Responses of change agents on individual and group attitudes towards change: A multilevel case study on their relationship and on the potential influence on change success

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Responses of change agents on individual and group attitudes towards change:

A multilevel case study on their relationship and on the potential influence on

change success

Sanne van Aken

S2808013

23-01-2017, Groningen

Master’s Thesis

MSc. Business Administration: Change Management

Faculty of Economics and Business

University of Groningen

Supervisor: H.P. van Peet

Co-assessor: J.C.L. Paul

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ABSTRACT

This research provides a qualitative research on how attitudes towards change on individual and group level influence each other and on how change agents respond on these attitudes to have an influence on the change success. When looked at the current literature, it seems that the attitudes of the recipients and the approaches of the change agents can have a potential influence on change success. However, the academic literature is not very extensive on the relationships between these constructs and their possible outcomes. Therefore a multi-level study is used to look at this potential. This theory development research is conducted within one company but at three different institutes. The data is collected with the use of 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews and two small surveys in which information is gathered from corporate agents, managers, and employees. The findings imply that individual and group attitudes can consciously and unconsciously influence each other. On individual level it seems that only the quite pronounced recipients, either positive or negative, have an influence on the group attitude. On group level, the recipients attach value to a strong group cohesion in which all recipients should be subjected to the change to create the feeling that they bear the burden together. Furthermore, the best approach of the change agents seems to alternate between the individual and group level. On group level the influence tactics rational persuasion and inspirational appeal are found most effective and on individual level consultation tactics, personal appeal and ingratiating tactics are most effective. Finally, change success as evaluated by this research depends on three dimensions on which the change agents seem to have an effect.

Research theme: Managing readiness and resistance in change processes, a multi-level approach

Word count: 15.996 words (excluding appendices)

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1. INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, organizational change is an integrated part of organizational life and is one of the major debated topics in organizational and social sciences (Bouckenooghe, 2010; Rafferty, Jimmieson, & Armenakis, 2013; Vakola, 2013). Organizational change is necessary these days due to the highly competitive markets that have to deal with increasing unpredictability (Senior & Swailes, 2010). Change can be adaptation with a responsive and proactive character and it can occur due to organizational survival, complexity, social and individual will, and it can be self-organized (Glor, 2014). Planned change is the most prevailing type of change that is researched in studies of attitudes for change (Bouckenooghe, 2010). Bouckenooghe (2010) is calling for more research on other types of change in relation to attitudes to change, because current findings may not apply on other types.

In view of the foregoing, it is unfortunate that change initiatives often have a high failure rate (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Washington & Hacker, 2005; Cartwright & Schoenberg, 2006; Burnes, 2009; Higgs & Rowland, 2011). Due to this high rate of failure, researchers have started to identify decisive factors that may influence and increase the success rate of change (Rafferty et al., 2013). Recent research found that attitudes of change recipient’s can form an important decisive factor that can contribute to the success or failure of organizational changes (Oreg, Vakola, & Armenakis, 2011; Rafferty et al., 2013).

The dominant perspective in literature on these attitudes is viewed from the change recipient’s perspective, which is conducted on an individual level of analysis (Paul, van Peet, & Reezigt, 2012; Bouckenooghe, 2010). According to Bouckenooghe (2010) ‘attitudes toward change is a

multi-facetted concept comprised of a set of feelings about change, cognitions about change and intentions toward change’ (p. 502). Additional to the individual aspect, group dynamics that are triggered by

emotional contagion can also influence the individual level of attitudes and group processes, so group level attitudes need to be observed as well (Barsade, 2002; Vakola, 2013).

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responses of change agents, Oreg et al. (2011) argues that these responses on the reactions of change recipients are likely to have a direct impact on the change progress and eventually on the change success. However, limited research has been done on these reactions.

So in the current literature, when looked at the attitudes towards change, the dominant view is from the individual change recipient’s side, and when looked at the effect on the success-rate of change the dominant view is from the change agent’s side. According to Bouckenooghe (2010), researchers need to report more on the underlying mechanisms and relationships between the attitudes of individuals in groups and the claims made on the organizational level about these attitudes to avoid certain assumptions. It is therefore clear that a multiple level analysis is needed to provide valuable insights regarding the attitudes and success-rate of change.

