Rising global competition, the influence of advances in information technology and the financial status of companies are some of the imperatives that force organisations to restructure. In South Africa, the situation is even more compelling, with the recent economic situation of the country that requires companies to implement certain restructuring programmes designed to encourage sustainability organisation. These changes, however, do affect organisations and employees. It becomes critical that organisations implement it carefully, if they are to survive. This research has attempted to explore the relationship between organisational restructuring and the organisational culture at MES. A qualitative research approach was used for this study; a non-probability sampling namely purposive sampling was used for the purpose of this study. The main findings have presented that the organisational restructuring processes at MES have influenced positive organisational culture within the organisa-tion. Communication, interactions and relationships have increased amongst the employees since the organisational restructuring at MES. The research study hopes to influence the policy making processes regarding change and restructuring within MES. The study would contribute towards Occupational Social Work literature on organisational restructuring, organisational culture and Change Management.

This thesis sets out to examine contemporary organisational restructuring. In particular it documents and examines the role of engineers and systems analysts in designing and delivering new technologies and work systems. On the basis of fieldwork observations and detailed cross sectoral interviewing of over three hundred personnel in over sixty organisations, the thesis documents the kind of restructuring that is taking place and who is involved in the process. Whilst examining the role of trade unions, management and engineers within this process of restructuring the key focus is systems analysts - who hitherto, have remained a largely uncharted and under-researched group of workers. Through fieldwork, interviews and literature reviews the thesis highlights who systems analysts are and what is involved in the process of systems analysis and design. The thesis, First, documents and offers a critical assessment of the process of business restructuring and some of the key attempts to theorise this process. Second, it documents and examines a series of methods, values and techniques which constitute a design culture, or referral point, from which engineers and analysts interpret what is in the organisations interest, make sense of their own work, pass judgement on their designs and assess their relationships to others involved in the design process. Third, through an analysis of the tools and techniques used for systems analysis and design the thesis demonstrates that there is a profound contradiction between, on the one hand, attempts to develop tools and techniques to more accurately embody the social in the technical and, on the other hand, the influence which prevailing property relations and configurations of power have on the tools and techniques used in systems design. This influence is manifest in the continued existence of a software bottleneck and in system failure and user dissatisfaction. Fourth, the thesis highlights the nature of union involvement in the design process and demonstrates some of the key issues and concerns unions face in the 1990s. Finally, the thesis assesses a number of key attempts to analyse the class position of' intermediate strata' and demonstrates, on the basis of fieldwork studies and interviews the class position of engineers and systems analysts and how this influences the types of technologies and systems these groups design.

The workplace of today is global, fast paced and under intense pressure to stay competitive and achieve financial results. This makes change an inevitable part of any organisation because in order to survive and thrive in this environment organisations need to continuously change and re-invent themselves. This study was conducted in a mining company and the industry has been one of the biggest contributors to the South African economy for over a century. There have been many changes and developments within the mining industry over the years. The mining industry has also experienced a lot of transformational activities such as mergers, acquisitions, downsizing and restructuring. During these changing and uncertain times it is important to pay special attention to the employees in the organisation as people still remain the most important asset in any organisation. Change can be a pleasant or traumatic experience for people and this makes it important to ensure that with all changes to the work environment employees are well looked after and their wellbeing is maintained. Employee wellness has been a subject of much interest for many years and it has been found that organisations that invest in the wellness of their employees have greater benefits and are more successful at managing change. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of a restructuring exercise on the wellness of middle managers. The study aimed to determine the impact/effect of a restructuring exercise on employee wellness in a sample of employees in the middle management category. This research investigated possible wellness factors that were impacted on during this organisational restructuring exercise. Three wellness dimensions were looked at and these included: physical, mental and social dimensions of wellness. The intention is to use the information collected as guidelines in the development of future employee wellness programs, taking into account change management and how to better handle it. A qualitative approach was followed and employees from a mining company were asked to participate in the study. Data was collected firstly through the use of an open ended questionnaire and thereafter two focus groups were conducted. The focus group sessions were recorded and the data was transcribed. A process of