AND EXPERIENCED POWER AND POLITICS ON EMPLOYEES’
ATTITUDE TOWARDS CULTURAL CHANGE
A CASE STUDY OF THE MERGER BETWEEN DANMERION AND ERGORADEL
Master Thesis, Master of Science Business Administration: Change Management University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
August 17th 2012 S.S. SANGERS Student number: 1612808 Parkloane 54 9271 AE De Westereen Phone: +31 (0)6 120 277 97 Email: sitasangers@gmail.com Supervisor University/Co-Assessor: Dr. K.S. Prins/Dr. J. Rupert Supervisor Company Mr. [A]
Hereby I want to show my gratitude to my supervisor and my co-assessor of the university, Karin Prins and Joyce Rupert, whose encouragement and support have enabled me to develop a satisfying result. Furthermore, I want to thank Mr. A., director of Nostlaning, for the
possibility to do this research at this company, and for his trust in me. Next to this, I want to thank the employees of Nostlaning who participated in an interview and/or filled in a questionnaire. Lastly, I offer my regards to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of this study.
Come gather 'round people, wherever you roam And admit that the waters, around you have grown And accept it that soon, you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you, is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin', or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'.
ABSTRACT
This article studies how employees’ attitude towards a cultural change due to a merger is influenced by aspects of the companies’ current culture. The study was conducted at two merging institutions for social work provision in the north of The Netherlands. In order to answer the research question ‘To what extent do aspects of the current cultures of Danmerion and Ergoradel influence the employees’ attitude towards the merger into Nostlaning?’ it is hypothesized that a more participative, charismatic and transformational the leadership style (H1) and less noisy, two way communication (H3) have a positive influence on the
employees’ attitude towards the cultural change. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that experiencing less power and politics than one is assumed to have (H2) has a negative
influence on the employees’ attitude towards the cultural change. A questionnaire was spread at both companies amongst those employees being affected directly by the cultural change. The main findings of this study are that (1) the single regression analysis results in significant proof for H1 and marginal proof for H3, (2) the multiple regression analysis results in
CONTENT
ABSTRACT ... 5 CONTENT ... 7 INTRODUCTION ... 11 Study Objective ... 11 Corporate Culture ... 12 Danmerion. ... 14 Ergoradel. ... 15 Nostlaning. ... 16 Research Question ... 17 THEORY ... 18 Cultural Change ... 18Employees’ attitude towards the change. ... 18
Aspects of Corporate Culture ... 21
Leadership. ... 21
Experienced power and politics. ... 22
Communication. ... 23
METHODS ... 27
Data Gathering ... 27
Population. ... 27
Conducting the study. ... 28
Measurement ... 30
Factor analysis. ... 30
Attitude. ... 31
Experienced power and politics. ... 32
Communication. ... 32
Leadership. ... 33
Reliability analysis. ... 35
Data Analysis ... 36
Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. ... 36
Regression analysis. ... 36
RESULTS ... 37
Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Analysis ... 37
Descriptive statistics. ... 37
Correlation between dependent and independent variables. ... 38
Correlations between dependent, independent and control variables. ... 38
Regression Analysis ... 38
Single regression analysis. ... 39
DISCUSSION ... 42
Hypotheses ... 42
Contribution to the Field of Study ... 43
Implications for Nostlaning ... 45
Limitations and Future Research ... 46
REFFERENCES ... 48
APPENDICES ... 52
Content ... 52
Appendix A – Interview Questions; Investigation of Current and Longed Culture ... 53
Appendix B – OCAI: Method Explanation, Scorecard and Elaborate Findings ... 55
Method Explanation. ... 55
Scorecard. ... 56
Elaborate Findings. ... 58
Appendix C – Questionnaire ... 70
Appendix D – Factor Analysis ... 79
INTRODUCTION
The original Dutch government’s plans for cutbacks would greatly affect the way institutions for social work provision1 carry out their business. These plans are described in the ‘Wet Werken naar Vermogen’, which perhaps is best translated into the ‘Law regarding working according ability’. This law concerned providing less governmental support, which would lead to the fact that the institutions would be forced to look at alternatives to be able to successfully execute their tasks. While writing this article, due to instability within the Dutch government, the law will be declared controversial.2 This means that at this point, the law will not be implemented. However, the original plans are being restudied so that they might be adopted into the Dutch legislation, albeit in an adapted way. Although these plans might change, many institutions for social work provision already are looking at ways to successfully execute their business with less governmental support.
Study Objective
Danmerion and Ergoradel, both institutions for social work provision in the north of The Netherlands, have developed from being workshops for disabled workers to organizations which offer people an opportunity to (re-)enter the ‘normal’ workforce. The disabilities of the employees working here differ from being physically handicapped, being mentally
challenged, and/or having psychological problems; all three types occur in gradation of modest till severe. In order to help employees (re-)enter the ‘normal’ workforce, employees with official appointments are assigned as staff personnel and as direct work leaders. Next to this guidance, job coaches are used for more personal guidance. Furthermore, employees are specifically learning on the job. However, on the other hand, they are enabled to follow courses which make them more adept and ready for the ‘normal’ workforce.
In order to survive the current Dutch business climate, Danmerion and Ergoradel decided to merge with each other. This merger resulted in a construction wherein both companies keep doing their own business, but under one name: Nostlaning. The reasons for this merger are (1) better and quicker response on social responsibility, (2) improvement of competitive position, (3) increase in professionalism, and (4) improvement of price-quality ratio. Furthermore, posting and supported employment, as a part of the institutions’ business, is where the focus
1
An institution for social work provision is called a ‘sociaal werkvoorzieningsschap’ in Dutch. 2
of the Dutch government lies.3 In the nearby future, the aim is to post or find a supported job for approximately two-third of the disabled workers.
Nostlaning employs slightly more than 800 people. Next to regular employment, some employees are employed through a foundation called Wenska, or through occupational reintegration. The employees are divided over various business units; graphics department, production/industry, and posting and supported employment. The focus is currently on the latter, since this is most likely to ultimately result in an ordinary job; by using this
construction the posted or supported employees and the hiring employers are enabled to work with each other without having strings attached, while the posted or supported employee formally is still employed at the institution for social work provision. If the employee proves to be satisfactory, the hiring company can decide to fully employ the posted or supported employee. Since both parties have the opportunity to get used to each other, the hiring company will be less held back to employ a disabled person.
At this point, the legal and administrative part of the merger between Danmerion and Ergoradel is already completed. In the coming period, the operational merger has to be executed. The merging of the assets and liabilities of the organization are scheduled for 2012. One of the risks the companies identified while studying the aspects of this merger, is that of cultural differences. Therefore, the influence of the current culture on the attitude of the employees towards the merger between Danmerion and Ergoradel is studied.
