i 
 
THE PERCEPTIONS OF SOUTH AFRICAN BROADCASTING 
CORPORATION EMPLOYEES ABOUT THE ORGANISATION’S 
TURN AROUND STRATEGY. 
 
 
Clement Matlala 
            Student No. 473482 
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of 
the degree of Master of Arts in Occupational Social Work in the      
          Department of Social Work 
School of Human and Community Development 
           Faculty of Humanities 
              University of Witwatersrand 
   
      2012 
 
Supervisors: Ms A. Warria and Prof. E. Kaseke 
 
 
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DECLARATION 
 
I, Mr S.C Matlala do hereby declare that the perceptions of South African Broadcasting Corporation 
employees about the impact of the SABC’s turnaround strategy on its training and development 
programme is my own and personal work, except where the work(s)/publications of others have been 
acknowledged by means of reference techniques. No part of this research report has been submitted for any 
degree or examination at any university. 
 
 
_______________________________ 
STUDENT NUMBER: 473482 
DATE: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
Sincere thanks to my supervisors, Ms Ajwang Warria and Professor Kaseke for their patience and 
dedication in making sure that I complete this research project. 
 
Grateful thanks to the employees at the SABC and the management from the learning and 
development section. You gave your precious time, valuable insight and priceless service. 
 
My deepest appreciation to: 
My family for always believing in me! 
My aunt Ms M.M Matlala-Mashele you gave me a head start! 
My beautiful daughter Refentse for understanding that she had to spend less time with me due to 
my research! 
To my colleagues and my supervisor Mrs. N. Mpesheni you always gave me time to do my school 
work! 
To Mr. Themba Koketi you stood in for me and made yourself available when I requested your 
assistance! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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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.  
 
.Key concepts: 
Turnaround strategy, organizational change management, organisational performance 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS             PAGE 
Declaration              ii 
Acknowledgement            iii 
Abstract             iv 
List of Tables             ix 
List of figures              x 
 
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION                     1 
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND RATIONALE FOR THE 
STUDY                    1
  
  1.2 PROBLEM FORMULATION      3 
  1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY                 4
     
  1.4 ORGANISATION OF THE REPORT                4
    
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW  6 
  2.1 INTRODUCTION                                                    6 
  2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK                 6
  
  2.3 LITERATURE REVIEW       10 
   2.3.1 Organisational change      10 
   2.3.2 Turnaround strategy       16 
    2.3.2.1 Turnaround strategies in South Africa   20 
 
 
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY       25 
  3.1 INTRODUCTION        25 
  3.2 RESEARCH APPROACH       25 
  3.3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS      27 
  3.4 DATA COLLECTION       28 
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  3.5 DATA ANALYSIS        30 
  3.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY      31 
  3.7 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS      32 
 
CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSION OF THE RESEARCH FINDINGS 35 
4.1 INTRODUCTION                   35
   
4.2 EMPLOYEES’ UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE   TURNAROUND 
STRATEGY        
 3\6 
  4.3 EMPLOYEES’ PARTICIPATION IN THE TURNAROUND  
   STRATEGY         39 
  4.4 THE PERCEPTIONS OF SABC EMPLOYEES ABOUT THE  
   OUTCOMES OF THE TURNAROUND STRATEGY   43 
4.5 RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW THE TURNAROUND STRATEGY 
CAN BE STRENGTHENED       45 
 
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS     51 
  5.1 INTRODUCTION        51 
  5.2 SUMMARY OF THE MAIN FINDINGS     51 
  5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS       56 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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LIST OF REFERENCES                  57 
ADDENDUMS 
Addendum A: Semi-structured interview schedule (Participants)   63         
Addendum B: Semi-structured interview schedule (key Informants)   64             
Addendum C: Consent form for participants      65 
              
Addendum D: Participation information sheet      66 
Addendum E: Field Notes         68 
            
A letter of permission to conduct research       87 
Ethics’ approval certificate         88 
    
 
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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LIST OF TABLES        PAGES 
Table 4.1: A profile of respondents       35 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ix 
 
LIST OF FIGURES        PAGES 
Figure 2.1: The organisation as a system     7