Implementing Workplace Change
Industrial, Organisational and Labour Studies 2B (ii)
Implementing Workplace Change 2007
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College, Durban
Lecturer: Adarsh Maharaj & Kibbie Naidoo
Telephone: 031-2602531 or 031-2601097
Workplaces and organisations are constantly changing. These changes are of concern to government, labour, business and academics as they raise a number of important questions. The questions include:
- What does the concept of workplace change mean?
- What causes change?
- What methods can we employ to understand workplace change?
- How do we ensure that changes in the workplace have positive outcomes for all members of the organization?
In this course we begin to address some of these questions by examining a virtual factory. You will be presented with data on the factory and be required to develop a research process to:
- Identify the problems and
- Apply literature on workplace change to analyse the data an
- Suggest solutions to the problems.
Aims
More specifically, the course aims to equip you with the necessary skills to
- Identify a work-related problem
- Design a research project to gather information to solve the problem
- To reflect on the methodological, ethical and practical issues involved in the research process that you engage in;
- Locate relevant literature to help you understand the problem
- Using both information gathered and literature design an organisational diagnosis to find appropriate solutions
- Develop the necessary analytical skills to offer a series of alternative scenarios
- Develop new technology skills to achieve all the above.
Process
Week One: Formation of working groups (5 members per group). Identify your senior mentor. Familiarize yourself with the virtual factory.
Week Two: Design a work plan for the group and identify key relevant literature to help you analyse the data.
Week Three: Develop you individual analysis of the corporation
Week Four: Design a research strategy andgather information for your problem solving task
Week Five: Submission of your research proposal and the beginning of compiling your research report
Week Six: Submit your team project.
Present your PowerPoint presentation of your team-work. Hand in your Second Tut-based Task.
Weekly Time-table
Mondays : Lecture
Tuesdays Tutorial and groupwork
Wednesdays : Lecture and groupwork
Fridays Powerpoint presentation skills
Assessment
The course assessment for this module is 60 % course assessment and 40% exam
Class work
Please Diarise these dates IMMEDIATELY!!!!!
- Tutorial task 1 (Individual Workplan) 5% Due 8 August
- Tutorial task 2 individual analysis 5% Due 15 August
- Research proposal (group) 5% Due 24 August
- Essay on theory related to workplace change 20% Due 29 August
- Group Project 20% Due 7 September
- Project presentation 5% To be announced
Exam 40%
Essay Topic
Workplaces in South Africa are continuously undergoing change. There are various debates and theories that attempt to explain these changes. Drawing on both your reading of these theories and debates and on your analysis of Imbumba Corporation critically discuss the main challenges facing workplaces in South Africa.
Readings
- Castells M. (2000) The Network Society, Oxford: Blackwells
- Clegg S.R. (1980) Modern Organisations, London: Sage
- Davies, M.B. (2007) Doing a successful research project : using qualitative or quantitative methods, Palgrave Macmillan
- Handy C.B (1985) Understanding Organisations, chs 8-12, Harmondsworth: Penguin
- Lancaster, Geoff, (2005), Research methods in management : a concise introduction to research in management and business consultancy, Butterworth-Heinemann
- McIntyre, Lisa J (2005) Need to know : social science research methods, Mc-Graw-Hill
- Noon, M. and Blyton, P. (1997) The Realities of Work, Macmillan Business Press, Hampshire.
- Senge P., part one, The Fifth Discipline, New York: Currency, Doubleday
- Somekh, B (2005) Research Methods in the Social Sciences, London, Sage
- Thompson P. and McHugh D. (1995) Work Organisations: A Critical Introduction (second edition), Macmillan Business Press, Hampshire.
- Webster, E and Von Holdt K.(eds.) (2005) Beyond the Apartheid Workplace: Studies in the Transition, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg.
- Zuboff S. In the Age of the Smart Machine, Harvard: the University Press
NB: Please remember that these readings are merely a guide. You are encouraged to read and will be rewarded for sourcing and making appropriate use of additional reading!!!!!!!