Firstly, this research aims to lead to an insight in the current culture of Danmerion and Ergoradel, and to an insight in the preferred culture for Nostlaning. Secondly, this research aims to provide insight in whether aspects of current culture influences employees’ attitude towards a merger under conditions specific for institutions for social work provision.
Corporate Culture
Schein (1997:18), defines corporate culture as ‘A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaption and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. Several authors, albeit with a slightly different description, adopted, or agree with, this definition. (Buelens, Van den Broeck, Vanderheyden, Kreitner, & Kinicki 2006; Smollan & Sayers, 2009; Van den Steen, 2010; Weber & Camerer, 2003). A corporate culture has to form a strong base for members of
3
the organization in order for them to be capable to handle a change, without losing their original values (Smollan & Sayers, 2009).
As stated, the companies identified a risk of cultural differences. According to Schein (1999), it is essential, in preparing for a new organization, that at least the members of each organization have maximum insight into their own culture, whilst they then at least know their own culture to some degree. Therefore, the coming paragraph displays the descriptions of the current companies’ culture. By knowing their own culture, employees can determine which aspects they prefer, or, on the other hand, are averse of. Taking this as a starting point brings insight into in what direction the companies’ cultures should shift. The descriptions of the employee preferences and aversion are formed by interviewing a total of ten employees at Nostlaning, five at Danmerion and five at Ergoradel. Table 1 shows that the interviewees at both Danmerion and Ergoradel were selected by looking at their formal position in the organization; they represent the different layers within the organizational hierarchy. According to Boyce & Neale (2006) ‘the general rule on sample size for interviews, is that when the same stories, themes, issues, and topics are emerging from the interviewees, then a sufficient sample size has been reached. […] When choosing interviewees, one should consider a sample that best represents the diverse stakeholders and opinions of those
stakeholders.’ At both Danmerion and Ergoradel the interviewees answered the questions in the same fashion. However, although the interviewees meet the statement of Boyce and Neal (2006), the results have to be treated with certain carefulness while they still are generalized. Next to the verbal interviews, there has been made use of the Organizational Culture
Assessment Instrument (OCAI, Cameron & Quinn, 2006) as a questionnaire. Here four cultural types are distinguished; (1) the clan culture which focuses on human beings, (2) the adhocracy culture which focuses on entrepreneurship, (3) the hierarchy culture which focuses on formal rules and policies as main item, and (4) the market culture which mainly regards being better than competitors. Within these cultural types there are six different aspects of importance; dominant characteristics, organizational leadership, personnel management, organizational glue, strategic aspects, and criteria for success. More information concerning the interviews4 and the OCAI5 can be found in respectively Appendix A and Appendix B.
4
The interviews were semi structured; there were preset questions and room for input from the interviewees.
TABLE 1
Interviewees’ Descriptive Statistics
Identification Function Company Gender Age
[A] Director Danmerion Male 58
[B] Company manager Danmerion Male 45
[C] Member of the personnel department Danmerion Male 60
[D] Member of the ‘OR’ Danmerion Male 50
[E] Immediate supervisor Danmerion Male 56
[F] Member of the ‘OR’ Ergoradel Male 47
[G] Director Ergoradel Male 60
[H] Immediate Supervisor Ergoradel Male 43
[I] Company manager Ergoradel Male 60
[J] Member of the personnel department Ergoradel Female 50
Danmerion. In the interviews the five interviewees of Danmerion stress the openness of
the current company culture. When walking through the different departments of the company, one also gets this impression; doors are always open and even if you enter as a stranger, you are warmly welcomed to the department and the workplace. Furthermore, the interviewees stress that Danmerions staff works hard to create a pleasant work environment for the employees, and that improvement of the relationships between employees is an important point of interest, while this eventually might result in advantages for the company. This all also emerges in the OCAI results. One of the interviewees states that one should not only deal with culture, but also benefit from it. It is great that this is acknowledged by the interviewee, while it shows that the power which lies in corporate culture is valued.
Figure B8 in Appendix B shows the average results of the OCAI concerning the culture at Danmerion. The overall current culture has an emphasis on the hierarchical characteristics. The scores on clan, adhocracy and market characteristics are evenly spread. This can be further explained by looking at the different aspects of the OCAI, which are displayed in figures B2 till B7 in Appendix B. The dominant characteristics of Danmerion are mainly based on hierarchical and market characteristics. This means that the organization is
formalized, structured and results-oriented. Organizational leadership is least based on market characteristics, which means that the leaders in the organization are not that hard-driven, production-oriented or competitive. Leadership is based on mentoring, coordinating,
are highly valued. Seemingly contradictory to the earlier mentioned characteristics for management of employees, individual initiative and freedom are also of importance. Formal rules and policies lie at the base of the organization, although the feeling that one is working in a friendly place, is also valued highly; these are hierarchy and clan characteristics. The most strategic emphasis lies on adhocracy and clan characteristics; this results in a focus on growth and acquiring new resources, and on the benefit of development of human resources. The last aspect of the OCAI, criteria of success, is determined by clan and hierarchical
characteristics, which means that success is defined in terms of smooth scheduling, low costs, and sensitivity for customers and concern for people.
Figure B8 in Appendix B, also depicts the desired culture for Danmerion. The
interviewees of Danmerion all address approximately similar points for focus and adjustment. These can be described as (1) keeping closer to predetermined structures, which means that the structures which are agreed upon upfront, should be executed in that way, (2) human development; keeping a close eye on what employees want and need, and develop programs which can meet these needs, and (3) closing the gap between theory and practice, this is in close link with the first point; leaders, but employees as well, should do as they say. Overall, the interviewees at Danmerion stress in the OCAI results that less focus should be on the market and on the hierarchy characteristics. Most focus should be on clan characteristics, although closely followed by adhocracy characteristics. In practice this leads to a change towards a more friendly and creative organization, which has a high concern for customers and employees, and where loyalty and tradition are key aspects.
