The perceptions of South African Broadcasting Corporation employees about the organisation's turn around strategy.

Abstract

Organisational change, particularly turnaround strategies have always been perceived differently, and received with mixed feelings by employees. The primary aim of this research was to explore the perceptions of SABC employees about the organisation’s turnaround strategy. The study employed a qualitative research design and conducted semi-structured interviews with ten employees and four key informants from the SABC’s radio-park in Auckland Park. A thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data that was received from the participants. Employees’ perceptions that emerged from a thematic content analysis of the study were, a need to balance organisation’s needs with the needs of all employees, employees’ concerns about their job security, relationships and communication gaps between management and general employees and employees’ different and vague understanding of the turnaround strategy. The main findings of this study were, SABC employees understood and perceived the turnaround strategy to be a cost cutting mechanism by the organisation to reduce its operational costs, the participants also indicated that they did not participate in any decision making regarding the turnaround strategy. The main conclusion drawn from the study is that the SABC should have allowed its employees to fully participate in the entire process of the turnaround strategy and use the strategy as a learning opportunity for its employees.