How can employees adapt to change? Clarifying the adaptive performance concepts

Abstract

Global and technological environments have rapidly become dynamic, ambiguous, and complex. Thus, it is critical for organizations to develop employees who are capable of working effectively within the context of these changes. As such, scholars and practitioners have discussed the importance of employees' attributes to help them adapt to change. However, the literature has used several terms to discuss these attributes. The purpose of this study is to investigate, compare, and clarify six concepts (adaptive performance, proactivity, resilience, role flexibility, learning agility, and workforce agility) related to employees' ability to adapt to new and changing situations in organizations. Based on our analytic framework with three categories, awareness, process, and direction/outcome, we found that all six concepts have a change orientation. The different emphases of the six concepts are elaborated, followed by discussion, implications, and recommendations.

The transformative outcomes of frontline employee adaptability for service value co-creation: a study of the banking sector

“…In this respect, employee adaptability refers to the extent to which an employee is adaptable to changing situations in the workplace (Pulakos et al. , 2000; Park and Park, 2021).…”

“…In the work environment, employees often undertake different tasks in their jobs, which require them to adapt their behaviors to different situations to fulfill their job requirements. In this respect, employee adaptability refers to the extent to which an employee is adaptable to changing situations in the workplace (Pulakos et al, 2000;Park and Park, 2021).…”

Team Flexibility in Organizational Change Context: Antecedents and Consequences

“… 3 This critical ability has become integral to organizational survival. 4 Since research has conducted ongoing efforts to investigate how organizations adapt their practices to a changing, dynamic and uncertain environment, 4–7 team flexibility becomes a critical force boosting adaptation, countering rigidity, and achieving competitive advantages. 8–10 …”

“…3 This critical ability has become integral to organizational survival. 4 Since research has conducted ongoing efforts to investigate how organizations adapt their practices to a changing, dynamic and uncertain environment, [4][5][6][7] team flexibility becomes a critical force boosting adaptation, countering rigidity, and achieving competitive advantages. [8][9][10] Team flexibility, defined as the ability to cope with environmental uncertainty, 8,11 enables enterprises to survive and develop from organizational change and transformation.…”

A moderated moderation analysis of perceived adaptivity and organizational support for innovation in the relationship between role overload and emotional exhaustion

“…Adaptivity is a psychological trait that drives adaptive performance. It is a self-initiated, reactive, performance-focused process that allows individuals to overcome workplace difficulties caused by uncertain and complex changes (Park & Park, 2021). The relationship between adaptivity and adaptive performance is thought to be mediated through adaptability, which refers to the possession of psychosocial resources to facilitate adaptation to change (Perera & McIlveen, 2017).…”