Continuous Organizational Change Research Articles

Digital transformation and organizational restlessness.

In modern society, organizations are expected to be increasingly flexible and adapt to constantly changing environments. While such flexibility is often considered a positive trait of organizations, the risks of continuous organizational change are often overlooked. Against this background, we argue that continuous, multiple and uncoordinated organizational change can lead to a state we define as "organizational restlessness" and a loss of the benefits of stable structures. Paradoxically, it is even possible that organizational restlessness reduces the capability of organizations to planfully introduce specific and highly desirable changes, such as those related to digital transformation. Using qualitative data from interviews and participant observations, we analyze a large German public administration and identify three sources of organizational restlessness: the innovation imperative of modern society, changes in political leadership as a result of democratic elections and the bureaucratic principle of personnel rotation. While barriers to digital transformation are often explained by bureaucratic rigidity, we show that also constant uncoordinated change hinders sustainable digital transformation. Our paper thus contributes to an enhanced understanding of organizational continuity and disruption, as we show that both are needed to digitalize organizations further.

Leveraging Natural Ecosystems to Reoptimize Education and Training for Great Power Competition in the Air Force Medical Service.

Organizations today are complex, hyperdimensional, and continuously changing in response to the environment. Over the past decade, the Military Health System has seen continuous organizational change to transform healthcare delivery, and the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) is currently transitioning to an Air Force Medical Command (AFMEDCOM) structure to best prepare for Great Power Competition and other challenges ahead. The current state of the enterprise involves decision making, resourcing, and execution of education and training that is largely decentralized in nature. To support these efforts, in February 2024, a team of diverse AFMS stakeholders gathered in Washington, D.C. to examine the future of medical education and training for the U.S. Air Force in a new way: through systems theory and ecosystem mapping. This ecosystem approach enables development of an organizational structure and process for change that considers how all stakeholders relate, what external factors threaten the desired transformation, and how the resulting enterprise could become more resilient with future uncertainty and change. This paper discusses the theory behind the ecosystem approach and how it was used to develop a transformed model for the AFMS to organize its education and training. Additionally, a dialogue is presented on how this unique methodology to understanding stakeholder relationships can be leveraged in the re-optimization efforts for Great Power Competition.

The influence of perceived Human Resource strength on safety performance among high-speed railway drivers: The role of organizational identification and psychological capital

Introduction: Under the Chinese railway system reform background, high-speed railway drivers face continuous organizational change. As a communication channel between organizations and employees, the implementation of Human Resource Management (HRM) requires urgent attention. The present study explored the impacts of perceived Human Resource (HR) strength on safety outcomes premised on social identity theory. The relationships among perceived HR strength, organizational identification, psychological capital, and safety performance were investigated. Method: This study gathered 470 sets of paired data from Chinese high-speed railway drivers and their direct supervisors. Results: The results indicated that perceived HR strength positively affects safety performance via organizational identification, directly and indirectly. The findings also revealed that psychological capital promotes the direct effect of perceived HR strength on drivers’ safety performance. Practical Applications: Railway organizations were suggested to not only focus on the HR content but also consider the HR process, especially in an organizational change context.

"You knew you had to be there, it had to be done": Experiences of health professionals who faced the COVID-19 pandemic in one public hospital in Spain.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the lack of a government contingency plan for an effective response to an unexpected health crisis. This study uses a phenomenological approach to explore the experience of healthcare professionals during the first three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in a public health hospital in the Valencia region, Spain. It assesses the impact on their health, coping strategies, institutional support, organizational changes, quality of care, and lessons learned. We carried out a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews with doctors and nurses from the Preventive Medicine, Emergency, and Internal Medicine Services and the Intensive Care Unit, using the Colaizzi's 7-step data analysis method. During the first wave, lack of information and leadership led to feelings of uncertainty, fear of infection, and transmission to family members. Continuous organizational changes and lack of material and human resources brought limited results. The lack of space to accommodate patients, along with insufficient training in treating critical patients, and the frequent moving around of healthcare workers, reduced the quality of care. Despite the high levels of emotional stress reported, no sick leave was taken; the high levels of commitment and professional vocation helped in adapting to the intense work rhythms. Healthcare professionals in the medical services and support units reported higher levels of stress, and a greater sense of neglect by their institution than their colleagues in managerial roles. Family, social support, and camaraderie at work were effective coping strategies. Health professionals showed a strong collective spirit and sense of solidarity. This helped them cope with the additional stress and workload that accompanied the pandemic. In the wake of this experience, they highlight the need for a contingency plan adapted to each organizational context. Such a plan should include psychological counseling and continuous training in critical patient care. Above all, it needs to take advantage of the hard-won knowledge born of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Examining the Impacts of Public Sector Leadership on Employee Behaviors and Well-being