This research focuses on the following existing gaps in the literature. The first gap concerns the limited literature on different types of change related to attitudes to change (Bouckenooghe, 2010). Second, the call of Rafferty et al. (2013) for more research on the effect of attitudes in relation to multiple levels and change outcomes. Third, the limited research on reactions of change agent’s towards attitudes of change recipients (Oreg et al., 2011). Thus, as mentioned in the previous paragraph there is need for a closer look at these relationships and on the potential influence on change success (Bouckenooghe, 2010) to be able to give a more comprehensive theoretical contribution to the literature. Addressing these research gaps also provides managerial benefits, because when agents are aware of their influence on the individual and group attitudes of recipients during changes, they can adjust their responses to influence a potential change success. Accordingly, the following research question is stated:

‘How do attitudes toward change on the individual level and group level influence each other, and how do change agents respond on these attitudes, to have an influence on the change success?’

This main research question is supported by the following sub questions to gain more knowledge: § Why and how do individual and group attitudes change when influenced by each other?

§ How do change agents respond to these attitudes and what is the effect of their approach in

relation to the change success?

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

To answer the research question stated in the previous section it is necessary to first provide a theoretical background on the current literature. This section will present an overview of the current literature regarding organizational change, individual and group attitudes toward change, the relationship between both attitude levels, the change agent responses to attitudes, and the change success. The last paragraph of this literature review will present a theoretical framework, which is derived from the discussed literature and will serve as the basis for this research.

2.1. Organizational change

It’s important to be aware of the different natures of change processes when doing research on change, because this can be of influence on the attitudes of change recipients. First, there is a growing concern with the tempo of change (Weick & Quinn, 1999), and the focus has switched from stable and planned changes to on-going, emergent and continuous changes that occur on a day-to-day basis (Bartunek & Balogun, 2011). According to the three stages of change of Lewin (1951), planned change follows the sequence unfreeze-transition-refreeze, whereas continuous change follows the reverse order of the stages (Weick & Quinn, 1999). This model of Lewin (1951) has been criticized on the appropriateness of the given sequence, alongside with the questionable possibility that anything can be truly frozen or refrozen (Bartunek & Woodman, 2015). These criticisms are focused around the change process experienced by change recipients themselves (Bartunek & Woodman, 2015). Secondly, besides the sequence there are other crucial components of organizational change processes that need to be considered such as timing (formal or informal deadlines, alternative possibilities for action and availability of information), pacing (speed of change), rhythm (repetitions of cycles with periods of accelerated activity and slowed activity) and monophony (change is implemented by one person or in one series of events) or polyphony (change is implemented by multiple persons in multiple series of events) (Bartunek & Woodman, 2015).

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The following description of continuous change or emergent change will be maintained to avoid confusion: continuous or emergent change perceives change as an open-ended process of adaptation to complex and changing environments (Todnem By, 2005). It further reflects the on-going, small-scale, bottom-up, cumulative, and evolving understanding of change and it originates from within (Bouckenooghe, 2010). In addition, when change is so rapid that managers find it impossible to effectively plan the suited organizational responses, the change can also be handled and viewed as continuous or emergent (Todnem By, 2005). So, in other words, continuous change is emergent (Bouckenooghe, 2010), in contrast to planned change which is a product of deliberate action (Orlikowski, 1996). In this research, planned change is central and is referred to when talked about organizational change. Cawsey, Deszca, & Ingols (2016), describe planned change as the alterations of organizational components, such as the culture or structure, to improve the effectiveness and to eventually generate more value. The participants of organizational change can be divided in change recipients and change agents. In these terms the change recipients are those who find themselves on the receiving end of the change and the change agents are those who initiate, implement and/or facilitate the change (Cawsey et al., 2016).

