and Australian business schools, specifically by focusing on the values of Australian business school academics in times of change.

Driving sustainable development through new products, services, techniques and organisational modes that substantially reduce environmental impacts, or ecopreneurship, is especially important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as they have a vital role to play in managing limited environmental and social resources. Reaping the benefits associated with ecopreneurship, however, requires a fundamental qualitative change process at the firm level. However, there remains considerable uncertainty as to how ecopreneurs will discover, develop and realise sustainabilityrelated opportunities in their organisations. Thus, the purpose of this article is to address this gap by analysing how this qualitative change process associated with a shift to sustainable development actually unfolds in SMEs. To do so it examines small and medium-sized wineries in Austria. Based on the results of a Delphi study, a multi-layer process model that differentiates between unfreezing, changing and refreezing processes is developed. The framework shows that the unfreezing of the status quo is mainly accomplished by the business owner's attitude towards sustainability. In the course of the changing process, change related to the adoption of greener business practices follows a hierarchical order, starting with business activity (the first layer). Then, four dimensions of capital resources (the second layer) must be revised in order to implement the change successfully. After that, relevant stakeholders (the third layer) must be integrated into this iterative learning process. Finally, in the course of refreezing, change is embedded in the organisation by the ongoing commitment of the business owner and future sustainable expansion strategies. The developed framework may serve as a guideline for small and medium-sized wineries, but also for a broader set of SMEs implementing sustainable organisational change in the future. The framework could also be used by national governments or certification authorities uncertain of how best to support the change process in SMEs. (authors' abstract)

Digital Transformation is the integration of digital technology into all business areas, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. The purpose of this research is to explore to what degree has IT solution sector companies have digitally transformed during the past few years. Qualitative analysis was used to analyze the literature and the empirical data and make the assumptions required. The results indicate that DT is a procedure that involves integrating technology in all business areas and companies in the IT Sector choose to start the procedure to become more efficient and able to make frequent changes in order to satisfy their market and keep up with competition. The main barriers found are, in company communication, Hierarchy Financial requirements and unclear digital transformation strategy. The impact of failing to digitally transform is losing market share due to inability to keep up with the competition.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study has been conducted before when the company in question underwent a restructuring (name change) but did not threaten the loss of jobs. This study is being conducted again because another restructuring has taken place over the period of 2011/2012 and involved the retrenchment of employees nationally. The company represented in the study is one of the largest cleaning companies in South Africa and has a very broad and influential client base. They are in high demand in the cleaning industry and have positively impacted many companies and organisations over their many years of existence. Because of the magnitude of the workplace restructuring this time around, more people have been affected (both those who were retrenched as well as those who were left behind). According to Vermeulen, 2002, “Downsizing” is a term that emerged in managerial circles and was used in the business press, but no precise theoretical formulation underpins any clear definition of the term. When hearing the term downsizing, one often will use this together with the term “laying-off” interchangeably. However, some authors will focus on different elements of downsizing for example in reporting on a comprehensive study of downsizing in American industry, Cameron, Freeman and Mishra (1993) limited the term's use to a programme which is an intentional process. This process involves an overall reduction in personnel with a view to improving the efficiency of the organisation. The process wittingly or unwittingly affects work processes at the organisation concerned. According to Hellgren, et al (2005), the attitudinal constructs investigated in this study were job satisfaction, job involvement, organisational commitment, and turnover intention. Job satisfaction represents a general affective response to the overall job situation. Following Locke (1976, p. 1300), we define job satisfaction as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experience”. ...employees who survived downsizing were likely to experience high levels of stress and decreased levels of organizational commitment and motivation. These individuals are often known as the "victims" of downsizing due to research that documents the devastation of job loss, focusing on negative consequences in terms of psychological and physical well-being (Bennett, Martin, Bies, & Brockner, 1995; Cappeili, 1992; Fallick, 1996; Leana & Feldman, 1992). This study inevitably aimed to prove that workplace restructuring very well has an effect or impact on an employee’s job satisfaction, whether these effects were positive or negative. The findings of the study highlighted significant positive correlations between the two variables and highlights strong relationships between employees’ career advancement opportunities and job satisfaction; trust and job satisfaction, communication and job satisfaction, as well as employee commitment and loyalty and job satisfaction whereas trust (2) or employee morale seem to have no significant relationship with job satisfaction.