Since December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic has caused chaos and challenges in public organizations throughout the globe (O’Flynn, 2020). First, this pandemic has shaken countries and decreased the level of trust between governments and citizens when the accuracy of public health information has become doubtful (Fletcher et al., 2020). Second, there are ongoing changes to work design and decreasing work motivation among public employees that have affected the performance of public organizations. Also, we have seen good, bad, and ugly leadership behaviors in coping with this global health crisis. For instance, many citizens and public servants questioned the ethical behaviors of the former US President when running his second presidency campaign (Lipton et al., 2021). In Australia, the Prime Minister has been criticized for his personal and leadership behaviors during the COVID-19 lockdown (Karp, 2021). Also, UK citizens and public servants have raised concerns about the decision-making and the transparency of government procurement processes during the pandemic (Parker, 2021). By contrast, New Zealand’s Prime Minister took prompt actions, reached out compassionately, and developed effective strategies in responding to the COVID pandemic (Matthews, 2020). These contrary behaviors highlighted the need to reconsideration the role of public leadership during the pandemic to improve public trust and motivate public servants (O’Flynn, 2020). contrary Public organizations have continuously undergone many changes to the nature of work (such as job cuts, new work arrangements, and increased workload) and new ways of public service delivery (Christensen & Lægreid 2011, Hansen & Ferlie, 2016). During this period of ongoing and continuous organizational change, we have observed levels of conflicting values and goal ambiguity which affected the attitudes and behaviors of public servants (Battaglio & Condrey, 2009; Gould- Williams et al., 2014; Steen & Schott, 2019). Public servants have been expected to work more innovatively and effectively in response to the pandemic (Schuster et al., 2020). These challenging and stressful circumstances have required public servants to embrace sweeping and substantial changes to their work (Steen & Schott, 2019). We have seen reports of public servants experiencing more work strain, burnout, demotivation, and sickness during the pandemic (Schuster et al., 2020). Discrimination, mistreatment, or misbehaviors between colleagues have occurred substantially during the outbreaks when employees have worked remotely (Hickok, 2021; Liu, 2020). These contemporary issues have pressurized public leaders to re-think how to embrace effective leadership behaviors in supporting and motivating their subordinates in an ethical manner (O’Flynn, 2020; Schuster et al., 2020). Although previous studies have examined different leadership behaviors in the public administration area (see for a review, Crosby & Bryson, 2018), there remains an opportunity to expand the research on the ways positive employee behaviors safeguard the well-being of public servants (O’Flynn, 2020; Steen & Schott, 2019). This symposium, therefore, focuses on the extent to which leaders from different countries enact their leadership behaviors during the pandemic to resolve the contemporary workplace challenges faced by public organizations to enhance the work and well-being of public servants. This symposium comprises four papers, therein, expand our knowledge of when and how public leaders contribute to positive behaviors and the well-being of public servants in coping with the emerging issues in public administration. The four papers contain diverse contexts to explore the bright and dark sides of leadership, the work environment of public administration, behaviors, and the well-being of the public servants. Specifically, the four papers provide a holistic understanding of the different views of leadership in diverse public sector contexts (including developed and transitional economies). Finally, we contribute to the public and general management literature by extending our knowledge of workplace configurations in motivating employees to work better in the ongoing complex and uncertain environment. We expect this symposium to be effectively exploratory and empirical as per the AOM 2021 call for papers, broadening the literature on management and organizational studies by identifying and incorporating practices and policies that stimulate and sustain positive and healthy workplaces for a better future of work. Towards a New Normal: Augmenting Transactional Leadership Using Public Values Presenter: Geoff Plimmer; Victoria Management School The Interplays between Social Relationships and Leadership Role on Public Servants Presenter: Stephen Teo; Northumbria U. Ethical Leadership, Emotional Exhaustion, and Extra-Role Performance in Time of COVID-19 Presenter: Elisabetta Trinchero; CERGAS SDA Bocconi Micromanagement, Work Engagement, Trust in Supervisor, and Unethical Pro-Organizational behavior Presenter: Diep Nguyen; Northumbria U.

