Perceptions about change management at Blendco.

Abstract

Change has not been always good and cannot solve all problems; however, for any organisation‟s survival and success, change is a necessity. Change has become essential in business due to an environment with high competition and many challenges. Most researchers suggest that 66.7% to 80% of attempted change efforts fail. Implementing change initiatives continues to be an issue in organisations and often still impacts on business costs due to project failures. This has raised a question as to what the issues are that cause change failures and how these failures can be avoided. These issues and failures can be explored by understanding the perceptions of those who are involved or affected by change. This research study on change perceptions in an organisation was conducted using Blendcor (Pty) Ltd to understand their current issues in change management. The organisation is in the process of transformation, using a five-year turnaround strategy with the aim of becoming one of the leading lubricants manufacturing plants in the world, as per the company vision. A quota sampling technique was used to collect data for the study. The response rate was good at 84%. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the collected data for the study. The study managed to identify that people in a change management process are top priority. After a thorough literature review, it was found that top key issues that need to be addressed on change management are communication of change, involvement of people, management support, planning, organisation culture, and sustainability of the process. The findings from the study supported the literature. The main findings of the study were lack of understanding and the importance of communication of change. It was also found that during change people are affected by stress and other emotional factors, which affect the execution of the change projects. Some of the recommendations from the study are to use proper communication channels during change; change management has to increase the interest of people through proper people management and apply talent management to sustain change management in an organisation.