Contribution of Content, Context, and Process to Understanding Openness to Organizational Change: Two Experimental Simulation Studies

The authors examined the contribution of the content, context, and process of organizational transformation to employees' openness to change. The authors predicted that 5 factors would have a positive effect on openness to change: (a) threatening character of organizational change (content related), (b) trust in executive management (context related), (c) trust in the supervisor (context related), (d) history of change (context related), and (e) participation in the change effort (process related). The authors tested their hypotheses in 2 separate studies (N = 828 and N = 835) using an experimental simulation strategy. The first study crossed 4 variables in a completely randomized 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design. Results showed significant main effects for content, context, and process but no significant interaction effects. A second study, with a completely randomized 2 X 2 factorial design, crossed two context variables. Results showed a significant main and an interaction effect: Openness to change decreased dramatically only when history of change and trust in executive management were low.

[1]  Connie R. Wanberg,et al.  Predictors and outcomes of openness to changes in a reorganizing workplace. , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[2]  Theresa M. Welbourne,et al.  Managerial coping with organizational change: A dispositional perspective. , 1999 .

[3]  Sumantra Ghoshal,et al.  Rebuilding Behavioral Context: A Blueprint for Corporate Renewal , 1996 .

[4]  Dov Elizur,et al.  Effect of Participation in Strategic and Tactical Decisions on Acceptance of Planned Change. , 1990, The Journal of social psychology.

[5]  A. Bedeian,et al.  Organizational Change: A Review of Theory and Research in the 1990s , 1999 .

[6]  R. Schweitzer,et al.  Coping resources, coping strategies and adjustment to organizational change: Direct or buffering effects? , 1994 .

[7]  George B. Cunningham,et al.  The relationships among commitment to change,coping with change, and turnover intentions , 2006 .

[8]  Uri Merry,et al.  Organizational transformation : approaches, strategies, theories , 1988 .

[9]  Backer Te,et al.  Assessing and enhancing readiness for change: implications for technology transfer. , 1995 .

[10]  John P. Wanous,et al.  Understanding and managing cynicism about organizational change , 1997 .

[11]  J. Kotter.  Leading change: why transformation efforts fail , 2009, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[12]  S. Oreg.  Personality, context, and resistance to organizational change , 2006 .

[13]  David E. McNabb,et al.  Culture, Climate, and Total Quality Management: Measuring Readiness for Change , 1995 .

[14]  P. Bordia,et al.  Job uncertainty and personal control during downsizing: A comparison of survivors and victims , 2005 .

[15]  Frances M. Hill.  Total quality management and business process re-engineering: A study of incremental and radical approaches to change management at BTNI , 1999 .

[16]  Timothy R. Hinkin.  A Review of Scale Development Practices in the Study of Organizations , 1995 .

[17]  Vernon D. Miller,et al.  Antecedents to willingness to participate in a planned organizational change , 1994 .

[18]  W. Burke,et al.  A Causal Model of Organizational Performance and Change , 1992 .

[19]  David J. Stanley,et al.  Employee Cynicism and Resistance to Organizational Change , 2005 .

[20]  Harry S. Shannon,et al.  Readiness for organizational change: A longitudinal study of workplace, psychological and behavioural correlates , 2002 .

[21]  S. Harris,et al.  Crafting a change message to create transformational readiness , 2002 .

[22]  Josiah Ober,et al.  A Company of Citizens: What the World's First Democracy Teaches Leaders About Creating Great Organizations , 2003 .

[23]  K. Lewin.  Field theory in social science , 1951 .

[24]  William H. Bommer,et al.  Changing attitudes about change: longitudinal effects of transformational leader behavior on employee cynicism about organizational change , 2005 .

[25]  T. Scandura,et al.  Research Methodology In Management: Current Practices, Trends, And Implications For Future Research , 2000 .

[26]  K. Bedingham.  Corporate culture change in the engineering environment , 2004 .

[27]  Robert J. House,et al.  Judgment calls in research , 1982 .

[28]  Dennis T. Jaffe,et al.  Rekindling commitment : how to revitalize yourself, your work, and your organization , 1994 .

[29]  G. Johns.  In praise of context , 2001 .

[30]  A. Pettigrew,et al.  Studying Organizational Change and Development: Challenges for Future Research , 2001 .

[31]  P. Msweli-Mbanga,et al.  Modelling participation, resistance to change, and organizational citizenship behaviour : a South African case , 2006 .

[32]  Jeremy B. Bernerth,et al.  Expanding Our Understanding of the Change Message , 2004 .

[33]  Richard A. Guzzo,et al.  Creating a climate and culture for sustainable organizational change , 1996 .

[34]  D. Schweiger,et al.  Building Commitment, Attachment, and Trust in Strategic Decision-Making Teams: The Role of Procedural Justice , 1995 .

[35]  J. Kotter,et al.  Choosing strategies for change. , 1979, Harvard business review.

[36]  Marjorie Armstrong-Stassen,et al.  Designated redundant but escaping lay‐off: A special group of lay‐off survivors , 2002 .

[37]  R. Kirk.  Experimental Design: Procedures for the Behavioral Sciences , 1970 .