coding was used to analyse and get the central themes from the data. In conclusion the results indicated that the restructuring exercise had a significant impact on the wellness of middle managers. The general responses were negative and indicated that people’s wellness was definitely impacted on. The key themes and sub themes that emerged across all dimensions were grouped into the following: communication, trust, personal health management (nutrition, physical health and fitness and sleeping habits), mental wellbeing (stress and anxiety, morale, uncertainty), workplace environment and social status. The role of managers/leaders was seen as key during this process. Also it was clear that the development and implementation of relevant wellness programs was important to manage employee wellness during such activities. Therefore recommendations and strategies for managing change and wellness offered in this study take into account the responses from the participants and the key issues identified. This study was conducted in a specific organisation with a limited number of participants from the Corporate Office and therefore the findings should not be generalised to other middle managers in other organisational contexts without a degree of caution. Another important limitation to consider is that this research was taken at a specific time during this restructuring exercise. The negative responses could have been influenced by the timing of this research, in that, although there was a lot of communication pertaining to the changes envisaged to employees, there however were no final decisions made or implemented yet. Employees were in a waiting period and they did not know what was going to be the extent of the impact of these changes on them. A recommendation is that this research is undertaken at a later stage when all changes are implemented. In this case this was however not possible due to a time factor from the researcher’s side and delays within the organisation. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / In January 1997, Robben Island Museum (RIM) opened its doors to the public as a tourist destination. This was done without any formal management structure or strategic planning, to cope not only with its mandate as the first National Museum of the new democratic South Africa, but also to meet the demand of the great interest of visitors to see this prison where the icon of the liberation struggle, Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years. This operational take-off without formal administrative management structure and strategic planning was understandable given the social and political transitional climate in the country. The effect thereof as the old adage states ‘failure to plan is planning for failure’ seems to hold true for RIM who is struggling to become a well-managed national heritage site. RIM over the years have been beset with governance and management challenges and enjoyed continual bad publicity. The study’s aim was to bring an understanding of what the major governance and managerial challenges were and to make recommendations to address those. The study was guided by a central research question namely What were the administrative and management challenges of RIM and in what ways did it impact on the operational effectiveness of RIM as a national museum and World heritage site. A number of findings emanated from the study. A key one was that clarity of roles and responsibilities of the council and the management is required. Furthermore, the vision and mission of RIM must inform the formulation of strategies to give effect thereto. This in turn must be the base for the development of an appropriate organisational structure to implement the strategies. A number of recommendation stems from the research. An important one was that appointment must be on the basis of ‘fit for purpose’. This means that staff with the right skills and capacity should be appointed as a matter of priority. In conclusion, the findings of the study could be used by other heritage organisations faced with similar organisational challenges.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether organisational restructuring of business units within a South African Fast Moving Consumer Goods company had any effect on the organisational climate of the organisation. An organisational climate survey was used before and after the restructuring over a two-year period. Five manufacturing plants formed part of the study; with four plants undergoing the restructuring (experimental group) and one plant being the control group, where no organisational restructuring took place within the two-year period under review. The total population consisted of 3700 employees. The samples for 2010 and 2011 were drawn from the population of the five manufacturing plants’. The sample of employees that took part in the survey from the five manufacturing plants was, in 2010, 778 versus a headcount of 1802, yielding a response rate of 21.02%, and in 2011, 904 versus a headcount of 1736, yielding a response rate of 24.43%. The research results show that organisational restructuring did have a significant impact on organisational climate; with a drop in the organisational climate from 2010 prior to the organisational restructuring, to 2011 after the organisational restructuring at four of the manufacturing plants (experimental group). Interestingly, the control group (the 5th manufacturing plant) also showed a significant drop in its organisational climate scores from 2010 to 2011; without organisational restructuring taking place. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / MCOM (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

