The role of organizational politics,contextual resources,and formal communication on change recipients' commitment to change: A multilevel study

Over the past decade there has been an increased interest in studying the factors that affect people's commitment to change. Drawing from the Job Demands–Resources model, in this enquiry we explored the moderating role of two contextual resources (i.e., trust in top management, history of change) and formal communication in the relationship between perceived organizational politics and commitment to change. Data were collected from 2543 employees of 84 companies representing a wide variety of industry sectors. In a first survey we collected data about the work context. Two weeks after the first survey, in a second survey we captured data on people's commitment to change. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to analyse the multilevel character of the data. Consonant with our hypotheses, the findings indicate that the negative relationship between perceived organizational politics and commitment to change is moderated by “trust in top management”, “history of change”, and “formal communication”. As a group the Level 2 predictors account for 18%, 2.5%, and 10%, respectively, of the between-unit variance in continuance, normative, and affective commitment for change.     

Guidelines for education and training at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels in consulting psychology/organizational consulting psychology

The purpose of these "Guidelines for Education and Training at the Doctoral and Postdoctoral Levels in Consulting Psychology/Organizational Consulting Psychology" is to provide a common framework for use in the development, evaluation, and review of education and training in consulting psychology/organizational consulting psychology (CP/OCP). The intent of these guidelines is to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the area of the practice of CP, especially OCP, within the scientific discipline and profession of psychology. Towards these ends, this document is intended as guidance for psychologists who teach or plan curricula for teaching CP/OCP at doctoral or postdoctoral levels of professional education and training in psychology. The guidelines are structured in the form of overarching principles, general competencies, and domain-specific competencies that are ideally obtained by persons receiving training at the doctoral or postdoctoral level in CP/OCP.     

组织变革前非正式信息的作用机制

非正式信息是变革前信息沟通的重要组成部分, 对变革决策和执行有潜在的影响。围绕组织变革前非正式信息开展以下研究：(1)探究组织变革前非正式信息的内涵和结构; (2)基于心理因应和认知重构机制, 探索员工获取非正式信息之后, 其变革认知和情感的动态调整过程; (3)研究潜在的组织变革决策→非正式信息反馈→再决策过程, 即变革领导者通过获得员工变革认知和情感的反馈, 进行渐进决策优化的过程。研究结果能丰富变革沟通理论和指导我国变革实践。     

Current themes in organizational change

Research in leadership effectiveness has paid less attention to the role of leader fairness than probably it should have. More recently, this has started to change. To capture this development, we review the empirical literature in leadership and fairness to define the field of leadership and fairness, to assess the state of the art, and to identify a research agenda for future efforts in the field. The review shows that leader distributive, procedural, and especially interactional fairness are positively associated with criteria of leadership effectiveness. More scarce and scattered evidence also suggests that fairness considerations help explain the effectiveness of other aspects of leadership, and that leader fairness and other aspects of leadership, or the leadership context, may interact in predicting leadership effectiveness. We conclude that future research should especially focus on interaction effects of leader fairness and other aspects of leadership, and on the processes mediating these effects.     

Attendance pressure during organizational change

The present study examines the relationships between aspects of the concept attendance pressure and sickness absenteeism. The study was carried out in a large public company in Norway during a major reorganization. It was hypothesized that employees with sickness absenteeism during this period would experience a high degree of attendance pressure in the form of reactions from managers, fellow workers, and job insecurity. Two surveys were carried out with the same sample (N=401). Attendance pressure in the form of censure pressure explained significant parts of the variance in sickness absenteeism. Employees with sickness absenteeism during the reorganization were a vulnerable group with low job satisfaction, significant health problems and low personal work ethics. Implications for preventive work on organizational level are discussed.Financed by the Research Council of Norway.     

The interactive effects of organizational politics and exchange ideology on manager ratings of retention

This study examined the moderating effect of exchange ideology on the relation between perceptions of organizational politics and manager-rated retention. Data collected from 178 employees of a distribution services organization indicated that employees’ perceptions of organizational politics related negatively related to manager assessments of retention. However, the variables were only related among employees with a moderate to strong exchange ideology. These individuals were more sensitive to a political environment than individuals with a weak exchange ideology. Implications for employees seeking to actively manage their careers are discussed.     

