The management of change at selected higher education institutions: An exploration of the critical ingredients for effective change management

Abstract

The study investigates management’s perception of the change management process in terms of the impact of communication, behaviour, feelings and knowledge of staff and management, staff participation in the change process and overall attitude of staff. The perceived impact of the new situation and perceived acceptance and understanding of the change process were assessed. The subjects comprised of Management Committee (Manco), Deans and Directors of administrative sections from three tertiary institutions in KwaZulu-Natal. Data was collected using questionnaires, which were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results shed light on the critical ingredients for effective change management. Opsomming Die onderhawige studie ondersoek bestuur se persepsie van die veranderingsbestuursproses in terme van die impak op kommunikasie, gedrag, gevoelens en kennis van personeel en bestuur, personeeldeelname in die veranderingsproses en oorkoepelende houdings van die personeel. Die waargenome impak van die nuwe konteks en waargenome aanvaarding en begrip van die veranderingsproses is beoordeel. Die deelnemers het bestaan uit die bestuurskomitee, dekane en direkteure van administratiewe afdelings van drie tersiêre instellings in KwaZulu-Natal. Die data is met behulp van vraelyste ingesamel wat deur middel van beskrywende en inferensiële statistiesemetodes ontleed is. Die resultate werp lig op die kritieke bestanddele vir doeltreffende veranderingsbestuur.

Keywords

• Management of change
• Higher education institutions
• Effective change management