Ergoradel. In the interviews at Ergoradel the openness of the current culture is also
stressed by the interviewees. Furthermore, the current culture is described as being informal and focused on relationships. Relationships between employees are seen as most important to create basic support. Believed is that once this basic support is established, the ‘hard’ goals can be reached more easily. Personal development is one of the important points of interest within Ergoradel. This is in accordance with the OCAI results.
characteristics. This means that the organization is mainly dominated by being a results-oriented organization, which places itself as a friendly, dynamic, entrepreneurial and creative place to work. Formalization and structures, the hierarchical characteristics, are least
dominating. The leadership style used at Ergoradel is innovative, risk taking, and uses mentoring, which are adhocracy and clan characteristics. Market characteristics are less important; leaders are not that much production driven and they are willing to take some risks. Leaders do not pride themselves on being good coordinators and organizers, since the
hierarchical characteristics score lowest at Ergoradel. Regarding the management of employees, adhocracy and clan characteristics score evenly high. This means that
participation and consensus on the one hand, and individual initiative and freedom on the other, are highly valued. The least concern is with competition and goal driving, which are market characteristics. Commitment to experimentation and innovation, and loyalty and tradition is what holds the organization together; these are adhocracy and clan characteristics. The organization is least hold together by formal rules and policies or an emphasis on
winning, the hierarchical and market characteristics. The strategic emphasis of Ergoradel is on the long-term benefit of human resource development, creating cohesion and morale, and on being on the leading edge, which are clan and adhocracy characteristics. Competitive actions, and stability and efficiency, the market and hierarchy characteristics, are of less importance. At Ergoradel, concern for customers and employees is the most important measure for success. These clan characteristics are followed by the hierarchy characteristics: focusing on dependable delivery, smooth scheduling and low cost. Success is least measured by market and adhocracy characteristics. This means that neither gaining unique and new products, nor market share and penetration are important for measuring success.
The desired culture at Ergoradel does not differ a lot from the current culture, as can be seen in figure B15 in Appendix B. However, this does not mean that there are no points of improvement. As can be seen in the OCAI results the interviewees suggest that more attention should be paid to adhocracy characteristics, whereas the focus on hierarchy and market
characteristics stays almost the same. A slight decrease can be detected within clan
characteristics. Practically, this means that the organization should focus more on individual freedom and initiative, creating a dynamic, entrepreneurial and creative place to work, and on having innovating and risk taking leaders.
Nostlaning. Although both companies suggest different focus points for the desired culture,
differences are so small that, in this paper, to describe the culture for Nostlaning, the average of these scores will be used from now on. This average score is depicted in figure B17, Appendix B, which shows that the culture for Nostlaning should be based on clan
characteristics (33%) and adhocracy characteristics (29%). The next highest percentage is that of hierarchy characteristics, with 21%.The culture should be least based on market
characteristics (16%). These scores mean that, generalized, employees would like a focus on the human part in the company, with a little attention for formal policies and structures. Least focus is preferred on market competitiveness. This might be specific for the target group, while due to their capabilities, it is not always possible to work production driven. More value is placed on how employees are treated. Next to this, also due to the capabilities of the
employees, some form of structure has to be deployed, which is displayed by the hierarchy characteristics.
Looking at actually changing the cultures of Danmerion and Ergoradel to one solid culture for Nostlaning, the final decision of choosing the direction lies in the hands of the director of Nostlaning. His personal score resembles the utopian culture closely. This research shows the director that his vision is supported by employees from both Danmerion and Ergoradel, from different layers throughout the organization. However, while writing this article, the preferred culture is not yet clearly communicated throughout the different layers of the organization. The top management has planned to work with specialists regarding cultural changes in order to do this properly. Therefore, in this paper, the cultural change is treated at a more abstract level; employees do know that a change will occur, however, they do not exactly know what will change and how this change will affect them.
Research Question
THEORY
Cultural Change
In a merger both companies may find their current culture replaced or complemented by another, which may result in operating in a flux between the old and the new culture. The challenge is to overcome this flux, and accept the new corporate culture (Baughn & Finzel, 2009). According to Cummings and Worley (2008:567) cultural integration activities are tasks ‘aimed at building new values and norms in the combined organization’. They also stress that next to technical aspects, cultural aspects have to be fused in order to successfully implement the change. This again stresses the importance of looking at the current company culture and the guidance of the cultural change. Cultural differences are identified as a potential obstacle to achieving integration benefits (Stahl & Voigt, 2008; Weber & Camerer, 2003). This is further explained by Weber and Camerer (2003) by stating that due to
differences in culture, it might be hard for members of a merged company to all look into the same direction. As mentioned earlier, the current cultures of Danmerion and Ergoradel do differ; the main differences are found in the focus of the culture whereas Danmerion focuses more on procedures and Ergoradel focuses more on its employees. However, both companies, diminishing the minor differences, prefer the same culture for Nostlaning, which is in favor of the cultural change. Furthermore, a merger is supposed to be more successful when merging firms make related products (Weber & Camerer, 2009), which is the case for Danmerion and Ergoradel.
In order to change a company culture effectively, the critical mass has to support the change (Kotter, 1995). The critical mass not only consists of change drivers, but also of change recipients (Kanter, Stein, & Jick, 1992). Checking whether or not the critical mass supports the change can be done by measuring the attitude towards change.
Employees’ attitude towards the change. The article of Zimmerman, Olsen & Bosworth
(2000) describes five stages of change; (1) precontemplation, in this stage one does not think of the change, (2) contemplation, in this stage one weighs benefits and costs of own behavior, (3) preparation, in this stage one start trying to work with small parts of the change, (4) action, here, one takes definite action to change, and (5) maintenance and relapse prevention,
who are not endorsing the change and neither personally engage in it, are grouped as active resistors. Individuals who are confused about the change are expressing mixed feelings about the change; sometimes they engage in pro-change behaviors, whereas other times they engage in anti-change behaviors. Indifferent / Passive resistors of the change are described as not being actively engaged in the change, but neither actively obstructing the change. Lastly, supporters of the change are described as individuals which support the change and make many efforts to facilitate it, either by promoting the change, taking own actions, or doing both. These action categories are described by Vakola and Nikolaou (2005) as attitude towards change, which, they state, emerges from two aspects: willingness to change, and commitment to change.
FIGURE 1
Pro-Change and Anti-Change Behaviors Matrix
supportive or enhancing actions have taken place yet. The willingness of the critical mass of individuals, or groups, whose active commitment is necessary to change successfully, is most important (Beckhard & Harris, 1977). In order to create willingness to change, a sense of urgency has to be created; if the people involved with the change see the usefulness of the change, they are more willing to change (Kanter et al. 1992; Kotter, 1995). Emotions
associated with the change are the main reason for this reaction. This is explained by Smollan and Sayers (2009) who show in their article that affective culture, which is the way emotions are experienced and expressed, play a particularly part during changes of corporate culture. Their study found that when emotions are acknowledged and treated with respect, the engagement, or willingness, to change increased.