The impact of organizational change on the perceptions of UK managers

Abstract

This study describes what kind of impact the relocation of an organization has on the daily life and experiences of its employees and their families. The organization—the defence forces—was closing some garrisons and relocating personnel. The research question is: 'What kind of everyday life and experiences have those who got new jobs in other garrisons in the same area and who stayed in their home towns (stayers) compared to those who had to move to other areas (movers) and also to those who chose to commute between their home town and the new job (commuters).' The hypothesis is that the stayers have less demanding changes in everyday life and less stressful experiences than the movers and commuters. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire before and 18 months after the relocation. The first sample consists of 183 members of the personnel and the follow-up sample 132 members. The results showed that the relocation had not been an easy transition for any group. The life situation of the commuters was the hardest. A considerable portion of the stayers also evaluated their life situation to have been unfavourable and stressful.     

Enhancing professional performance through organizational change

Transferring the technology derived from research into the routine operation of professionals serving developmentally disabled clients may present a challenge. Assuming this is due in part to the contingencies operating within the system, methods need to be sought to alter the way they are arranged. Performance management (PM) lends itself to this type of organizational change. In the present case example, the management of psychological services at an institution for developmentally disabled people was reorganized to incorporate the key elements of PM: Selecting contextually relevant and appropriate goals (i.e., consonant with the state, institution, departmental, unit and individual client objectives), devising and applying measures of relevant performances, and intervening with feedback, reinforcement and goal setting while evaluating ongoing change. The self-selection and completion of goals among the 40 professionals participating in 4 groups was supported by biweekly review and reinforcement sessions plus occasional delivery of extrinsic rewards. Professionals increased the number of goals they reported accomplishing and the number they planned to achieve gradually began to match more closely the number reported accomplished. Results were sufficiently promising to encourage future functional analyses of such an organizational operation as well as of the components that might contribute most heavily to its success.     

Discriminant validity and interaction between perceived organizational support and perceptions of organizational politics: A temporal analysis

We used two‐wave panel data based on a sample of 137 employees from a small Korean manufacturing company to examine first the discriminant validity of, and then the interaction between perceived organizational support (POS) and perceptions of organizational politics (POP). We focused on the relationships between POS, POP, and three employee work‐related outcomes, affective organizational commitment, intention to stay, and individually oriented organizational citizenship behaviour (OCBI). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that POS and POP were distinct constructs. Moreover, time‐lagged LISREL estimates showed that POS and POP were differentially related to the three outcomes in a theoretically predictable way. POP did not moderate the relationship between POS and either affective commitment or intention to stay. POS, however, significantly moderated the POP–OCBI relationship. The implications of the results for POS and POP theory and research are discussed.     

Human-resource professionals' perceptions of organizational politics as a function of experience, organizational size, and perceived independence

The author examined human-resource professionals' occupation-related and general work experience, socialization from participation in professional activities, organizational size, and perceived independence as predictors of perceptions of organizational politics (POPS). Results varied with the author's use of the overall POPS scale (K. M. Kacmar & G. R. Ferris, 1991) vs. a more specific subscale that measured perceptions related to such issues as pay- and promotion-related politics. It was most notable that work experience appeared to have an inverse relationship with POPS among human-resource professionals in the area of pay and promotions. The author discussed results in relation to the implications and directions for future research.     

The effect of trait anger and impulsiveness on ethical leadership and support for organizational change

In this study, we examine the combined effect of leader trait anger and impulsiveness (narrow neuroticism sub-factors) on ethical leadership and organization member adaptivity. Data from working leaders, their followers and direct managers provide preliminary evidence that high trait anger and high impulsiveness relates to low follower-rated ethical leadership, and low manager-rated organization member adaptivity. Similarly, there was a stronger negative association between trait anger and ethical leadership for leaders with high as opposed to low impulsiveness. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

A comparison of situational and dispositional predictors of perceptions of organizational politics

