Middle Managers’ Strategising Practices to Effect Strategic Change

ABSTRACT Strategic organizational changes in the higher education sector are costly and resource intensive but considered crucial for the longevity and feasibility of organizations in this sector. Faced with major reforms of government-imposed funding, pressures from internationalization, digitalization and globalization, many Higher Educational Institutions had to reconsider governance, organizational structures and the roles and responsibilities of actors. The purpose of the empirical qualitative research study was to investigate the professional middle managers’ strategising practices to effect strategic change. The study context was a South African higher education institution undergoing substantial organizational change due to an institutional restructuring. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to describe participants’ cognitive, emotional, and physical nature which confirmed six holistic and comprehensive strategising practices namely adapting, effecting change, collaborating, mobilizing, peacekeeping and overseeing. The findings confirmed that strategising practices were not the result of actions only but were also influenced by cognitive, rational, and emotional experiences. MAD statement Change is difficult for everyone, but even more so for middle managers who are not only strategy implementors but also recipients of change. Findings provide insight to how middle managers handle change contexts in which changes are multiple and overlapping.