Understanding change and implications of divisional management model (DMM ) in a merged multi- campus University in South Africa

The study sought to understand change and transition in a multi-merged campus university in South Africa. Specifically the objectives were to understand the Human Resource (HR) plan, how it is being rolled out, the reactions of workers to it, the effects of the plan on workers and the processes put in place to mitigate, rather than aggravate, the current and foreseeable consequences of the Human Resource plan. A qualitative case study was used and focus groups and semi-structured interviews (triangulated with observation and document analysis) were used on a purposive sample of unions and the university HR official in one campus. The researcher found that there is no organogram which acts as a framework wherein all workers in respective campuses shall fit in. additionally, there is no staff transition plan and harmonisation of conditions of service policy that is agreed upon. Though it seemed there were some mechanisms to attenuate the effects of the HR plan (possible retrenchments, loss of morale, uncertainty, stress, doubt and the like) such as voluntary service package, there were areas of concern about the lack of a properly and widely circulated plan, and the absence of plans to transition staff throughout the process of change. Consequently, the researcher recommended at the end of the study that there must be a change management leadership in each campus to drive transition, a creation of proper communication networks, institution of campus indabas, a design of a transition plan, harmonisation approaches, migration of institutional items to an institutional site and the facilitation of recognition agreements for those unions which are still recognise in the premerger manner