Commitment is defined as ‘a force that binds an individual to a course of actions deemed necessary for the successful implementation of change’ (Herscovitch & Meyer; 2002:475). It is stated that the underpinning of commitment to change in general lays within goal setting, promise keeping, and reflective learning (Wakefield, Herbert, Maclure, Dormuth, Wright, Legare, Brett-MacLean, & Premi, 2003). Individuals’ positive reactions positively influence commitment to change and cooperative behavioral support. Furthermore, for most change types, the mobilization of the energy to start up the process and keep the process moving is crucial for success. (Burnes, 2009; Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002; Kotter, 1995; Michaelis, Stegmaier, & Sonntag, 2009). Commitment to change is bound to increase when members of the organization feel their values are in congruence with those of the organization (Amos & Wheatington, 2008). Lastly, Wakefield et al. (2003) conclude that explicit statements about commitment to change are significantly associated with actual commitment to change.
yet committed to change. Looking at commitment to change, the employees that are committed are grouped as supporters of the change. A similar division can be seen in the articles of Badrtalei and Bates (2007) and Beckhard and Harris (1977), where employees who are indifferent, or positive, regarding the change are divided in three action categories; (1) letting the change happen, which means that one is not negative about the change; however, he or she will do nothing to help the change, (2) helping the change happen, which means that one is willing to undertake actions to help the change; however, he or she does not want to lead the change, and (3) making the change happen, which means that one is willing to drive the change. These three different action categories will be measured in the questionnaires.
Aspects of Corporate Culture
Often, corporate culture is seen as ‘the way we do things around here’. In order to change this way of seeing and approaching corporate business, influential aspects of the corporate culture have to be identified. This is supported by Kavanagh and Ashkanasy (2006), who state that in order to choose the right approach to cultural change the current culture has to be examined. Culture affects the way in which organizational members respond to change (Smollan & Sayers, 2009), which influences their willingness and commitment to change, and so their attitude towards the change. Next to the following theoretical reasoning, the discussed aspects of current culture were chosen while the interviewees as mentioned in table 1 identified leadership, experienced power and politics, and communication as aspects which they think will be of influence on the employees’ attitude towards the cultural change.
Leadership. A commonly used definition of leadership is that it is a process of social
motivated. This is done by, for example, letting the change recipient participate in challenging tasks, inspiring the recipient to think out of the box, and adjusting the level of influence the recipient has to his or her needs.
A participative leadership style makes employees feel valued by ones supervisor, which leads to more employee positivism regarding leadership. In turn, this leads to more
willingness to change, and thus to a more positive attitude towards the change as a whole. If leaders are charismatic and employees identify with the leader, changing the status quo is more likely to be successful. If the leaders take a positive stance upon the change, and
employees identify with the leaders, employees are more likely to identify and concentrate on the positive outcomes of the change initiative, and so, have a more positive attitude towards the change. Transformational leadership is thought to be important during times of change, while with such a leadership style, employees are more easily engaged and motivated to support the leaders’ decisions. This is due to the positive personal approach of the leaders. Furthermore, in case of transformational leadership, individual commitment to change, as part of attitude to change, is also higher (Herold, Fedor, Caldwell, & Liu, 2008; Michaelis et al., 2009; Smollan & Sayers, 2009). In this paper the focus is especially on the charismatic and transformational leadership style. While due to the specifics of the target group, personal attention is of importance.
Experienced power and politics. According to Burnes (2009), power is the possession of
position and/or resources, whereas politics is the deployment of influence and leverage, or in other words, expressing power. Both these aspects play a role in successfully changing the culture within the new merged company. The difference with the variable leadership is that leadership focuses on the styles which are used to express power. The variable power and politics focuses on more than this, for example, informal leadership is also included in this variable. However, a similarity with leadership is that the one deploying and the one
experiencing these instruments are in all cases different people. The attitude towards a change of organizational members which have power and are expressing politics is important for the attitude towards change of other organizational members undergoing the change. In other words, employees who are able to influence their colleagues in such a way that they will share
their vision upon the change are a key factor in forming one’s attitude towards change. This is supported by several studies which suggest that in order to achieve successful change, active engagement of leaders is necessary in all steps of the change (Jung, 2001; Nadler, Thies, & Nadler, 2001). When change drivers positively influence change recipients or express their leverage in a positive way, so, making use of their power and politics, change recipients are more likely to accept the change. In addition, Schein (1992) suggests that as leaders
communicate what they believe, this becomes part of the corporate culture and the employees’ attitude towards change. Hence, making explicit use of power and politics imbedded in the way things are done at the company. When employees are used to the fact that what their team leaders do is in congruence with how things are accepted to be done at the company, they will be more motivated to do what their leaders do, thus enhancing their willingness to change. If the leaders’ behavior is not seen as the standard, the leaders do not have enough opportunity to express politics. There is a positive relation between employee power, meaning ‘giving employees the formal power’, and attitude towards a change (Hartkamp, Ter Hoeven, & Pieterson, 2008). If employees are having the formal power and are enabled to express this power, so expressing politics, their willingness towards the change will be larger, and thus their attitude towards the change will improve.
Communication. Another way to influence employees’ attitude to change is to use clear
communication. Buelens et al. (2006) depict a perceptual process model of communication, which can be seen in figure 2. This model shows that communication basically consists of three factors; sender, transmitting medium, and receiver; the interpretation of this model will be explained in the following paragraph.
Communication starts when the sender encodes an idea or thought. Encoding means forming the idea or thought in such a way that another person will be able to understand the idea or thought; this is done by using numbers, words, gestures and/or non-verbal expressions. This encoding leads to a message which, in order to reach the receiver, has to be transmitted through a medium. Firstly, concerning the forming of the message, it has to be noted that the way the message is displayed makes the difference; for example there is a difference between a message which is depicted and a message which merely uses words. Next to this, the
H2: Experiencing less power and/or having less opportunity to express politics than one is assumed to have according to formal position, has a negative influence on the
content of the message has to be in congruence with the medium it is displayed through; for example, messages with a high impact should be transmitted through a more formal medium. Following this reasoning, the medium therefore has to be selected while taking into account the nature of the message, its intended purpose, the type of audience, proximity to the audience, time horizon for disseminating the message, and personal preferences. As soon as the message has been transmitted through the selected medium, decoding begins. Decoding means the interpretation of the message by the receiver. Buelens et al. (2006:290) state that ‘Decoding is a key contributor to misunderstanding in interracial and intercultural
FIGURE 2
A Perceptual Model of Communication
The more clear communication is, the more positive the attitude becomes (Baughn & Finzel, 2009; Badrtalei & Bates, 2007). This is due to the fact that unclear communication leads to misunderstandings and the need of new attempts to get the message across, which leads to more opportunities for noise to enter the communication process. Next to this, the medium by which the message is transmitted has to be suitable for the target group; for example Nostlaning has employees with trouble with reading and writing, so one has to keep in mind that written message might not always be interpreted correctly. Lastly, two-way communication, whereby it is possible to act and react on statements that are made, is of importance. Smollan and Sayers (2009) state that exclusion of change recipients from the decision making process, thus only offering one-way communication, hinders the success of cultural change. So if there is no, or not enough two-way communication between the change driver and the change recipient, the latter might feel excluded from the process and might develop less willingness to change. Taking these three aspects together shows that two-way communication which is least affected by noise is best.
