M.A. (Human Resources Management) / The objective of this study was to compare an actual change process within an organisation with the theory related to organisational change. This was done with the aim of determining the fit between theory and actual experience. The actual approach followed with this study was to describe the experience of an organisation which was operating in the fast moving consumer food industry, with regard to change. These experiences of an actual change process were then compared to the theories related to change and the fit between theory and reality was determined. In addition it was attempted to identify the effect that an organisation change process would have on the organisation's effectiveness, considering organisation effectiveness indicators such as organisation values, relationships and actual performance outputs. As no quantitative data was available on the quality of the relationships and the extent of the changes in the organisation values, this study was not used to conclusively prove that the approach to organisation effectiveness described in this dissertation could in fact build shared values and improve relationships. The approach followed was rather to describe the organisation's experiences with regard to change, compare it to the theories related to change and identify the fit between theory and reality. In addition to measuring the fit between theory and reality, a model integrating the various areas of organisation change was also developed to provide a conceptual framework for understanding organisation change. The degree to which the actual change process, as discussed in the case study, managed to produce change in the organisation was measured by determining whether shared organisation values as emerged in natural work teams could be integrated by management to become one set of values for the total company. In addition, specific performance output areas were measured to assess whether actual improvement did in fact occur. These were the areas which were selected as improvement projects by natural work teams as part of the change process. Some new change models were also introduced, based on the theory and actual experiences within the organisation reflected in this study. These models further assisted in conceptually clarifying the wide field of organisation change. The actual results reported from this study seem to indicate that : ~ a high degree of fit exist between the theory related to organisation change and the actual reality experienced by the organisation. the "hard" results reflected in Chapter 5, section 2 seem to indicate that in terms of the task indicator of organisation effectiveness, this change process was in fact successful. to prove that the organisation culture was altered through the emergence of shared values, an actual list of organisation norms and values as provided by the management team using the values which emerged in the natural work teams were provided. Although this indicated that change in the culture and values were in fact achieved, the strength of these changes and the degree of integration of these changes could not be proven. ~ The impact of the change process on relationships could not be proved or disproved. ~ The staff turnover reduced during the change process from a high of 16,8% in 1987/1988 to 5,5% in 1990/1991.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:11612 |
| Date | 30 June 2014 |
| Creators | Templeton, Lynette |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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