In the late 1980s, governments in New Zealand and Australia began to deregulate their telecommunications markets. This process included the corporatisation and privatisation of former state owned telecommunications monopolies and the introduction of competition. The Telecom Corporation of New Zealand (TCNZ) was corporatised in 1987 and privatised in 1990. Its Australian counterpart, Telstra, was corporatised in 1989 and partially privatised in 1997. This thesis examines and compares TCNZ and Telstra's changing organisational and workforce restructuring strategies, as they responded to these changes. It further examines how these strategies influenced the firms' employment relations (ER) policies. Strategic human resource management (SHRM) and transaction costs economics (TCE) theories assist in this analyse. TCE links organisational restructuring to the make/buy decisions of firms and the asset-specificity of their employees. It suggests that firms will retain workers that have developed a high degree of firm-specific skills, and outsource more generic and semi-skilled work. Firm strategies are also influenced by national, contextual, factors. From a TCE perspective, these external factors alter relative transaction costs. Hence, different ownership structures, ER legislation and union power help to explain differences in TCNZ and Telstra's organisational restructuring and ER strategies. During the decade from 1990 to 2000, TCNZ and Telstra cut labour costs through large-scale downsizing programs. Job cuts were supported by outsourcing, work intensification and the introduction of new technologies. These initial downsizing programs were carried out through voluntary redundancies, across most sections of the firms. In many instances workers simply self-selected themselves for redundancies. TCNZ and Telstra's downsizing strategies then became more strategic, as they targeted generic and semi-skilled work for outsourcing. These strategies accorded with a TCE analysis. But TCNZ and Telstra engaged in other practices that did not accord with a TCE analysis. For example, both firms outsourced higher skilled technical work. TCNZ and Telstra's continued market domination and the emphasis that modern markets place on short term profits, provided possible reasons for these latter strategies. This thesis suggests, therefore, that while TCE may help to predict broad trends in 'rational organisations', it may be less effective in predicting the behaviour of more politically and ideologically driven organisations aiming for short term profit maximisation. Some TCNZ and Telstra workers were shifted to subsidiaries and strategic alliances, which now assumed responsibility for work that had previously been performed in-house. Many of these external firms re-employed these workers under more 'flexible' employment conditions. TCNZ and Telstra shifted to more unitarist ER strategies with their core workers and reduced union influence in the workplace. Unions at Telstra were relatively more successful in retaining members than their counterparts at TCNZ. By 2002, TCNZ and Telstra had changed from stand-alone public sector organisations, into 'leaner' commercially driven firms, linked to subsidiaries, subcontractors and strategic alliances.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether organisational restructuring of business units within a South African Fast Moving Consumer Goods company had any effect on the organisational climate of the organisation. An organisational climate survey was used before and after the restructuring over a two-year period. Five manufacturing plants formed part of the study; with four plants undergoing the restructuring (experimental group) and one plant being the control group, where no organisational restructuring took place within the two-year period under review. The total population consisted of 3700 employees. The samples for 2010 and 2011 were drawn from the population of the five manufacturing plants’. The sample of employees that took part in the survey from the five manufacturing plants was, in 2010, 778 versus a headcount of 1802, yielding a response rate of 21.02%, and in 2011, 904 versus a headcount of 1736, yielding a response rate of 24.43%. The research results show that organisational restructuring did have a significant impact on organisational climate; with a drop in the organisational climate from 2010 prior to the organisational restructuring, to 2011 after the organisational restructuring at four of the manufacturing plants (experimental group). Interestingly, the control group (the 5th manufacturing plant) also showed a significant drop in its organisational climate scores from 2010 to 2011; without organisational restructuring taking place. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / MCOM (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The primary goal of this study is to promote knowledge and understanding of the restructuring process of the Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit in the South African Police Service (SAPS) through impact evaluation. Many evaluation programmes provide blueprints and methods to manage and help solve organisational transformation. They, however, lack dealing with the unique organisational transformation process characterised in the South African Police Service (SAPS). Given this importance, there appears to be potential value in evaluating the impact of the restructuring process in the FCS. During the research extensive panel studies and individual interviews were conducted in the West Rand policing district with FCS members, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) directly involved with family violence, child protection and sexual offences, Senior Public Prosecutors involved with cases concerning the FCS and researchers at a security research institute. Furthermore, a descriptive literature study was conducted to acquire relevant information and perspective from available national and international literature. Various objectives were fulfilled in this study: • The impact of the restructuring process in the FCS, to assess the internal and external climate on service delivery, was identified and described. • It was determined whether the restructuring process in the FCS is achieving its proposed objective. • Feedback to help improve the effectiveness of the restructuring process and improve future strategies was provided. Moreover, this study and its results provide a framework to the SAPS as an organisation that is currently going through an extensive transformation process. As a result, the management of the SAPS will receive first hand information on the areas to specifically focus on during the restructuring of the FCS, or utilised this impact evaluation as a learning curve and an opportunity to rectify shortcomings and also systematically be guided through this process in realisation thereof. Consequently, this impact evaluation could act as a management tool to support and further develop the transformation process in the SAPS. Finally, this study contributes to the baseline of knowledge, with regard to structural transformation in the specialised field of policing. / Police Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Police Science)