The present study is an investigation of situational and dispositional characteristics that may predispose an employee to perceive his or her organization as political. Participants were 501 regular members, civilian members, and public servants of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Measures used for this research were the Formalization Scale (G. R. Oldham & J. R. Hackman, 1981), the Job Autonomy Scale (H. P. Sims, A. D. Szilagyi, & R. T. Keller, 1976), the Mach IV (A. Zook & G. J. Sipps, 1986), the Dominance subscale from the Manifest Needs Questionnaire (R. M. Steers & D. N. Braunstein, 1976), the Survey of Organizational Climate (J. C. Taylor & D. G. Bowers, 1972), the Perceptions of Organizational Politics Scale (G. R. Ferris & K. M. Kacmar, 1992), and the Work Locus of Control Scale (P. E. Spector, 1988). Results indicated that organizational climate, formalization, work locus of control (both internal and external measures), and Machiavellianism were significant predictors, accounting for 52% of the variance in participants' perceptions of organizational politics. Limitations of the present study and directions for future research are outlined.     

The role of psychological climate in facilitating employee adjustment during organizational change

The current research tested a theoretical model of employee adjustment during organizational change based on Lazarus and Folkman's () cognitive-phenomenological framework. The model hypothesized that psychological climate variables would act as coping resources and predict improved adjustment during change. Two variations of this model were tested using survey data from two different organizational samples: 779 public hospital employees and 877 public sector employees. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation analyses were conducted in order to evaluate the models. Results showed that employees whose perceptions of the organization and environment in which they were working (that is, psychological climate) were more positive, were more likely to appraise change favourably and report better adjustment in terms of higher job satisfaction, psychological well-being, and organizational commitment, and lower absenteeism and turnover intentions.     

How psychological resources facilitate adaptation to organizational change

The purpose of this 1-year follow-up study among 580 police officers is to investigate whether identity-related resources are positively related to adaptive behaviour during times of organizational change. Combining the social identity perspective with resources theories, we hypothesized that leader–member exchange (LMX) and personal resources (meaning-making and organization-based self-esteem) are positively related over time. In addition, we hypothesized that resources captured before change implementation, show a positive relationship with adaptivity captured during change. Structural equation modelling analyses showed that LMX and personal resources were positively related. Further, all T1 resources were positively related to T2 adaptivity. The study emphasizes the importance of managing identity-related resources during turbulent times, in order to foster behavioural adaptation to change.     

A test of competing models of the relationships among perceptions of organizational politics, perceived organizational support, and individual outcomes

The authors aimed to distinguish between perceptions of organizational politics (POPs) and perceived organizational support (POS). Previous research has shown that these two constructs are related, and whereas some researchers have suggested that POS mediates the relationships between POPs and outcomes (e.g., M. C. Andrews & K. M. Kacmar, 2001; R. Cropanzano, J. C. Howes, A. A. Grandey, & P. Toth, 1997), others have claimed that POPs mediate the relationships between POS and outcomes (e.g., G. R. Ferris, G. S. Russ, & P. M. Fandt, 1989). The authors investigated these competing models in an organizational sample of 418 employees from a water-management-district office. Results showed that POPs and POS were related to each other and to 5 outcomes: (a) job satisfaction, (b) pay satisfaction, (c) job strains, (d) role conflicts, and (e) turnover intentions. Results also indicated that POS fully mediated 3 of the 5 relationships between POPs and outcomes and partially mediated the other 2.     

Justice and employee attitudes during organizational change: The mediating role of overall justice

IntroductionSeveral studies have investigated the mediating role of overall justice (OJ) in the relationships between specific dimensions of justice and employee attitudes. However, prior research has neglected to examine OJ during the process of organizational change, as suggested in fairness heuristic theory (FHT).ObjectiveThis study aims to replicate the results of previous studies and expand them by examining, in two contexts of organizational change implementation, the mediating role of OJ in the relationships between procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice (PJ, ITJ, and IFJ, respectively) and employee attitudes (job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and organizational commitment).MethodologyWe surveyed 537 employees experiencing a company reorganization (Study 1) and 188 employees experiencing a merger (Study 2).ResultsEach dimension of justice is related to OJ, which in turn is associated to employee attitudes. Furthermore, bootstrap results indicated that OJ mediates the effects of PJ, ITJ, and IFJ on job satisfaction and turnover intentions (in both studies), and on affective, normative, and continuance commitment (in Study 2).ConclusionOur findings show the importance of fairness during organizational change. Treating employees fairly in times of change is crucial for managers.