Organizational Change Skills: An Empirical Cross-National Study

Abstract

This research is premised on the proposition that mastering organizational change skills may help improve success rate of change initiatives. The overall purpose of this empirical, cross-national study was to explore whether perceptions of organizational change skills differ across nations. Using a convenience sample, structured interviews were conducted with 90 managers and executives in three regions: the USA, the Baltics and South America to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Statistical significance of between-group differences in means was obtained with the help of one-way ANOVA, and differences in percentages were established using a chi square test. Most of the change skills were perceived similarly across the three regions, but nevertheless, there were some differences. More communication and managing the change process skills were believed to be present in organizations in the USA, while understanding internal and external environment was more characteristic of the Baltics and South America. Respondents in these two regions also considered interpersonal and social skills to be more important. Respondents’ awareness of change skills was quite low without prompting. However, when prompted, all pre-established 11 groups of skills (Somerville & Whelan-Berry, 2009) were rated as important, and the majority of respondents were confident that these skills could be found in their organization. Given the relatively few differences that were found across the three regions, this suggests that cross-border dissemination of organizational change skills is possible, but each geography requires a slight adaptation. The findings also suggest that if those leading/managing change initiatives recognize that there are at least 11 groups of change skills, and cultivate these skills within the organization, this could increase the success rate of change initiatives. Given the paucity of empirical research relating to change skills generally, and cross-national considerations specifically, and the importance of change for organizations globally, this exploratory empirical research makes important contributions.