Conceptual Model
The central question to this study is: ‘To what extent do aspects of the current culture at Danmerion and Ergoradel influence the employees’ attitude towards the merger into
Nostlaning?’ Figure 3 presents the conceptual model which functions as a basis for this paper. It shows the proposed relations between the aspects of current culture and the employees’ attitude towards the merger between Danmerion and Ergoradel.
METHODS
This chapter describes the methods used to collect and analyze the data used for this paper. Furthermore a short motivation for the use of these methods is included.
Data Gathering
In order to check the stance towards leadership (H1), the current level and quality of communication (H3) and difference between assumed and experienced power and politics (H2) at Danmerion and Ergoradel, questionnaires were held.
Population. The population contains employees which are currently working at Danmerion
and Ergoradel (842, respectively 417 and 425) which have an indication for social work provision, an official appointment, or are employed for other reasons. Excluded from this research are employees with a supported job and employees who are posted. The reason for this exclusion is that these employees will not, or to a much lesser extent, be influenced by the internal cultural change. The relevant population of this research therefore contains
employees with an indication for social work provision and employees with an official appointment currently working inside Danmerion and Ergoradel (497, respectively 245 and 252). The questionnaires were divided amongst employees in such a way that the respondents are a representative for the whole relevant population considering different functions, genders and disabilities throughout both companies. At Danmerion 58 questionnaires were planned, whereas at Ergoradel 62 questionnaires were planned. However, there was a non-response rate of 8.33%, meaning that due to unforeseen circumstances 10 employees, 4 at Danmerion and 6 at Ergoradel, did not fill in the questionnaire. This led to an amount of 110
questionnaires which were actually filled in.
From the 110 respondents, 72.70% are male and 27.30% are female. The average age at Nostlaning is 46 years (M = 45.91); most employees fall in the category 36 till 50 years old (41.80%). Employees of Nostlaning averagely work there, either at the location Danmerion or at the location Ergoradel, for 17 years (M = 17.34; SD = 11.70). The amount of hours
employees work a week is 32 (M = 32.27; SD = 7.00), which corresponds with about four days a week. Lastly, the average educational level at Nostlaning is lower vocational
is represented quite well; this conclusion can be drawn by comparing the percentages in both columns. However, for the control variables ‘company’ and ‘position’, the representation is not optimal. In order to create some safety net for changes after selection of the respondents, two answer categories were added at these variables; respectively ‘both’ and ‘other’. Upfront no employees with such characteristics were selected. However, if, due to changes after selection, any respondents were working at both companies, or were having a different position, they were able to fill this in correctly; thus minimizing bias. The adding of the answer categories are the reason for a larger deviation of the percentages. Looking at the position employees fulfill at Nostlaning, it can be seen that 89.10% of the employees are working at Nostlaning due to their handicap; 6.40% works there in a position of an official appointment; 4.50% works there at another position, for example through the foundation Wenska. The division amongst companies is quite evenly spread; 49.10% originally works for Danmerion, 48.20% originally works at Ergoradel, and 2.70% works at both companies.
Conducting the study. After identifying employees which would fill in the questionnaire,
their participation was discussed with the director of Nostlaning and the direct team leaders of the departments. If an employee, due to circumstances, was seen as unable to fill in a
questionnaire it was discussed which employee instead could best be invited to fill in the questionnaire. Once the sample of employees was identified, they received an invitation to come to the conference room at their worksite. Here, groups with a maximum of 10 employees at a time received the questionnaire. This was done while in such a way, the employees are able to ask for clarification of the questionnaire, which is a necessity for the target group. Employees with trouble with reading and/or writing received help from the conductor. This way of conducting the questionnaires proofed to be very useful. First of all, the conductor helped several respondents with trouble with reading by reading the questions out loud. Secondly, trouble with writing was solved by mostly making use of multiple choice questions; the open questions were, if needed, filled in by the conductor. Last, clarification of the questions by giving examples of the given situations helped the respondents to fill in the questionnaires correctly. This guidance was mainly useful for negatively formulated
TABLE 2
Respondents’ Descriptive Statistics (N = 110)
Percentage Sample Percentage Relevant Population Gender Men Woman 72.70 27.30 67.40 32.73 Age 18-35 36-50 >50 18.20 41.80 40.00 19.32 41.65 39.03 Company Danmerion Ergoradel Both 49.10 48.20 2.70 49.30 50.70 .00* Position Disabled Official Different 89.10 6.40 4.50 90.34 9.66 .00* Tenure 0-10 10-20 20-30 >30 29.40 32.10 27.50 11.00
Hours of work per week
0-24 >24 16.40 83.60 Educational level Primary education Secondary education Vocational education
Different education (including none education) 26.60 10.10 44.00 19.30
Measurement
To form the questionnaires, input was gathered from several papers; the questions used in this research are either derived from these papers, or based on these papers (Bouckenooghe, Devos, & Van den Broeck, 2009; Downs & Hazen, 1977; Giangreco 2002; Holt, Armenakis, Field, & Harris 2007; Lines, 2004; Liu, 2010; Metselaar, 1997; Miller, Johnson, & Grau, 1994; Szabla, 2007; see appendix C for an overview). Furthermore they were discussed with the supervisor of the university and the director of Nostlaning. The questionnaire consist of 55 questions, spread amongst five separate question categories, which correspond with the
conceptual model as displayed in figure 3. Therefore, four of the categories correspond with the dependent and independent variables, whereas the other one considers control variables. All questions concerning the dependent and independent variables were measured by using a seven-point Likert scale, with answers varying from ‘completely disagree’ to ‘completely agree’. After conducting the data, it was analyzed by using several tests in the statistical program SPSS 18.0. Questions 12, 20, 21, 22, 26, 28, 31, 32, 36, 38, 41, 43, 46, 47, 48, 50, and 51 firstly had to be recoded, due to negative formulation. The following subparagraphs display the general findings regarding the factor analysis, the findings which specifically concern the dependent and independent variables, and the reliability of the scales.
Factor analysis. In order to check whether a factor analysis can be justified, a KMO and
Bartlett’s test was conducted. While the score of the KMO was above .60, and the Bartlett’s test was significant (p < .00), the conducting of the factor analysis was continued. With the factor analysis, the principal component analysis was used as method for extraction. The rotation procedure Varimax was used in order to interpret the factors more easily. Originally, the factor analysis indicated that 13 components should be distinguished. However, the theory which is presented in a previous chapter shows that in this case four factors are most logic, while the research concerns the variables attitude, leadership, experienced power and politics, and communication. Therefore four factors will be used from now. Another justification of this choice is the fact that when using this amount of factors, they each explain 5% or more of the total variance; when more factors are selected, this will no longer be the case. The
elaborate results of the factor analysis, can be found in table D1 of Appendix D.
