Successful strategies for managing change

Abstract

During the recent recession, Australian organizations have undergone major changes focused on improvement of organizational competitiveness. In Australian public sector organizations, strong government control, stringent legislation and powerful trade unions make it extremely challenging to bring about meaningful restructuring. Describes how successful reform and restructuring was implemented in the public transit system in New South Wales. In 1988, the State Transit Authority of New South Wales had 6,600 staff and incurred an operational loss of more than $70 million. Five years later, it had only 3,800 employees and in the financial year 1991‐92, returned a dividend to the government. Discusses the general management and human resource management strategies which were used successfully to implement change at the State Transit Authority of New South Wales.