The relationship between employee attitudes towards planned organisational change and organisational commitment : an investigation of a selected case within the South African telecommunications industry

Abstract

Change has become a normal occurrence within organisations in South Africa, more so in telecommunication organisations due to the rapid technological advances. In a competitive global economy, organisations are forced to stay abreast with technological changes in order to survive. The South African telecommunication industry is no exception as global changes will ultimately result in local changes. Harker (1996: 1) maintains that “a tidal wave of change is headed towards the telecommunication industry”. He mentions that the change experienced within the telecommunications industry will transform the economic, social and political environment for nearly every person in the world. The change taking place is affected by the rapid advancement in technology and convergence of computing, communication and information. Therefore only organisations that are ready for these changes will survive. The research was conducted in a large telecommunication organisation in South Africa (Company A) with over 20 000 employees currently employed in the organisation. Company A is embarking on organisational restructuring initiatives that will involve a number of organisational change processes. Organisational change processes may cause resistance to change as feelings of fear, uncertainty, reduced levels of trust in management and an increase in employee resignations may result (Bovey & Hede, 2001: 372, Coch & French, 1948: 512-548). The purpose of this research was to determine the levels of employee commitment to Company A and employee perceptions of the planned organisational changes at Company A