{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18878"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18878","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The organisational change agent as an appreciative system : increasing effectiveness in business process reengineering through the systems approach","abstract":"This thesis is concerned with the effectiveness of change agents within organisations. The argument presented is that the effectiveness of change agents depends on their ability to develop an understanding of the complex situations they are faced with. This includes a rich understanding of their own role within the situation. The systems approach described by Churchman (1971, 1979) and further developed by Ulrich (1983) provides methods that aid the development of a rich understanding of, inquiry into, and intervention in complex socio-technical situations. The structure of the paper will take the following form: Part 1: Appreciative systems and the systems approach. Performance criteria for change agents are declared. The key role of appreciation ineffective change management is highlighted. An explanation of appreciative systems and how the systems approach can make them more effective is presented. Finally an appreciative frame for human populated (social) systems is explained. Part 2: Investigating sources of purpose in traditional Business Process Reengineering (BPR).Before developing the complete the appreciative framework in Part 3, our understanding will be consolidated by applying the human populated systems frame to organisational change (business process reengineering) as a system.","abstract_html":"This thesis is concerned with the effectiveness of change agents within organisations. The argument presented is that the effectiveness of change agents depends on their ability to develop an understanding of the complex situations they are faced with. This includes a rich understanding of their own role within the situation. The systems approach described by Churchman (1971, 1979) and further developed by Ulrich (1983) provides methods that aid the development of a rich understanding of, inquiry into, and intervention in complex socio-technical situations. The structure of the paper will take the following form: Part 1: Appreciative systems and the systems approach. Performance criteria for change agents are declared. The key role of appreciation ineffective change management is highlighted. An explanation of appreciative systems and how the systems approach can make them more effective is presented. Finally an appreciative frame for human populated (social) systems is explained. Part 2: Investigating sources of purpose in traditional Business Process Reengineering (BPR).Before developing the complete the appreciative framework in Part 3, our understanding will be consolidated by applying the human populated systems frame to organisational change (business process reengineering) as a system.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Topp, Warren Kent"],"institution":"Department of Mechanical Engineering","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Strumpfer, Johan"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1995,"date_issued":"1995","date_published":"1995","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:12Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18878","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Strumpfer, Johan"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Topp, Warren Kent"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2016-04-13T14:30:20Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-04-13T14:30:20Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1995"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["MIndAdmin"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18878"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis is concerned with the effectiveness of change agents within organisations. The argument presented is that the effectiveness of change agents depends on their ability to develop an understanding of the complex situations they are faced with. This includes a rich understanding of their own role within the situation. The systems approach described by Churchman (1971, 1979) and further developed by Ulrich (1983) provides methods that aid the development of a rich understanding of, inquiry into, and intervention in complex socio-technical situations. The structure of the paper will take the following form: Part 1: Appreciative systems and the systems approach. Performance criteria for change agents are declared. The key role of appreciation ineffective change management is highlighted. An explanation of appreciative systems and how the systems approach can make them more effective is presented. Finally an appreciative frame for human populated (social) systems is explained. Part 2: Investigating sources of purpose in traditional Business Process Reengineering (BPR).Before developing the complete the appreciative framework in Part 3, our understanding will be consolidated by applying the human populated systems frame to organisational change (business process reengineering) as a system."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The organisational change agent as an appreciative system : increasing effectiveness in business process reengineering through the systems approach"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Strumpfer, Johan"],"dc:creator":["Topp, Warren Kent"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2016-04-13T14:30:20Z"],"dc:date.available":["2016-04-13T14:30:20Z"],"dc:date.issued":["1995"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis is concerned with the effectiveness of change agents within organisations. The argument presented is that the effectiveness of change agents depends on their ability to develop an understanding of the complex situations they are faced with. This includes a rich understanding of their own role within the situation. The systems approach described by Churchman (1971, 1979) and further developed by Ulrich (1983) provides methods that aid the development of a rich understanding of, inquiry into, and intervention in complex socio-technical situations. The structure of the paper will take the following form: Part 1: Appreciative systems and the systems approach. Performance criteria for change agents are declared. The key role of appreciation ineffective change management is highlighted. An explanation of appreciative systems and how the systems approach can make them more effective is presented. Finally an appreciative frame for human populated (social) systems is explained. Part 2: Investigating sources of purpose in traditional Business Process Reengineering (BPR).Before developing the complete the appreciative framework in Part 3, our understanding will be consolidated by applying the human populated systems frame to organisational change (business process reengineering) as a system."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18878"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Mechanical Engineering"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["The organisational change agent as an appreciative system : increasing effectiveness in business process reengineering through the systems approach"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["MIndAdmin"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:12Z"}