Abstract
M.Comm.
The global environment is changing drastically and companies need to
respond to this change in order to survive. The concept of shared services
has seen its boom in the market as one of the measures to adapt to the ever
changing global environment. With the strengthening of the global economy,
corporations implement shared services to enhance their competitive
advantage. Shared services are implemented for various reasons inclusive of
quality, cost, time and economies of scale. The result is changes in
processes, technology and culture / people.
Change is not easy. People resist as it impacts on culture i.e. the way they
currently operate. The introduction of shared services is no different. The
changes it leads to create a sense of discomfort thereby leading to resistance.
It is, thus, of critical importance to manage the transition of people from the
current to the future culture. It has been evident that the softer side of change
(people) is the most neglected area when managing change.
The study focuses on change management to transform people’s attitudes
and behaviours from a functional culture to a service oriented culture. The
researcher identified this transition as not successful when introducing shared
services, and this forms the research problem. The study is qualitative and
exploratory in design with the aim of identifying change management tools
and techniques in the implementation of shared services. Various tools have
been identified with communication being the most critical tool in managing
change. The conclusion drawn is that focus should not only be on the
technical areas of change, but involve people as well. No change can be
successful without the involvement of the people that are expected to
implement it, no matter how sophisticated the processes or technology is.