Browsing by Author "Sully, Max"

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    Change and the perception of psychological breach : a case study of the impact of change on the psychological contract of senior managers in an acquired organisation
    (2000) Pastor, Carmelita; Sully, Max; Hill, Anthony
    With the entrance of South Africa into the global market, companies are facing enormous challenges in competing in a constantly changing environment. Organisations are using strategies such as mergers and acquisitions to ensure their survival. The impact of these organisational changes on employees is high, and the need to understand how employees deal with these changes is critical. The aim of this research study was to discover whether senior managers experience changes that result from the acquisition of their company as a breach of their psychological contract. An embedded case study design was deemed appropriate due to the need to understand the experience of change over a period of time from the perspective of the subjects. Seven senior managers were selected to be part of the longitudinal study, and three indepth interviews were conducted with each of the subjects over a period of six months. The results confirm that psychological contracts are dynamic and resilient in nature. Though changes were perceived as breach of the psychological contract, subjects were willing to re-negotiate their contracts with the organisation. This openness to renegotiation can be attributed to the way in which the organisation generally handled the changes, the nature of the psychological contracts, the high level of trust that subjects had in the organisation, and the personal circumstances of the individual subjects. The perception of and relationship with management also had a significant impact on the outcome of perceived psychological breach.
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    Open Access
    Investigating the experience of working in a diversifying workforce : a case study of the committee section of the South African Parliament
    (1999) Goodman, Suki; Sully, Max
    Due to significant shifts in the political, economic and demographic environment the imperatives for change within South African organisations are becoming increasingly more urgent. One strategy that organisations are adopting in the face of increased pressures is to create and maintain diverse workforces. This trend is matched on a global basis and the need to manage diversity has become commonplace. While increased workforce diversity presents a challenge to traditional organisational management it also holds the promise of providing innovative strategies for a changing work environment. Whereas there is an abundance of literature on managing diversity there is a paucity of work on the psychological, experiential aspects of working in a diverse workforce. The principal objective of this research was to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the experience of working in a diversifying workforce. The researched followed a case study approach focusing on the committee section of the South African Parliament. Data were collected from twenty committee clerks through open-ended, in-depth interviews. The data was analysed using qualitative data analysis techniques. Five major themes emerged from the interviews comprising: Confronting a Changing Workplace, Meeting and Engaging with the 'Other', Stimulating Growth and Development, Learnings and Coping Mechanisms. Each theme is made up of a series of sub-themes. The study presents these results in a diagrammatic from and provides an extended discussion of the themes and sub-themes. Analysis of the results demonstrates that working in a diversifying workforce has an enormous impact on the participant's experience of work and the quality of their working lives.