An evaluation of the proposed organisation restructuring at Kadoma city, 2015

Introduction Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable or better organized for its present needs. However, preparing an organization to accept and welcome any change is crucial. There is concern though over poor service delivery, untimely payment of workers, top management structure which is thought to be top heavy and employee costs taking (58%) of total expenditure. Methods A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out. A cost benefit analysis was used to assess the cost and benefits of the proposed retrenchment exercise. A descriptive cross sectional study survey was conducted to assess the workers’ perceptions towards the proposed restructuring exercise. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection and data were analysed using EpiInfoTM (CDC 2012).Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. Results Sixty nine percent of the respondents were males. The median years working for the organisation was 8 years (Q1=1; Q3=17). The total income was surpassed by expenditure with USD$11 000 and 52% of expenditures was going towards employment costs. A midyear financial review showed that 1% was channeled towards capital expenditure 2% on repairs and maintenance and employee costs accounting to 58% of all incurred expenditure. Current departmental salary budget amounted to USD 3,3million dollars. Estimated salary costs for the proposed departmental structures amount to USD 3,8 million dollars. Comparison of the current and proposed structure showed that the proposed structure costs USD$486 000 more. Projected benefits of the proposed structure aims to improve service delivery from 60%-85% . Unlike managers, lower levels workers did not want the exercise to be carried out. Conclusion The proposed structure has higher costs than the current structure but with more benefits in terms of service delivery. Generally workers perceived restructuring negatively and did not want it done.


Introduction
Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. However, preparing an organization to accept and welcome any change is crucial. A number of organizations have implemented restructuring initiativesand this is usually done after there has been a change in the operating environment [1]. For example in Zimbabwe's managed care in the private insurance sector were Psmas and Cimas Medical Aids becoming not only financiers of care, but providers of care as well.
However, preparing an organization to accept and welcome any change is crucial. Anorganisational restructuring exercise is difficult if staff are uninformed or do not see the necessity for the restructuring for they are likely to be obstructive [2].
The typical preparation takes place over a period of time, and starts when staff becomes aware of the fact that management is reconsidering strategy and structure [3]. It then moves into a phase when staff is increasingly exposed to elements of the new approach.
The uncertainty and turbulence of this period is not necessarily a bad thing; a degree of tension tends to operate in favour of management when it becomes clear that the new structure will address a number of difficulties and issues that staff members have been aware of. Several steps are considered in the restructuring process and StratFacdescribed the following steps in the restructuring process.Restructuring Process Steps are shown in Figure 1 [4].
A restructuring exercise is a huge undertaking, and the top management group will find it totally impossible to carry out all the required actions themselves. It is equally important that a definition of responsibilities include a clear indication of who is allowed to take which decision during the course of the process. Preparing the organization to accept and welcome the changes is crucial as the

Results
The demographic characteristics of the respondents shows that sixty nine percent of the respondents were males ( Table 1). The median years working for the organisation was 8 years (Q1=0; Q3=17).  Table 2).

Kadoma city 2015
Comparison of the current and proposed structurein terms of costs was summarised. Central administration costs for the proposed structure was $ 63 636 and for housing department was $26, 030, 38 (Table 3). A survey was conducted to assess workers perceptions on the proposed restructuring process. A total of 68 respondents participated in this study.Fifteen percent (n=10) of the respondents were in grade A, 31% grade B, 38% grade C and 11% in grade E.
Sixty two percent of the respondents were permanent workers and 31% had attained a degree level of education. Fifty nine percent of the respondents (n=40) strongly agreed that restructuring was a form of punishment. Forty six percent (n=31) agreed that the process will improve service delivery. Thirty two percent (n=8) of health personnel strongly agreed that restructuring can improve service delivery whilst the same number disagreed. Fifty eight percent (n=14) of health workers agreed to restructuring as a cost cutting measure. Sixty nine percent (n=18) of workers in Grade C strongly agreed to creation of poverty to those affected (Table 4).

Workers views towards the need to restructure
Ninety percent (n=9) of the workers in Grade A did not want the restructuring exercise to be done. In Grade E 86% (n=6) did want the exercise to be done whilst 14% (n=1) did not agree to restructuring exercise.

City 2015
Sixty five percent of workers in Grade C strongly agreed to restructuring as punishment to workers. Fourteen percent (n=1) of workers in Grade E strongly agreed to the perception of restructuring as a form of punishment. Ten percent of workers in Grade B disagreed to it being punishment and 58% (n=4) of workers in Grade E strongly disagreed.

Discussion
The expected income from rates, fees, sales and rental charges among others for the year were projected to be 9 million. It is from these charges that they got expenditure money to cover employee costs, general expenses and asset replacement. Employee costs cover salaries, wages, contract workers, allowances, councillor's allowances, pension and medical aid. According to Urban and Rural Councils policy each authority should channel 30% of revenue collected towards employment costs and 70% towards service delivery [7]. In this case the city is using 52% of the income towards employment costs and the remaining 48% towards service delivery thereby compromising the mandate of the city.

Conclusion
Employee costs were costing the council 52% of the total revenue collected. Compared to the current structure the proposed structure accrued $23, 942, 59 more costs. The proposed structure is reducing number of employees by 5% but improving on service delivery which is the mandate of the City Council. Generally workers perceived restructuring as a way of improving service delivery which they thought was currently below standard but regarded the process as punishment to the low grade workers and only to benefit high grade workers.
What is known about this topic  Organisations do restructuring to make the organisation more profitable and integrated;  Appropriate skills, strategies and tactics are needed in implementing and managing restructuring and retrenchment;  Several steps are considered in the restructuring process.