3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Practitioners' experiences of organisational design, development and change management implementation.(2014-09-17) Ismail, NazeehahOrganisational design, development and change management is about dealing with the effectiveness and efficiency of organisations. Organisational design, development and change management practitioners use systematic strategies and approaches to improve the productivity of organisations and the well-being of individuals. In order to do this, the organisational design, development and change management practitioner must be able to manage customers, competition, change, relationships and processes. There is a need to understand the impacts of successful organisational design, development and change management implementations as they influence the success of an organisation. The aim of this study is to explore practitioners’ knowledge and experiences of organisational design, development and change management implementation. The objectives included explorations of practitioners’ experiences working on organisational design, development and change management implementations. The study is qualitative, exploratory research. Data was collected by means of face-to-face interviews guided by a semi structured interview schedule. Participants’ were practitioners working in the field of organisational design, development and change management. The study used non-probability (non-random) purposive, snowball sampling. The data was analysed using thematic content analysis to identify themes and sub themes in the data. The findings indicate what organisational design, development and change management involves, what the benefits are and the successes and challenges practitioners have encountered during implementation. The macroeconomic environment in which organisations operate is ever changing and in order to keep up, organisations need to call on experienced practitioners to assist in managing the change. The implications of the results will assist the industry as well as organisations to understand the value organisational design, development and change management implementations in enabling business strategies and driving organizations to achieve its business objective thus promoting and growing the discipline and practice.These insights will also contribute to the discipline and the availability of such data will assist future practitioners to be more effective in their roles.Item Implementation : the 'Black Box' of school improvement.(2013-10-04) Naidu, DivealoshaniThe focus of this study was the challenge of implementing school improvement interventions from inception through the system to the school, within a framework of the multiple layers of South Africa's complex education system. These are the macro level, (the provincial and national political and bureaucratic decision makers), the meso-level (the role and function of district offices and external agents), and the micro level (local contexts at the site of the school). This study does not intend to evaluate school improvement interventions but rather to research and interrogate the mediation of the interventions at various levels and within the contextual realities of an education system in transition. The problem is three-pronged and is premised on understanding the link between the study of implementation and of school improvement within education in transition. The hypothesis put forward is that, on the one hand, contextual realties, contestation and contradictions at various levels of a complex organization shape the outcomes of a school improvement intervention. On the other hand, school improvement strategies must be further located within the framework of implementation in order to explore the complexities of getting things done in an emerging democracy. The challenge posed is whether a coherent link between implementation and school improvement can be achieved while taking into cognizance the three levels and the contextual realities informed by the legacy of the past. I identified two case studies of school improvement initiatives undertaken in the Gauteng province. The first was initiated during the first phase of the new democratic government, an EQUIP intervention programme initiated by the first Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for education in Gauteng. I chose EQUIP because the design and initiation of this intervention symbolized the political ideology of this first period of government. The second school improvement initiative, the Education Action Zone (EAZ) intervention, was chosen because it reflects a significant shift in political ideals in the second period of government. This study argues that school improvement in the emerging South African context must respond to the contested nature of transforming societies and the serious lack of cohesion and capacity at all levels of the system. In order to respond to this difficult terrain, implementation within a cyclic model must be an integral part of the design of a school improvement intervention. There must be a clear understanding of the political, cultural and technical nuances in each of the three environments. Implementation is dependent on actors in them, and the contextual realties shape the level of agency played by the people in each. The linkage also determines the fidelity, compliance, and communication of the message of the intervention as actors within each have different levels of power and authority to influence the change process.Item Perceptions of social development by senior officials in the National Department of Social Development, South Africa.(2011-06-22) Mohamed, ZaheeraThe primary purpose of this study was to ascertain how senior government officials employed within the Department of Social Development in South Africa perceived the social development approach to social welfare. The study was confined to the national Department of Social Development and nine senior government officials were interviewed, all of them employed in different work streams but related to social development policy development. A semi-structured interview schedule comprising of open-ended questions was utilised to collect information. A deductive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The main findings that emerged from the study were that senior managers employed within the national Department of Social Development had a good understanding of the social development approach to social welfare. They were familiar with the key characteristics, goals, strategies and linkages between social and economic development. Senior government officials also noted progress with the implementation of the social development approach and identified that social policies were largely aligned to this approach. In terms of challenges, senior government officials identified a range of challenges impacting on the implementation of the social development approach and this ranged from the lack of a common understanding of social development within broader government, inappropriate social service workforce, poor coordination and integration, inadequate leadership and an inadequate monitoring and evaluation system to measure social development progress. Senior government officials identified a range of suggestions to improve on the implementation of the social development approach. One of the suggestions was the development of an overarching social development strategic framework to guide the social development approach and acknowledge it as government’s chosen approach to social welfare. Many suggestions related to enhancing the capabilities of social service professionals and this included the development of a social service policy framework, enhanced engagement between higher education institutions and the Department of Social Development to ensure relevant curriculum. The findings of the study recommends a series of interventions to be implemented by the national Department of Social Development such as the development of an overarching social development strategic framework as suggested by senior government officials, an audit of policies to assess alignment with the social development approach and a review of its’ consultation processes. The findings of the study identify a need to replicate this research at provincial level to ascertain how the social development approach is understood and implemented at the point of service delivery.