The impact of the change management process on the employees during the merger integration at the Mafikeng campus of the North-West University

Abstract

Whereas the merger as a restructuring strategy has long been used to address problems and challenges facing the Higher Education Institutions (HEls) in various countries, this dissertation takes its cue from the historical fact that the restructuring of the HEIs in South Africa only gained momentum in 2002. The vision of the government of South Africa, broadly stated, is to have a coordinated educational system without racial and resource inequalities brought by the segregation policy. This proclamation dictated the type of restructuring and accordingly determined and profiled merging partners. Such a dispensation has forced all the HEIs to merge according to the new educational framework. Therefore, a case study research was conducted to determine the impact of this radical organisational change and, specifically, change implementation on employee behaviour in a merged South African HEI environment. The merger under discuss􀀢on here was between institutions that served mainly Black or White students. Although the survey sample for this research study is small, the study findings tend to suggest that limited participation and lack of effective communication and management have contributed to the negative perceptions of the change management process. Furthermore, more management efforts are required to demonstrate the real benefits of the current change management strategy. For any institution with campuses that are large distances apart, and that were formerly established on racial lines, it is very important to offer training and support to alrgn stakeholders with the new vision. Through full employee participation, effective communication and management; the cultural, racial and geographical differences can be bridged. These change process interventions were identified in the general change management literature as good strategies that can promote readiness for change, make stakeholders to view the change favourably, soothe attitudinal and behavioural reactions to change, and influence change ac;ceptance. To the existing body of thought this dissertation adds a bolder inflection, i.e., the thesis that effective communication and management are more critical to the South African HEI mergers, especially when the senior management is located at the campus that could be perceived to have benefitted out of the segregation policy. All the decisions that are taken without full participation of the stakeholders are most likely to be met with resistance which is detrimental to the organisation as a preferred institution of higher learning.