2.2. Individual attitudes toward change

The individual attitudes toward change seem to be of great importance, since acceptance and support of a change is needed to achieve a successful organizational change (Xu, Payne, Horner & Alexander, 2016). To examine the underlying mechanisms of attitudes toward change, it is necessary to first provide some literature on individual attitudes. The change experience is different for every individual. Some individuals will show resistance and others will show positive reactions of readiness for change. However, readiness and resistance are not the only concepts described in literature. Other concepts of positive responses have emerged in the literature such as openness to change and commitment to change, as well as negative concepts such as cynicism about change (Van den Heuvel et al., 2016). All of these concepts however are problematic when doing research because they neglect the opposite response and therefore only refer to a small part of the possible responses of change recipients (Van den Heuvel et al., 2016). A neutral and all-embracing umbrella definition is needed to cover all the responses ranging from negative to positive, namely attitudes toward change (Piderit, 2000; Lines, 2005; Bouckenooghe, 2010). The definition attitudes toward change will be used in this research and Elizur & Guttman (1976) have provided a clear definition of attitudes: ‘it is a

multi-facetted concept comprised of a set of feelings about change, cognitions about change and intentions toward change’ (p. 612), in which the feelings about change refer to the affective component in

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(Piderit, 2000; Bouckenooghe, 2010). These affective, cognitive, and intentional reactions can change over time due to critical incidents described in the antecedents below (Choi, 2011).

2.2.1. Antecedents of individual attitudes toward change

The potential underlying mechanisms of attitudes, also referred to as antecedents, can be distinguished into pre-change antecedents and change antecedents (Oreg et al., 2011). The pre-change antecedents are not directly linked to a particular organizational change. The first pre-change antecedent concerns the characteristics of the recipients, which can have an influence on the attitude towards change. These characteristics consist of personality traits, motivational needs, coping styles and demographic variables (Oreg et al., 2011; Van den Heuvel et al., 2016). The second pre-change antecedent concerns the internal and external context of the organization. Besides the organizational environment, this category also includes the management, culture and the commitment of the employees towards the organization (Choi, 2011; Oreg et al., 2011).

The change antecedents can be found in the change process, in the change content and in the perceived benefit or harm (Bouckenooghe, 2010; Oreg et al., 2011; Van den Heuvel, 2016). The change process refers to all the variables that are related to the planning and implementation of change, such as the participation, communication, availability of information, procedural justice, principal support from change leaders and the perceived competence of management (Oreg et al., 2011). According to Van den Heuvel et al. (2016) all of these variables have significant influence on the individual attitudes toward change. The change content is about the theoretical and practical meaning of the change, namely the ‘what’ of change (Oreg et al., 2011). Finally, the perceived benefit or harm caused by the change refers to change recipients’ positive or negative evaluation of the change, which may be associated with the outcome of change, perceived justice and job security (Oreg et al., 2011). According to Oreg et al. (2011) these antecedents have an effect on the individual explicit reactions, which consist of the affective, cognitive, and intentional components.

2.3. Group attitudes toward change

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individuals, which subsequently influences the change outcome. Overall, group attitudes seem to be of great importance, but it has been neglected in most literature (Rafferty et al., 2013; Vakola, 2013).

Group sense making is a process in which on-going human action and social interaction takes place. The group readiness, in this research referred to as attitude for change is influenced by emotional responses, intentions and cognitive beliefs (Rafferty et al., 2013). Groups need to have a consensus about the belief that a change is needed, that the group or organization is capable of successfully dealing with the change, that the outcomes will be positive, that the intentions of management are good and about the shared emotions. So, due to the interaction processes of individuals, the affective, cognitive and intentional components will be shared and determine the group’s attitude to change (Rafferty et al., 2013).

2.3.1. Antecedents of group attitudes toward change

There are certain underlying mechanisms, referred to as antecedents that can influence a change in attitude. Rafferty et al. (2013) identified the following antecedents of group attitudes, which include communication, participation, group-level vision and emotion handling of the change agent, shared perceptions, group climate, and work group affective tone. Holt & Vardaman (2013) identified collective commitment, efficacy and trust as antecedents of group attitudes, together with discrepancy, supportive climate and facilitation strategies. However, it is not clear how these or other antecedents influence or affect the attitudes towards achieving a higher success-rate of change.

