An individual’s attitude about a proposed workplace change is never a simple cause-effect reaction. That is a key takeaway from a study of 75 studies on attitudes toward change. The first was published in 1948! The authors were interested in how research is done on the topic, but also found themes useful for change professionals.
The study’s article in the Journal of Business Research says, “employees are not just passive recipients of change as depicted in many cause-effect models, but are active constructors of their narratives… Further, the coming together of these different narratives seldom happens by decree, but often hinges on consensus-building.”
This “sensemaking” process is complicated even within an individual: “the way people feel, think and act on change may not always be synchronized, which suggests that conflict may emerge between these different states.” The person must resolve these “competing narratives” to make sense of he change. Part of the process is deciding “whether the change will be congruent with their personal goals, whether the change goal is relevant, and the ability to cope with the changed situation.” That last piece is often overlooked by change management writers: Even if someone supports a change, they may not believe they can pull it off.
But researchers have “started to recognize that the study of attitudes toward organizational change can only be fully understood when considering the multiple levels of change (i.e., individual, team, organization)…” For example, “attitudes toward organizational change may emerge as the result of a complex interaction between employees and the groups they belong or do not belong to.” Notice the word “groups”; one person can be in multiple groups that have different impacts from the change.
Overall treatment of employees by management, irrelevant of the change, can impact someone’s attitude. That is, “when facing change, employees seek a balance… by having attitudes and behaviors commensurate with the degree of employer commitment to them as individuals. For example, perceived organizational support (of the worker) creates a sense of justice and fairness fostering positive reactions towards change.” The relationship with one’s boss matters as well. The “perceived quality of the exchange between supervisors and their followers shaped employees’ resistance…”
All of those complications reinforce one finding that will not be news to change managers. To increase positive attitudes toward a change and reduce negative ones, the researchers say, “one has to establish a clear change vision, plan and implement the right interventions, (and) evaluate and modify strategies as a function of changes in the environment.” As with everything else in management, there are no simple answers to fostering adoption of a change.
Source: Bouckenooghe, Dave, Gavin M. Schwarz, Adam Kanar, and Karin Sanders, ‘Revisiting Research on Attitudes Toward Organizational Change: Bibliometric Analysis and Content Facet Analysis’, Journal of Business Research, 135 (2021), pp. 137–48, doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.06.028.