Projecting Backward and Forward on Processes of Organizational Change and Innovation

This essay discusses how views of organizational change and innovation have traditionally focused on planned episodic change that focuses on rational, strategic, top-down and consensus-directed interventions following teleological or regulatory process models. Future scholarship seems to be focusing more on unplanned continuous organizational changes that emphasize experiential, emergent, bottom-up, pluralistic social movements following dialectical and evolutionary models of change. While planned-episodic and unplanned-continuous change may appear to be opposing views of organizational change, they are entangled in one-another, and provide a rich agenda of future scholarship on processes of organizational change and innovation.

Health-care information systems adoption – a review of management practices

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide practitioners and researchers a more condensed and structured perspective on the adoption of information management systems by the health-care industry, given the spread and the increased amount of research concerning the topic. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a literature review. A Technology (What?) – Context and before adoption Analysis (When and Why?) – Implementation (How?) – Outcomes (What for?) framework is used to present the trends concerning information technology adoption in an accessible manner. Findings The main finding is that small or large health-care organizations should no longer focus on information systems’ adoption but should adopt a digital transformation paradigm. By considering this paradigm, management practices related to information technologies’ adoption projects should be complemented by practices related to the continuous organizational changes and readaptation of the organizational strategy, to benefit the advantages information systems can offer. Practical implications The main recommendation for health-care industry managers is to adopt specific practices to manage the digital transformation process of their organizations, as they should understand that it is no longer about adopting information technologies, but about managing the associated organizational change. Originality/value Instead of focusing on specific information systems’ adoption as other papers do, this paper provides a holistic understanding of the information technologies and management practices which are used in the field.

Ideological tensions amidst rapid and continuous organizational change in healthcare

PurposeThe aim of this study was to explore the nature of frontline nurses' experiences of living with rapid and continuous organizational change.Design/methodology/approachA critical hermeneutic approach was utilized. This was a qualitative inquiry theoretically guided by critical management studies.FindingsParticipants recognized that many change initiatives reflected an ideological shift in healthcare that supported a culture of service, whilst sacrificing a culture of care. A culture of service prioritized cost-savings and efficiency, which saw nurses lose the time and resources required to provide quality, safe care.Practical implicationsNurses felt morally responsible to uphold a culture of care, which proved challenging and at times unobtainable. The inability to provide quality, safe care in light of organizational changes resulted in a multitude of negative emotional repercussions, which fostered moral distress.Originality/valueThe findings from this study bring to light ideological tensions that negatively impact nurses. This study supports the conclusion that the planning, implementation and evaluation of organizational change initiatives must reflect a culture of care in order to alleviate the many negative experiences of organizational change noted in this study.

Change fatigue in nurses: A qualitative study.

To provide a conceptual update on change fatigue in nursing as it relates to rapid and continuous change implementation. This doctoral dissertation examined nurses' experiences of rapid and continuous organizational change, with a core component of the study examining the concept of change fatigue. Change fatigue is understood as the overwhelming feelings of stress, exhaustion and burnout fuelled by feelings of ambivalence and powerlessness associated with rapid and continuous change in the workplace. Change fatigue may cause workers to become withdrawn and greatly influences their decision to leave the workplace and even their profession. Little research to date has explored change fatigue in nurses. Were qualitative in nature. A critical hermeneutic approach was used. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 14 Registered Nurses. Open-ended questions were used. Theoretical thematic analysis and inductive analysis of data were completed using Brown and Gilligan's voice-centred relational method. The study spanned from 2015 - 2018. Nurses did experience many of the core elements of change fatigue noted in the non-nursing literature, including exhaustion, apathy, powerlessness, and burnout. Two additional themes emerged pertaining to nurses' understandings of why they were experiencing change fatigue. These themes included the intensification of nursing work and repeated and ongoing self-sacrifice. Participants offered important insight into an emergent concept in the discipline of nursing. The negative experiences associated with change fatigue are important for administrators and other stakeholders to recognize and acknowledge, as they must work to alleviate change fatigue in their institutions to preserve the well-being of the nursing workforce. This knowledge is also important to nursing scholars, who may further research the topic and embed it into nursing curricula.

Nurses' engagement with power, voice and politics amidst restructuring efforts.

Change is inevitable, and increasingly rapid and continuous in healthcare as organizations strive to adapt, improve and innovate. Organizational change challenges healthcare providers because it restructures how and when patient care delivery is provided, changing ways in which nurses must carry out their work. The aim of this doctoral study was to explore frontline nurses' experiences of living with rapid and continuous organizational change. A critical hermeneutic approach was utilized. Participants described feeling voiceless, powerless and apolitical amidst rapid and continuous organizational changes which fuelled apathy, cynicism and disengagement from the organization. However, critical analysis of the data showed that nurses actively engaged with power, voice and politics through resistant and transgressive behaviours in micro-ethical moments of practice. There is a need to reconceptualize the concepts of voice, power and politics in nursing as there is dissonance between nurses' beliefs about these concepts and what they are enacting in practice. Recognizing their enactment of power, voice and political agency at the micro-level may empower nurses. Empowerment would mitigate the high levels of reports of powerlessness experienced in practice during organizational changes.