Since the inception of economic reform, China has undergone comprehensive changes which have stimulated substantial research on various aspects of Chinese society. In recent years, research on management and organisation in China has grown rapidly, but with relatively little attention being devoted to the ethnographic analysis of private enterprises, despite the fact that such enterprises play a crucial role in China’s economy and make a significant contribution to labour employment. A lack of close, personal and meaningful access to everyday organisational activities is often cited as one of the main reasons preventing such research. This thesis attempts to fill the gap through investigating the everyday nature of management and managerial work in seven large private shipbuilding enterprises in China. In so doing it seeks to provide ethnographic answers to one main question – what are the characteristic features of the emerging management systems employed in private enterprises in contemporary China? In so doing the research investigates how such systems have evolved and the ways in which they impact on the nature of everyday managerial work.Research that seeks to understand the reality of management and managerial work however is not research that deals exclusively with static or structural organisational phenomena. Instead it is also research that requires sensitivity to changing events and processes – ones that interact constantly with elements of a complex and dynamic environment. It is argued here that such research demands a theoretical framework capable not only of appreciating the diversity of formal management systems in contemporary China, but which can also incorporate informal social and cultural factors into its analysis. To establish sensitivity both to structural and cultural phenomena the research approach developed here is one that combines two, very different, sociological theories - labour process theory (LPT, derived from Braverman, 1974) and Chaxugeju theory (derived from Fei, 1947). On the one hand, LPT offers a framework for appreciating structural forces stimulating changes to management systems and managerial work. On the other hand, Chaxugeju theory facilitates appreciation of how cultural, historical and social factors are synthesized in rules and principles that characterise the operation of society and the values and logics that guide human action, Taken together, the combination of LPT and Chaxugeju facilitates the analytical connection of micro and macro forms of analysis, and thus the appreciation of a range of interacting systems (economic, ideological, social etc.) of relevance to understanding the nature of management and work organization in contemporary China.Given the nature and form of both the research questions and theoretical framework, a research design based on ethnography is chosen as the primary methodological approach. As the research not only studies the systems of management in China’s private enterprises, but also managerial experiences, behaviour and subjectivity in relation to changing circumstances, an ethnographic approach that commits extensive time to the field, interacts extensively with actors, generates rich data, and detailed and ‘thick’ description of the observed works well for this research. As to the case study organisations, shipbuilding companies were chosen for three main reasons: (i) the importance of shipbuilding industry to the Chinese economy, (ii) the rapid growth and significance of private enterprises in the industry, and (iii) (at a more personal level) the extensive connections and previous work experience of the researcher in the shipbuilding sector. At a general level, the findings reported in the thesis reflect that the evolution of management systems in China’s private enterprises is the product of the interaction of a range of internal factors specific to the firm and many external forces related to China’s transitional economy. As such, issues of cultural, social and historical inheritance are assessed together with those of economic interaction/processes of globalisation to document how these forces influence events at the organisational level. On the one hand, the research describes trends towards convergence with the status and nature of ‘global’ managerial work, despite a Chinese firm’s specific ownership origins, current ownership status, and (re)structuring strategies. In so doing the data demonstrate how managerial work in China’s private enterprises is experiencing fundamental changes; for example, the on-set of greater job scope, knowledge/skill levels, organizational control, responsibilities, incentive mechanisms, and relationship-based managerial ethics. On the other hand, the findings also suggest that within China’s transitional economy, private firms still incorporate aspects of traditional Chinese management. Such methods are often reminiscent of erstwhile state-owned practices and can function as a strategy for minimizing internal resistance to change. Findings suggest that the current ‘hybrid’ character of management in private enterprises in China will endure for a considerable period of time. China’s traditional management and its values still have a strong influence on firm practices, especially in terms of people management. In many respects the social character of the workplace functions in the spirit of Chaxugeju, with the fundamental organisational rules and behavioural patterns remaining largely unchanged, as individual-based social relationships substitute for formal institutions in the firm. These findings are all explained through detailed ethnographic description and analysis. Finally, perhaps the major contribution of the research which underpins this thesis is to reduce the gap between the perception and reality of management and managerial work in China’s private firms. Insights into the daily working lives of managers are provided which reveal the deep philosophies underlying apparently rationalized practices and behaviours. Research on such intimate management phenomena is of benefit to organizational research in that it supplements the more ‘global’ style of analysis common in appreciations of Chinese corporate behaviour. The study thus adds a deeper, qualitative level of analysis to the mainstream managerial research landscape on China. Theoretically it shows the practicability and value of combining an indigenous Chinese theory (Chaxugeju) with an established western paradigm (LPT) to analyze and interpret ethnographic organisational phenomena. It thus reminds us of the importance of looking beyond the boundary of specific academic theories when developing and applying our ideas, especially when exploring international and transitional economies.

As organisations strive to become more competitive and leaner, leadership and leading change have become key ingredients in the recipe for success. However leaders in times of difficult organisational change may not be effective in leading the change for themselves and their people. The leader’s ability to see and work beyond his or her personal needs is becoming more prevalent - leaders like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi showed a special kind of behaviour that was fulfilling to a greater purpose.This has prompted the need to gain a deeper understanding into self-sacrificial leadership that will bring about a crucial benefit to organisational sustainability by increasing the ability to lead change and shape leaders into ‘Level 5’ leadership. This qualitative research was accomplished by collecting primary data through 15 semi-structured in-depth interviews from South African business leaders.The findings in terms of the factors that encourage a leader to self-sacrifice their needs for the organisation reveal that it is not about self, but what is best for the organisation as well as the people. Self-motivation, managing own emotions, and internalisation were the findings of the process which the leader goes through in processing loss to lead others on the journey of change. Lastly, the personality traits of leaders who have the strength to lead change and are prepared to sacrifice themselves were found to be an advocate for the value of their people; have humility at their core; and are bold, outspoken and strong minded with a gentle exterior. Recommendations were centered on the crucial role of organisations in shaping an authentic leadership environment and ingredients for leaders of the 22nd century.As a result, this research demonstrates leadership is about self-sacrifice, managing change and leading people. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Yes / This paper aims to seek to contribute to current debates about the effectiveness of different types of gender equality interventions in the academic context. This paper presents an argument for the need to move beyond an individual-structural dichotomy in how such interventions are perceived. The paper draws on an action-research case-study, the Through the Glass Ceiling project, to challenge the idea that “individual”/single-actor interventions serve only to reinforce underlying inequalities by attempting to “fix the women”.It is suggested that actions that support women in their careers have the potential to achieve a degree of transformation at individual, cultural and structural levels when such actions are designed with an understanding of how individuals embody the gendered and gendering social structures and values that are constantly being produced and reproduced within society and academia. The case study highlights the benefits of supporting individuals as gendered actors in gendering institutions and of facilitating the development of critical gender awareness, suggesting that such interventions are most effective when undertaken as part of an integrated institutional equality agenda. By calling attention to the ongoing mutual construction of actors and practices in organizations, this paper seeks to make both a conceptual contribution to how we understand the (re)production and potential transformation of gender relations in academia and to influence wider policy dialogues on diversity at work. / FP7