[38]  Simon L. Albrecht,et al.  Perceptions of integrity, competence and trust in senior management as determinants of cynicism toward change , 2002 .

[39]  N. Jimmieson,et al.  The Impact of Organizational Culture and Reshaping Capabilities on Change Implementation Success: The Mediating Role of Readiness for Change , 2005 .

[40]  I. Janis,et al.  Decision Making: A Psychological Analysis of Conflict, Choice, and Commitment , 1977 .

[41]  L. Eby,et al.  Perceptions of Organizational Readiness for Change: Factors Related to Employees' Reactions to the Implementation of Team-Based Selling , 2000 .

[42]  J. Rotter.  Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. , 1966, Psychological monographs.

[43]  Chris W. Clegg,et al.  Change management: Time for a change! , 2004 .

[44]  Richard W. Woodman,et al.  Understanding organizational change: A schematic perspective , 1995 .

[45]  Meni Koslowsky,et al.  International Replication Note Decision Type, Organisational Control, and Acceptance of Change: An Integrative Approach to Participative Decision Making , 1996 .

[46]  A. Bandura.  Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency , 2024, Psihologìâ ì suspìlʹstvo.

[47]  Tina Kiefer.  Feeling bad: antecedents and consequences of negative emotions in ongoing change , 2005 .

[48]  S. Freeman.  The Gestalt of Organizational Downsizing: Downsizing Strategies as Packages of Change , 1999 .

[49]  R. Greenwood,et al.  Understanding Radical Organizational Change: Bringing Together the Old and the New Institutionalism , 1996 .

[50]  Rex B. Kline,et al.  Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling , 1998 .

[51]  R. Bies,et al.  Social Accounts in Conflict Situations: Using Explanations to Manage Conflict , 1993 .

[52]  Arnold S. Judson.  Changing Behavior in Organizations: Minimizing Resistance to Change , 1991 .

[53]  Achilles A. Armenakis,et al.  Organizational Change Content, Process, and Context: A Simultaneous Analysis of Employee Reactions , 2007 .

[54]  S. Harris,et al.  Creating Readiness for Organizational Change , 1993 .

[55]  N. Ashkanasy,et al.  The Impact of Leadership and Change Management Strategy on Organizational Culture and Individual Acceptance of Change During a Merger , 2006 .

[56]  Alan J. Dubinsky,et al.  The Role of Environmental Turbulence, Readiness for Change, and Salesperson Learning in the Success of Sales Force Change , 2002 .

[57]  Tanya Sammut-Bonnici,et al.  Darwinism, probability and complexity: market-based organizational transformation and change explained through the theories of evolution , 2002 .

[58]  C. O'Reilly,et al.  Measuring organizational communication. , 1974 .

[59]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  What's a good reason to change? Motivated reasoning and social accounts in promoting organizational change. , 1999 .

[60]  Lynn A. Isabella.  Evolving Interpretations as a Change Unfolds: How Managers Construe Key Organizational Events , 1990 .

[61]  Benson Rosen,et al.  The Leader-Member Exchange as a Link between Managerial Trust and Employee Empowerment , 2001 .

[62]  Reyes Gonzalez,et al.  The strategic process of a cultural change to implement total quality management: A case study , 2001 .

[63]  A. Woolley,et al.  It's Not the Seed, It's the Soil: Social Psychological Influences on Outcomes of Organizational Change Programs , 1999 .

[64]  N. Nohria,et al.  Breaking the Code of Change , 2000 .

[65]  Achilles A. Armenakis,et al.  Making change permanent A model for institutionalizing change interventions , 2000 .

[66]  Jack K. Ito,et al.  An Examination of the Roles of Career Uncertainty, Flexibility, and Control in Predicting Emotional Exhaustion , 2001 .

[67]  A. Zander,et al.  Resistance to change—its analysis and prevention. , 1950 .

[68]  E. Hobman,et al.  Uncertainty During Organizational Change: Types, Consequences, and Management Strategies , 2003 .

[69]  M. Tushman,et al.  Organizational Evolution: A Metamorphosis Model of Convergence and Reorientation , 1985 .

[70]  J. Bartunek,et al.  First-Order, Second-Order, and Third-Order Change and Organization Development Interventions: A Cognitive Approach , 1987 .

[71]  Dov Elizur,et al.  Decision type, participative decision making (PDM), and organizational behavior: An experimental simulation , 1995 .

[72]  Joseph E. McGrath,et al.  Dilemmatics: The Study of Research Choices and Dilemmas , 1981 .

[73]  Maria Vakola,et al.  The Role of Emotional Intelligence and Personality Variables on Attitudes Toward Organisational Change , 2004 .

[74]  Eileen Appelbaum,et al.  The New American Workplace , 1993 .

[75]  R. Folger,et al.  Effects of Procedural and Distributive Justice on Reactions to Pay Raise Decisions , 1989 .

[76]  Lee,et al.  When the Going Gets Tough, Do the Tough Ask for Help? Help Seeking and Power Motivation in Organizations. , 1997, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[77]  G. Johns.  The Essential Impact of Context on Organizational Behavior , 2006 .