The primary goal of this study is to promote knowledge and understanding of the restructuring process of the Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit in the South African Police Service (SAPS) through impact evaluation. Many evaluation programmes provide blueprints and methods to manage and help solve organisational transformation. They, however, lack dealing with the unique organisational transformation process characterised in the South African Police Service (SAPS). Given this importance, there appears to be potential value in evaluating the impact of the restructuring process in the FCS. During the research extensive panel studies and individual interviews were conducted in the West Rand policing district with FCS members, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) directly involved with family violence, child protection and sexual offences, Senior Public Prosecutors involved with cases concerning the FCS and researchers at a security research institute. Furthermore, a descriptive literature study was conducted to acquire relevant information and perspective from available national and international literature. Various objectives were fulfilled in this study: • The impact of the restructuring process in the FCS, to assess the internal and external climate on service delivery, was identified and described. • It was determined whether the restructuring process in the FCS is achieving its proposed objective. • Feedback to help improve the effectiveness of the restructuring process and improve future strategies was provided. Moreover, this study and its results provide a framework to the SAPS as an organisation that is currently going through an extensive transformation process. As a result, the management of the SAPS will receive first hand information on the areas to specifically focus on during the restructuring of the FCS, or utilised this impact evaluation as a learning curve and an opportunity to rectify shortcomings and also systematically be guided through this process in realisation thereof. Consequently, this impact evaluation could act as a management tool to support and further develop the transformation process in the SAPS. Finally, this study contributes to the baseline of knowledge, with regard to structural transformation in the specialised field of policing. / Police Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Police Science)

The study set out to assess the impact of organisational restructuring (OR), the independent variable on organisational behaviour (OB), the dependent variable, in private and public sector organisations as well as state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in South Africa. OB, for the purposes of this study, consists of turnover intention, resistance to change, commitment to change and job security. It further aimed to evaluate whether the various types and magnitude of OR impact on employees in the different sectors. OR was delineated into three factors, that being Restructuring (Type), Restructuring (Leadership) and Restructuring (Frequency), before being further regressed into sub-factors, that being Restructuring (Type_Count), Restructuring (Leadership_Count) and Restructuring (Frequency_Count), for the purposes of using it as categorical variables and indexing it. The study assessed whether effective change management (ECM) mediated the relationship between OR and OB, across sectors. ECM is underpinned by effective change management processes, leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organisational support (POS). Finally, it aimed to assess whether employees’ psychological capital (PC), comprised of self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience, moderated the relationship between ECM and OB. The study found that OR does, indeed, impact on the OB of employees in different sectors. It has also confirmed the mediating role of ECM and that PC moderated the relationship between ECM and OB. The study assessed whether effective change management (ECM) mediated the relationship between OR and OB, across sectors. ECM is underpinned by effective change management processes, leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organisational support (POS). Finally, it aimed to assess whether employees’ psychological capital (PC), comprised of self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience, moderated the relationship between ECM and OB. The study found that OR does, indeed, impact on the OB of employees in different sectors. It has also confirmed the mediating role of ECM and that PC moderated the relationship between ECM and OB. The study found that the unidimensional construct, effective change management, coupled with PC, another unidimensional construct, has indeed been able attenuate the impact of OR on OB. In the case of this study, it was primarily the employees of large organisations, such as SOEs, which are affected, while employees of private and public organisations were also affected. Recommendations to organisational leaders and practitioners are provided, with the aim of assisting with the successful implementation of organisational change and restructuring initiatives, while at the same time reducing the impact thereof on the organisational behaviour of employees / Business Management / DBL (Business Leadership)