| Summary: | In terms of remaining profitable, being competitive and keeping up with
technological advances, change is a familiar occurrence in the global
business environment. From a business perspective, changes can take place
because of, for example, new products on the market, competition, mergers of
companies, different needs of clients and hostile take-overs. In order to
survive and remain profitable in this dynamic business environment,
companies must be able to adapt. In many cases, adaptation entails the
restructuring of the company. Restructuring can coincide with, for example,
the flattening of the organisational structure of a company, measures to
become more cost effective and the acquisition of a larger share of the
market. It is therefore required of any company to have an effective plan in
place when change in the internal and external environments necessitates
restructuring. Elements of restructuring are:
effective planning;
communication;
management and leadership.
At Samancor Manganese Mines (now known as Hotazel Manganese Mines),
a restructuring process took place as a result of an international merger
between Broken Hill Productions (BHP) and Billiton International (the
company is now known as BHP Billiton International). As a sub division of the
former Billiton International, Samancor Manganese Mines had to restructure
in order to remain profitable and become more cost effective. In terms of
these criteria, it is accepted that the restructuring process was successful.
The flattening of the organisational structure of the mine, however, led to
mass retrenchments that resulted in the low morale of employees. Although
the whole process of restructuring was a legitimate and familiar business
practice, the basic assumption of this research is that the restructuring
strategy should have been communicated differently to employees. If
communicated timely and effectively, the restructuring process would have
been less painful. In this regard, the research intends to firstly analyse and
describe a restructuring process; secondly compare that process with the
process that took place at Samancor Manganese Mines; and thirdly make
recommendations in regards to how the restructuring process at Samancor
Manganese Mines should have been managed, with specific reference to
communication from the perspective of employees. === Thesis (M. Ontwikkeling en Bestuur)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.
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