CHANGES - DAILY REALITY AND NECESSITY

Changes are constantly present among us. The changes are a daily occurrence no matter in which area of life. They are something that moves humankind and causes its development. However, not all have the same attitude towards the changes. Some people look forward to, others avoid them, some joy to them, others avoid to them, some fear into them, while others rejoice changes, some see opportunity in them, some see danger from them. Whatever is the relationship of individuals to change, everyone must face them someday. The change management has no formal structure, a pre-prepared plan, but it takes place spontaneously and the reactions occur in a single place. He is an unpredictable process. The change management plan is designed to cause changes to: - Processes - Organizational structure - The people - Strategies All undertaken activities for implementing the changes ultimately reflect the above categories. In addition, the changes can also can be divided into episodic vs continuous change. Another dividing is a divide of Continuous Organizational changes in two scales: radical - incremental and core - peripheral. A common reaction to almost all people of change is fear. Fear of the unknown cause’s people initially resists resistance. However, over time and after undertaking certain activities, the changes are accepted as a necessity.

HOW TO MITIGATE RISKS OF BULLYING INVASION WHILE CREATING ORGANIZATION’S FUTURE UNDER HIGH UNCERTAINTY?

Organizations are constantly reinventing themselves and going through continuous organizational changes what, if mismanaged, can result in bullying. If bullying is mismanaged it can result in disfunctioning organizational processes. The main aim of this research is to develop theoretical framework on how to mitigate the risks of bullying invasion while creating organization‘s future under high uncertainty. The theoretical analysis of organization’s future creation and that of bullying in a context of high uncertainty is undertaken. It is revealed that to cope with the potential “side effects” of continuous strategic changes, organizations need to institutionalize bullying, ensure effective information sharing and communication.

Crisis Response via Dynamic Capabilities: A Necessity in NPOs\u2019 Capability Building

Dynamic capability research increasingly seeks to identify mechanisms founding dynamic capabilities because this microfoundation provides options for influencing the application of dynamic capabilities. Dynamic capabilities in turn support organizations to achieve continuous organizational change. We pursue deeper insight into the microfounding mechanisms of dynamic capabilities with regard to management-related variables. Survey data from hot spots of refugee crisis 2016 all across Austria allow us to examine how managerial mechanisms on microlevel and dynamic capabilities on macro-level are linked and particularly how managers can influence the application of dynamic capabilities. Data evaluation is based on mediation analysis. Study reveals that participative leadership fosters dynamic capabilities of NPOs active in refugee aid. Further, we provide evidence that the manager´s perception, how self-determined he/she is and how impactful his/her actions are, enhances the application of dynamic capabilities.

Attention to change: A multilevel theory on the process of emergent continuous organizational change.

Increasingly, continuous organizational change is viewed as the new reality for organizations and their members. However, this model of organizational change, which is usually characterized by ongoing, cumulative, and substantive change from the bottom up, remains underexplored in the literature. Taking a multilevel approach, the authors develop a theoretical model to explain the mechanisms behind the amplification and accumulation of valuable, ongoing work-unit level changes over time, which then become substantial changes at the organizational level. Drawing on the concept of emergence, they first focus on the cognitive search mechanisms of work-unit members and managers to illustrate how work-unit level routine changes may be amplified to the organization through 2 unique processes: composition and compilation emergence. The authors then discuss the managers' role in creating a sense of coherence and meaning for the accumulation of these emergent changes over time. They conclude this research by discussing the theoretical implications of their model for the existing literature of organizational change. (PsycINFO Database Record

Public service motivation and continuous organizational change: Taking charge behaviour at police services

Building change capabilities into public organizations is a challenge for strategic management. This study focuses on the micro‐level of extra‐role behaviours that contribute to continuous improvements in working procedures at the front‐end of organizations (i.e., taking charge behaviour; TCB). More particularly, we examine public service motivation (PSM) as a key variable mediating between perceived practices and TCB of street‐level bureaucrats. The analyses are based on survey data from a state police force in Germany (N = 1,165). Results confirm the role of PSM as full mediator, but this mediation is limited to the relationship between leadership behaviours and TCB, while perceived organizational characteristics—except for red tape—have direct positive impact on TCB.