Attitude. The items used to measure the dependent variable attitude were derived from six
different articles. Attitude items 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 14, 17, 18, and 19 were recoded, due to
negative formulation. The translation and/or modification of the attitude items can be found in table C1 in Appendix C.
First of all, the article of Bouckenooghe et al. (2009) provided five questions; questions 38, 53, 39, 48, and 54. These questions consider statements like ‘I am somewhat resistant to change.’, and ‘I am willing to make a significant contribution to the change.’. The article of Giangreco (2002) provided question 51: ‘I support actions of my colleagues against the change’. Questions 47 and 46 are derived from the article of Holt et al. (2007). These items are ‘This change makes me question my future employment with this organization.’ and ‘The time we are spending on this change should be spent on something else.’ Two items, question 49 and 55, stem from the article of Metselaar (1997); these items consider the ‘intention to reduce resistance among employees’, and the ‘intention to make time to implement the
change’. The article of Miller et al. (1994) provided the input for questions 52, 34, 37, and 43. These items include statements like ‘I would consider myself to be “open” to changes the work teams will bring to my work role.’, and ‘From my perspective, the proposed changes in the work teams will be for the better.’. The article of Szabla (2007) is the last source for the attitude items. Questions 35, 42, 36, 44, and 50 regard questions from this article, such as ‘When I think about this change I feel happy.’, and ‘How strongly do you intend to oppose the implementation of this change?’.
Experienced power and politics. The items used to measure the independent variable
experienced power and politics were derived from the article of Bouckenooghe, Devos & Van den Broeck (2009). The questions that were derived from this article are questions 10, 15, 19, 25, and 31, which consider statements such as ‘Decisions concerning work are taken in consultation with the staff who are affected.’, and ‘In our organization, favoritism is an important way of achieving something.’. Experienced power and politics item 5 was recoded, due to negative formulation. The translation and/or modification of the experienced power and politics items can be found in table C1 in Appendix C.
The factor analysis in table D1 of Appendix D shows that the items for experienced power and politics are not loading well on one factor; they all have double loading and/or loadings that are not that high. The reasons why these items do not load well are not easy to
distinguish. One reason might be that in the original article of Bouckenooghe et al. (2009), the items not all stem from the paragraph considering politicking (only item 5), but there are also items which consider participation (items 1, 2 and 3), and support by supervisor (item 4). Another reason might be that the items are modified to a large extent. While the reliability of this factor is .18 and is not likely to increase a lot, all items regarding experienced power and politics are deleted. Item 1 is an exception of this exclusion, while this item is taken in with the variable leadership; the reasons for this inclusion are explained in the paragraph
considering the variable leadership.
Communication. The items used to measure the dependent variable communication were
derived from three different articles. Communication items 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, and 13 were recoded, due to negative formulation. The translation and/or modification of the communication items can be found in table C1 in Appendix C.
The factor analysis in table D1 of Appendix D shows that communication items 4 and 11 both not really load on either one of the constructs. Next to this, item 4 also shows a double loading. An explanation for this incorrect loading might be that both items consider specific information, whereas item 4 considers information by top management, which is more specific than that of one’s supervisor, and item 11 considers dealing with emotion, which is a very specific topic when compared to the other items, which are more general. Therefore, these items are excluded. Communication items 8 and 9 show a double loading. Looking at the source of these items, it can be seen that in the article of Downs and Hazen (1977), these items consider ‘freedom to make suggestions to superiors’, which also can be interpreted as being able to participate. The translated content of the items as they were used is ‘My direct supervisor is open to my ideas.’, and ‘I have the feeling that [my direct supervisor] is listening to me’. Looking at the content of these items, it becomes clear that in this case ‘freedom to make suggestions to superiors’ is actually measuring superiors’ behavior; specifically concerning participation. As participation is a form of leadership, this explains the double loading; therefore these items are included with the variable leadership. The inclusion of these two items is caused by this double loading, and the fact that the factor analysis and reliability analysis improved by doing so. Communication items 2, 3, 10 and 13 load on a different component. This might be due to the fact that these items do not consider receiving
information, but acting upon information, or asking for information. As the items do not load well on the factor communication and while the deletion of these items does not lead to a major decrease of the Cronbach’s Alpha value for communication, the items were removed from the factor. This resulted in a factor of communication which consists of 5 items and has a high Cronbach’s Alpha value (α = .74), which can be seen in table 3 and 4.
Leadership. The items used to measure the independent variable leadership were derived
from three different articles. Leadership items 3 and 7 were recoded, due to negative
formulation. The translation and/or modification of the leadership items can be found in table C1 in Appendix C.
First of all, the article of Lines (2004) provided three questions; questions 11, 12, and 13. These questions consider statements like ‘Steps were taken to involve affected persons at an early stage of the change process.’, and ‘Suggestions from affected persons were considered seriously.’. The article of Liu (2010) provided questions 14 and 40, which consider the
article, such as ‘I feel certain about how much authority I have.’, and ‘Explanations of work assignments are clear.’.
Regarding the items measuring leadership, it becomes evident that not all items are loading on the same component, as can be seen in table D1 of Appendix D. However, item 4, 5, and 9 do load on the same component. Although leadership items 4 and 5 have a high double loading, it was decided to include these items within this factor. However, therefore, it has to be noted that there is a high resemblance with communication regarding these items.
Leadership item 7 does not load well on any of the constructs. This might be explained by the fact that this item considers informal leadership, which concerns one’s own actions. Therefore it neither concerns a leadership style, nor does this concern any of the other variables.
Furthermore, this item is a negative item, and therefore was recoded; however, it has to be noted that employees might have trouble comprehending a recoded question due to mental capabilities. Although the loading of item 8 is above .30, it also does not really load well on a component. This can be explained by the fact that this item concerns leadership from within one’s self, and not leadership by a supervisor. Therefore, it does not concern a leadership style. Another remarkable loading is that of leadership item 3, which has a high loading on a complete different factor. This might be caused by the fact that this is a negative item. Items 1, 2, 6, and 10 all load on the same component, however this is not the component for leadership. It is decided to exclude these items while they all do not concern a leadership style, nor do they really concern another variable. Here, it is again must be noted that communication and leadership are closely linked; although the items originally are meant to measure leadership, there is also something to be said for the fact that they belong to
communication, which is the construct they load on. These items were not taken in with the variable communication while they do not match the other communication items content wise. It is of great importance to notice that it is decided to include experienced power and politics item 1 and communication items 8 and 9 in the factor of leadership. Looking closely at these items and their sources it can be argued that these items, instead of measuring power and politics or communication, measure participation, which is a leadership style. Experienced power and politics item 1 concerns ‘Changes are always discussed with all people
the other hand concerns the level of one’s personal input, and thus participation, as explained in the paragraph concerning the variable communication. The scale concerning leadership consists of 6 items, with a high Cronbach’s Alpha value (α = .83), as can be seen in table 3 and 4.
