Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This research is an experiential learning history of a change management \nprocess that occurred within the local government Development \nManagement Department of the Ethekwini Municipality in the South African \nprovince of KwaZulu Natal. The department is the gatekeeper of \ndevelopment for Ethekwini and offers the plans approval service in the \nmunicipal area. The department underwent an internal change management \nprocess in 2000, which aimed to streamline the plans approval process and \nminimize the approval timeframe. The Municipality’s decision to change the \nexisting system was motivated by the lack of foreign direct investment into \nthe city due to the bureaucratic plans approval process. \nThis research used the qualitative framework and case study approach to \nunderstand the context of the requirement for the change, the implemented \nchanges and the aftermath of the changes. A sample group of 38% (from the \ndepartment) was interviewed, their responses consolidated, grouped and \ngraphically represented, enabling the unpacking of the change management \nexperience. The author then analyses the data against systems theory and \nchange management theory to enable a greater appreciation of the \ncomplexity of the process and the high impacts of specific choices in the \nchange management process. \nThe findings of the research indicate a high degree of unresolved stress \nrelating to the imposition of the process of change management on \nemployees. The author draws the conclusion from the evidence presented \nthat the inclusion of the recipients of change, in the process of change will \nmitigate against these stresses. \nThis research documents the experience of the change management \nprocess by the recipients of change. In so doing it offers a greater level of \ninsight of the way in which change is experienced, thereby promoting better \nchoices by practitioners in the field of change management.
Author: Anasuyah Pather
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2281333781