Perceptions of Organizational Readiness for Change: Factors Related to Employees' Reactions to the Implementation of Team-Based Selling

Abstract

Employees' perception of their organization's readiness for large-scale change was examined in two divisions of a national sales organization transitioning to work teams. Results indicated that individual attitudes and preferences, work group and job attitudes, and contextual variables were all important in understanding readiness for change. Study findings are discussed in terms of strategies for implementing the transition to team-based work and large-scale organizational initiatives. Implications for research and theory-building are also discussed.

A quarter century of Culture's Consequences: a review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede's cultural values framework

“…Behavior relating to group processes and personality retention when a technology presentation contained a group-relevance theme (the same was true for individualists when the presentation contained a strong self-relevance theme) (James, 1993). COL was negatively related to receptivity to distance learning technology (Anakwe et al, 1999), and was positively related to perceptions of an organization's readiness to change to team-based selling (Eby et al, 2000) in the US. Using Hofstede's (1980a) country scores to assign cultural values to Li and Guisinger (1991) main , Datta and Puia (1995) main , Barkema et al (1996) main , main , main , Gomez-Mejia and Palich (1997) Geletkanycz (1997) found that managers were more likely to believe that the future chief executive officer (CEO) of their company should have the same expertise as the current CEO, and that the company's future corporate strategy should be the same as the existing corporate strategy (i.e., essentially demonstrating acceptance of the status quo) when they were high on IND, and low on UA, PD, and longterm orientation.…”

“…Regarding similarities, COL was associated with more cooperation and positive attitudes toward teams at the individual (Bennett, 1999;Eby et al, 2000;Shapiro, 2000, 2001a;Steensma et al, 2000a;Wade-Benzoni et al, 2002), group/organization (Chatman and Barsade, 1995;Eby and Dobbins, 1997;Kirkman and Shapiro, 2001b), and country levels (Schuler and Rogovsky, 1998;Steensma et al, 2000b). Similarly, IND was associated with increased conflict at the individual (Gabrielidis et al, 1997) and group/organization levels (Cox et al, 1991;Chatman et al, 1998;Oeztzel, 1998, and handling such conflict using personal experience or training rather than formal rules at the country level .…”

Consultants’ versus Managers’ - Perceptions of a Group Development Intervention Program

“…The theme "Organizational culture" evolved into a theme expressed in both consultants' and managers' interviews. However, the manager's statements revolved around the inflexibility and rigidity of the company as a 'hindrance' factor, something that the employees [18] interpreted as a low readiness for change. The consultants, on the other hand, used the organizational culture as a model when designing the workshops to make it feel recognizable and safe.…”

“…The client's perception of an high quality intervention as a positive experience may provide the key to success [17]. When investigating employees' 'readiness-for-change' in initiating team-work, Eby et al [18] found that the employees' perception of the organizational structure as flexible and adaptable to change favored their perceptions of the organizational 'readiness-for-change' .…”

The effect of cultural context on the efficiency of best practices in human resource management

“…Desde el punto de vista de la autonomía, una de las características de los equipo de trabajo en los STAR, es de esperar que cuanto más individualista sea un país mayor será la disposición de las empresa a delegar más autonomía a cada uno sus empleados a cambio de ser más exigente con los resultados que alcancen éstos. Un individualismo bajo, o en otras palabras, el colectivismo, se ha mostrado que está asociado con más cooperación y actitudes positivas hacia los equipos, por lo que se estima que los trabajadores de una sociedad en la que predomine este valor accedan más fácilmente a incorporar el trabajo en equipo (Eby et al, 2000;Kirkman y Shapiro, 2001;Steensma et al, 2000), algo que supuestamente favorecería la implantación de los STAR. Sin embargo, estas mismas personas pueden mostrar reticencias ante la incorporación de otros procesos, técnicas o, en general, cualquier factor organizacional que demande ciertos rasgos individualistas , como resulta ser la remuneración incentivada individual.…”