TABLE 3
Factor analysis – Items deleted (N = 110)
Item Component 1 2 3 Attitude ATTI_1 .63 .05 -.23 ATTI_5 .52 -.20 .18 ATTI_7 .55 -.28 .40 ATTI_8 .58 -.17 .17 ATTI_9 .56 -.01 .08 ATTI_10 .62 .14 .02 ATTI_11 .69 .31 .11 ATTI_12 .56 .26 -.18 ATTI_13 .64 .32 -.10 ATTI_14 .47 -.09 .13 ATTI_15 .67 .31 -.01 ATTI_16 .67 .24 .01 ATTI_17 .52 .26 -.39 ATTI_18 .59 .04 .18 Item Component 1 2 3 Leadership LEAD_4 .18 .61 .35 LEAD_5 .00 .62 .28 LEAD_9 .04 .76 .12 EP&P_1 .19 .69 .30 COMM_8 .01 .66 .15 COMM_9 .11 .74 .11 Communication COMM_1 .18 .23 .71 COMM_5 -.10 .15 .62 COMM_6 .11 .21 .56 COMM_7 .03 .24 .70 COMM_12 .05 .20 .60
Reliability analysis. To check the reliability of the factor analysis a reliability analysis was
conducted. The purpose of this analysis is to determine homogeneity and internal consistency within the separate factors. Table 4 shows the number of items for each scale and the
Cronbach’s Alpha values of the scales.
TABLE 4
Reliability Analysis (N = 110)
Scale Number of items Cronbach’s Alpha
Attitude 14 .86
Leadership 6 .83
Data Analysis
In order to test the hypotheses, the data was analyzed in two steps which are described below.
Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. Firstly the mean and standard deviation of
the variables were calculated. These statistics are useful to create a first understanding of the data result; it gives an indication whether the score on the variable overall is positive or negative. Secondly, a correlation analysis was performed to determine to what extent the variables, including the control variables, correlate with each other. The descriptive statistics and the results of the correlation analysis can be found in table 5. As can be seen, several factors correlate significantly with each other; this means that there are relations detected between the factors. These results will be elaborately discussed in the following part of this paper.
Regression analysis. Finally, single and multiple regression analyses have been executed
to test the relationship between the dependent variable ‘Attitude’ and the independent variables ‘Leadership’ and ‘Communication’. Furthermore, these relationships were also tested including the control variables.
A prerequisite for conducting a regression analysis is that the data has to be interval or ratio scaled. The dependent and the independent variables were all measured on a 7-point Likert scale, which leads to ordinal scaled data. However, it has become common practice to treat ordinal scaled data from a Likert scale as interval scaled data (Jamieson, 2004).
RESULTS
This section shows the findings of the research. Firstly, the results of the correlation analysis are displayed, showing the correlations between the different scales. After this, the results of the regression analyses are presented.
Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Analysis
In table 5 the means, standard deviations and correlations between the scales and the control variables are presented; a correlation analysis using the Spearman’s Rho correlation
coefficient was used.
TABLE 5
Means, Standard Deviations and Correlations (N = 110)
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 Attitude 4.24 1.10 2 Leadership 4.88 1.15 .26** 3Communication 4.53 1.26 .16† .57** 4 Gender 1.27 .45 -.07 .08 .08 5 Age 45.91 11.72 .23* .30* .06 -.21* 6 Company 1.54 .55 -.17† -.03 .05 -.15 -.02 7 Position 1.15 .47 .09 -.24* -.10 -.11 -.10 -.07 8 Tenure 17.24 10.01 .09 .05 -.01 -.24* .54** .08 -.20* 9 Hours a week 32.27 7.00 .03 -.11 -.02 -.28** .01 -.07 .04 .08 10 Education 4.66 2.89 .05 .15 .05 .03 .22* .11 -.06 .23* .20*
** p < .01 (2-tailed); * p < .05(2-tailed); † p < .10 (2-tailed)
Descriptive statistics. Firstly, looking at the means of the dependent and independent
variables, several conclusions can be drawn keeping in mind that the items in the
questionnaire all were measured using a seven-point Likert scale. One of the first things that stands out is the fact that the average score on attitude is slightly positive (M = 4.24; SD = 1.10), which means that the employees of Nostlaning currently have a slightly positive
attitude towards the change. Secondly, leadership has the highest mean score (M = 4.88; SD = 1.15), which means that on average employees experience leadership to be somewhat
personnel. Lastly, communication is also experienced positively (M = 4.53; SD = 1.26), which means that, to a certain level, employees experience that there is less noisy, two-way communication. In order to show the complete results, table 5 further includes the
correlations, the means, and the standard deviations of the control variables, while these variables will also be taken into account for the following regression analyses. The means and standard deviations of these control variables were already discussed in a previous section.
Correlation between dependent and independent variables. Table 5 shows that both
independent variables and the dependent variable correlate with each other. The strongest correlation is found between the two independent variables (r = .57, p < .01), which means that leadership and communication, as mentioned before, do resemble each other.
Furthermore, it does mean that employees who see their leader as a charismatic person, who engages and motivates them, with whom they can identify, and which has a participative leadership style, more often experience two-way communication which is less infected by noise. The correlation between leadership and attitude is the second strongest correlation (r = .26, p < .01), which means that a employees who experience more participative leadership and who see their leader as a charismatic person who engages and motivates them have a more positive attitude regarding the change. There is a marginal correlation between
communication and attitude (r = .28, p < .097), which means that employees who experience less noisy, two-way communication have a more positive attitude regarding the change.
Correlations between dependent, independent and control variables. Considering the
correlations of control variables with the dependent and independent variables, some
correlations are found. The largest correlations are found between leadership and age (r = .30 p < .01), and leadership and position (r = -.24, p < .01). The conclusion which can be drawn from these correlations is that older employees and employees with an official appointment see their leader as a charismatic person, who engages and motivates them, with whom they can identify, and which has a participative leadership style. Other findings are the correlation between attitude and age (r = .23, p < .05), and the marginal correlation between attitude and company (r = -.17, p < .075). These correlations indicate that older employees and employees working at Ergoradel have a more positive attitude regarding the change.
