Evaluating the Need for a Change Programme in a Telecommunications Organisation

Author: Van Loggerenberg, Jacques Pierre
Supervisor: Professor Pieter Steyn
Date: March 2008

This research was conducted in an International Telecommunications organization and more specifically in the South Africa operation. This organization is a respected multinational with telecommunication operations in African and Middle Eastern countries. Due to confidentiality the organization’s name will not be disclosed and the researcher will refer to the company as “undisclosed company name” (UCN).

An early business plan showed that securing just half a million subscribers in the first decade would mean all UCN expectations had been exceeded. This target was met and UCN became a giant in the telecommunications sector in a remarkably short time. In the year to March 2004, it achieved revenues of close to R24-billion.

However, as the South African telecommunications policy environment changes and the market nears saturation, conditions are becoming ever tougher, demanding not only new and innovative products, but also improved customer service.

During the process of meeting these new challenges, it became apparent that UCN needed an organizational structure which would be flexible and agile enough to seize new opportunities as they arise. UCN would also need to gear the organization to meet the ever-changing needs and high expectations of its customers.

The aim of the study was to identify whether there is a need for a change management programme in the organization. The researcher made use of the data that was collected in the UCN 2005 Group opinion survey.

From these results it was evident that the revitalization programme did not have a significant influence on improving the organizational performance of UCN and that a change management programme is required.

Whilst ‘Leadership’ and ‘Customer Focus’ showed a marginal improvement during 2004, the researcher identified and recommended four major areas for improvement that showed the greatest decline namely, communication, organizational performance management, team synergy and corporate strategy. Recommendations have been provided on how to address these problems and successfully implement the change management programme within the organization.