Holistic approach to human resources and organizational acceleration

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to propose holistic approach to human resources in the situation of organizational acceleration. Authors are postulating that the holistic approach to HR helps in maintaining sustainable individual resources of employees in the situation of continuous organizational changes and time pressure that further can prevent from the individual resources exhaustion.Design/methodology/approach– This conceptual paper builds on the problem of occupational stress that is connected with organizational acceleration. Authors define stress as the individually perceived inability to match expectations caused by the deficiency of individual resources. They conceptualize the individual resources of employees basing on the concepts of human capital and the individual energy at work and propose a framework of individual resources of employees that enables holistic view of an individual in an organization.Findings– In the situation of organizational acceleration HRM function plays important role in sustaining individual resources of employees in order to minimize threat of occupational stress and further burnout. HR practices should apply multidimensionality of individual resources and threat it holistically aiming at sustaining all four potentials – spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical.Research limitations/implications– Authors indicate that managers need to understand how to deal with the acceleration in order to overcome the negative consequences for individuals. There is still need for identifying HR practices that are the key success factors in the situation of organizational acceleration.Originality/value– Authors take up the current problem of organizational acceleration from the individual perspective. They propose a concept of individual resources of employees and connected to it holistic approach to HR in the times of great time pressure, work overload, occupational stress and burnout threat.

Organizational Change and Organizational Effectiveness of Secondary Banking System in Albania

Continuous organizational changes are required as well as successful implementation approaches of modern managerial methods. However, organizational changes in Business Organizations may often occur at inconvenient time, subject to the psychological preparation of employees or the whole staff in general. In these circumstances, the employees displayed strong resistance to accept changes although they may be decisive for the survival of Business Organizations. Further, what makes the Business Organization employees accept or refuse organizational changes? Which is the impact of their resistance on change implementation? Is it closely connected with their personal interests or is it merely a contradiction for the purpose of convenience? These questions and many others will be answered during this investigation through an empirical and theoretical analysis. The study will show the connection between organizational changes in terms of organizational effectiveness. Additionally, it will present a clear overview of the reality of Albanian Business Organizations regarding the organizational change and their mode of operation

Organizational Change and Organizational Effectiveness of Secondary Banking System in Albania

Continuous organizational changes are required as well as successful implementation approaches of modern managerial methods. However, organizational changes in Business Organizations may often occur at inconvenient time, subject to the psychological preparation of employees or the whole staff in general. In these circumstances, the employees displayed strong resistance to accept changes although they may be decisive for the survival of Business Organizations. Further, what makes the Business Organization employees accept or refuse organizational changes? Which is the impact of their resistance on change implementation? Is it closely connected with their personal interests or is it merely a contradiction for the purpose of convenience? These questions and many others will be answered during this investigation through an empirical and theoretical analysis. The study will show the connection between organizational changes in terms of organizational effectiveness. Additionally, it will present a clear overview of the reality of Albanian Business Organizations regarding the organizational change and their mode of operation

The Impact of Transformational/Transactional Leadership on Creative Behavior: A Cross-Level Study

This study examines how transformational/transactional leadership affects employee creative behavior during radical and continuous organizational change. We hypothesize that transformational/transactional leadership positively influence creative behavior and radical change moderates the positive relationship. Our sample consists of responses from 239 supervisors and 692 matched subordinates in 57 organizations. We also developed and validated a new scale to assess the degree of radical and continuous change for this study. Findings generally support our hypotheses. Results indicate that both leadership styles are positively related to creative behavior. Radical change, but not continuous change, moderates the relationship between transformational/transactional leadership and creative behavior, such that the relationship is stronger when the degree of radical change is high. Implications of these findings are then discussed.

In beweging: over het aanpassingsvermogen van werknemers in dynamische werksituaties

On the move: on employees’ individual adaptability in dynamic work situations On the move: on employees’ individual adaptability in dynamic work situations Today’s organisations are facing dynamic and changing environments that emphasize the importance of enhanced organisational flexibility and adaptation as well as increased employee adaptability. Although the concept of employee adaptability is often used, it is seldom defined. This paper first discusses different research fields focusing on employee responses to dynamic situations without explicitly addressing individual adaptability, such as planned and continuous organizational change and work stress. Next, the concept of adaptability is discussed and, in the end, defined. Moreover, a multi-dimensional model for individual adaptability at work is presented containing three components: cognitive, affective and behavioural adaptability. Finally, several psychological resources are presented that might contribute to employees’ individual adaptability.