Regression Analysis
result of the correlation analysis, it is decided, regarding the control variables, to only include the items controlling for age and position; this leads to a total of five variables.
Single regression analysis. Hypothesis 1 proposes that ‘The more participative,
charismatic, and transformational the leadership style is, the more positive the influence on the employees’ attitude toward the merger between Danmerion and Ergoradel is’. This hypothesis can be confirmed, while the variables leadership and attitude are positively related (β = .27, p < .05, R2 = .12). This means that when employees experience their leader as a charismatic person who engages and motivates them and who makes use of a participative leadership style, they have a more positive attitude towards the change.
Hypothesis 2 proposes that ‘Experiencing less power and/or having less opportunity to express politics than one is assumed to have according to formal position, has a negative influence on the employees’ attitude towards the merger between Danmerion and Ergoradel.’. This hypothesis is not supported, while the items concerning the variable experienced power and politics were deleted during the execution of the factor analysis. As stated before, this does not account item 1 of this variable, which was included in the scale concerning the variable leadership. Therefore, in this research no conclusion can be drawn based upon this hypothesis.
Hypothesis 3 proposes that ‘Two-way communication which is least infected by noise has a positive influence on the employees’ attitude towards the merger between Danmerion and Ergoradel.’. This hypothesis can be confirmed, however, the variables communication and attitude are marginally positively related (β = .16, p < .096, R2 = .09). This means that when employees experience less noisy, two-way communication, they have a more positive attitude towards the change.
Table 6 shows the outcomes of the single regression analyses for attitude and the
independent variables separately, controlling for age and position; more elaborate outcomes can be found in Appendix E.
TABLE 6
Single regression analysis (N = 110)
Attitude
Standardized Beta R2 R2
Leadership .27* .12** .10**
Communication .16† .09* .06*
Multiple regression analysis. Hypothesis 1 proposes that ‘The more participative,
charismatic, and transformational the leadership style is, the more positive the influence on the employees’ attitude toward the merger between Danmerion and Ergoradel is’. This hypothesis can be confirmed, however, the variables leadership and attitude are marginally positively related (β = .25, p < .056, R2 = .12). Just as in the single regression analysis, this means that employees who experience participative leadership and see their leader as a charismatic person, who engages and motivates them, have a more positive attitude towards the change. However, in the multiple regression analysis less evidence of this relationship is found.
Hypothesis 2 proposes that ‘Experiencing less power and/or having less opportunity to express politics than one is assumed to have according to formal position, has a negative influence on the employees’ attitude towards the merger between Danmerion and Ergoradel.’. This hypothesis is not supported, while the items concerning the variable experienced power and politics were deleted during the execution of the factor analysis. As stated before, this does not account item 1 of this variable, which was included in the scale concerning the variable leadership. Therefore, in this research no conclusion can be drawn based upon this hypothesis.
Hypothesis 3 proposes that ‘Two-way communication which is least infected by noise has a positive influence on the employees’ attitude towards the merger between Danmerion and Ergoradel.’. This hypothesis can be confirmed, however, the variables communication and attitude are marginally positively related (β = .04, p < .800, R2 = .12). Just as in the single regression analysis, this means that when employees experience less noisy, two-way communication, they have a more positive attitude towards the change.
Remarkable is the influence of the control variables. In the first block of the multiple regression analysis, without the independent variables, the control variable age has a significant relation with attitude (β = .24, p < .05); this means that older employees have a more positive attitude towards the change. However, this relation disappears when the independent variables are included in block 2. As can be seen in table 5, the independent variables and the control variable age are significantly correlated (r = .30, p < .05). In this relationship, the independent variables apparently are the more dominant variables.
TABLE 7
Multiple Regression Analysis Attitude (N = 110)
Attitude
Standardized Beta Standardized Beta R2 R2
Block 1 Age .24* .17† .07* .05*
Position .11 .17†
Block 2 Leadership .25† .12** .09**
Communication .04†
DISCUSSION
This study aims to obtain a deeper understanding of how current culture is of influence on employees’ attitude towards a change. The researched parts of the current culture are leadership, experienced power and politics and communication.
Firstly, looking at the attitude towards change at Nostlaning, it can be said that it is slightly positive; such a score was expected, while it is known that the employees of Nostlaning are not yet really dealing, or coping, with the change and its consequences.
Secondly, the average score on leadership is also slightly positive. This score is a probably mainly based on believing the leader to be charismatic and being able to identify with him or her, while employees at an institution for social work provision are not that much managed in a participative style.
Communication also scores slightly positive on average. This score was not expected to be higher, while the employees of Nostlaning are not all capable of understanding the
communication which is used. Sometimes this is due to trouble reading, or illiteracy, other times due to fewer skills in comprehending multiple layered communication. On the other hand, employees are willing to try their best to fully understand the information they are given, albeit by searching for help outside of the formal communication channels.
Lastly, no measurements of experienced power and politics can be defined, due to the fact that most items regarding this variable were deleted from the research after the factor
analysis; this was done while the items used to measure this variable, did in fact measure something else.
Hypotheses
If all hypotheses were to be true, this would mean that the average attitude towards the change should be more positive. However, this is not the case; there is significant support for
hypothesis 1 in the single regression analysis, and marginal support for this hypothesis in the multiple regression analysis. Furthermore, there is no support for hypothesis 2 and only marginal support for hypothesis 3, in both the single and the multiple regression analysis.
congruence with the theory regarding leadership described in a previous chapter. Oreg and Berson (2009) find in their study that the characteristics of leadership described above reduce resistance to change, hence improving the attitude towards change. They elaborate on the mentioned characteristics by stating that walking the talk is of importance for leaders, whilst seeing the leader practicing what they preach, improves the attitude of employees towards the change.
There is a marginal influence of communication on attitude to change; least noisy, two-way communication therefore is of importance. In congruence, the fact that the mean score of communication is not very high, neither very low, indicates that improvements could be made in this area. The article of Kumi (2006) states that only those employees who strongly relate to the organization, perceive the information as clear. While the relationship employees have with the organization is not investigated in the current study, this might be an explanation for the fact that communication is not of significant influence on attitude in this study. The article of Vielhaber (1983) suggest that the relation between communication and attitude considers a lot more aspects; receiver, context, channel, message, and source. Here, personal aspects, such as job satisfaction and job involvement, are, next to the control variables used, of influence. Since the employees were not tested that elaborately on their personal characteristics, this might be another reason for the fact that the results of this study indicate a marginal relationship between communication and attitude, whereas other studies find a significant relationship.
After the factor analysis the variable experienced power and politics was deleted. This was due to the fact that the items which were used to measure experienced power and politics were not actually measuring this variable. This means that in this research no conclusions regarding experienced power and politics can be drawn.
Contribution to the Field of Study
