Discomfort and organizational change as a part of becoming a world-class university

Abstract

PurposeThis study examined organizational change in universities as it relates to discomfort among the organization's members.Design/methodology/approachUsing the critical incident technique (CIT), data was collected from the informants in an Indonesian public university that had been mandated by the government to enter the top 500 world university ranking. This would make it a “World-Class” university.FindingsThe findings describe the causes, courses and consequences of the discomfort felt in response to the organizational change in the university context. The causes of discomfort were categorized as a fear of loss, organizational culture, systems and policies, work overload and a lack of resources. Discomfort can manifest through negative affective, cognition and behavioral tendencies. Meanwhile, the consequences result in active and passive participation in the process of the organizational change itself.Originality/valueDiscomfort with organizational change is a new variable that has rarely been explored, thus it requires testing and validation using different methods and contexts, as offered by this study. We have also shown that in the initial stage of organizational change (unfreezing), discomfort will always emerge that must be immediately managed in order not to trigger resistance to change. Furthermore, this study exhibits the use of the critical incident technique in the context of organizational change. Finally, we offer comprehensive views by exhibiting the causes, the reactions shown and the consequences of discomfort with the change.

World-class universities: past and future

“…These results provide potential opportunities for future research. For example, Nadia et al. (2020) found a discomfort due to individual consequences from organisational change when a university was encouraged to become a WCU.…”

“…First, further research should adopt a quantitative approach, even though quantitative methodology does pose several issues. Nadia et al (2020) found that researchers tended to select professors and ignore other academic staff, such as faculty members, which include actors who affect organisational change when a university aims to become a WCU. The results highlight that most of the research unit analysis performed on a national level represents only a small proportion of research at a university level.…”

“…These results provide potential opportunities for future research. For example, Nadia et al (2020) found a discomfort due to individual consequences from organisational change when a university was encouraged to become a WCU. Furthermore, the organisational change process in becoming a WCU has individual consequences, such as fear of loss and work overload.…”

Analyzing the critical factors for innovation sustainability in the public sector: evidence from Indonesia

“…After the data collection process, we used content analysis as an analytical method, following previous studies that employed the CIT approach in the data reduction process (e.g. Grace, 2007; Nadia et al. , 2020).…”

“…After the data collection process, we used content analysis as an analytical method, following previous studies that employed the CIT approach in the data reduction process (e.g. Grace, 2007;Nadia et al, 2020). The critical events (CIs) identified were categorized using NVivo 12 software into concepts as the first order, themes as second-order and aggregate dimensions as third order.…”