2.4. Relationship between both attitude levels

As mentioned in the introduction researchers need to report more on the underlying interaction and relationships between attitudes of individuals in groups and on the further claims that are made on organizational level (Bouckenooghe, 2010). There is a clear link between individual and group level of attitudes in the sense that they affect each other on an affective, cognitive and intentional manner. This interaction process goes both ways and Vakola (2013) and Rafferty et al. (2013) have already started to identify these potential links.

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individuals that occur due to the social interaction and communication processes between individuals. The authors argue that groups might share their cognitions, emotion and affect about the change through these interaction processes. Groups can transform this affect in collective emotional reactions towards change, which can influence the group behaviour and therefore the group attitude (Barsade, 2002; Sanchez-Burks & Huy, 2009). Barsade (2002) even argues that the development of group emotion is what defines a group instead of a collection of individuals. Barsade (2002) refers to this as emotional contagion in which a person or group tries to influence the emotion, opinions or behaviours of other individuals through the conscious or unconscious induction of emotional states. These interaction processes gain meaning through individual and group sense making (Sonenshein, 2010), which is the interpretation through which people, in this case change recipients, assign meaning to their experience and subsequently act on these formed interpretations (Ford et al., 2008; Rafferty et al., 2013). Individuals engage in collective sense making when they try to make sense of a change in which they interact and communicate with others to seek and share change related information, opinions and experiences. In this way they develop a collective attitude of shared affective, cognitive and intentional components (Bartunek & Balogun, 2011).

The second link is viewed from the group perspective in which group attitudes can influence individual attitudes. Group norms are able to powerfully influence the attitudes, values and beliefs of the individual (Vakola, 2013), by exerting pressure on group members to conform to the group norms (Cummings, 2004). This only accounts for individuals who are closely aligned to a group or feel strongly identified with a group (Jimmieson, White, & Peach, 2004). Group norms can be defined as the informal rules that groups adopt to regulate and regularize group member’s behaviour (Vakola, 2013). These group norms can develop in four ways: group members make explicit statements; group members passed on former situations; critical events occur; and early patterns are difficult to alter due to primacy effects (Feldman, 1984). However, the subjective norm is most relevant when looked at collective attitudes towards change, because it defines the process of social influence by the perceived social pressure to perform or not perform a specific behaviour (Vakola, 2013). This implies that when the subjective norm of the group is supportive towards the change, the individual attitudes toward change will also be more supportive (Vakola, 2013).

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2.5. Change agent responses to attitudes

Managers, in this research referred to as change agents, are in a leading position when it comes to the implementation of change. This leading position is associated with certain responsibilities such as defining the desired end state, determining the schedule of the change process and taking corrective measures during implementation (Van den Heuvel et al., 2016). In times of change, the managers are the ones who receive the responses of the employees and are therefore able to give meaning to which components lead to these responses and they are perhaps able to influence these responses towards change (Oreg et al., 2011). Literature to date has focused primarily on the reactions of change recipients and therefore neglected the responses of the change agent to these reactions (Oreg et al., 2011). As stated, these responses of change agents are crucial because they can have a direct effect on the change progress and the success-rate of change (Oreg et al., 2011). The sense making and sense giving processes through which responses of the change agents are formed will be elaborated on in this chapter, together with the change approach of the change agents and the influence tactics that the agents can use to influence the attitudes.

2.5.1. Sense making and sense giving

To investigate the responses of the change agents it is first necessary to understand the underlying mechanisms of these responses. Responses are formed through a sense making and sense giving process (Sonenshein, 2010). According to Kraft, Sparr & Peus (2015) change entails a high risk of failure if change agents cannot convey to the underlying sense to change recipients. So, these sense making and sense giving processes are crucial when dealing with organizational change, because they can be of great influence.

Sense making is actively present when agents try to interpret recipients’ communication, behaviours and attitudes to give them meaning and subsequently act on these formed interpretations (Ford et al., 2008). In other words, the sense making process of change agents is needed to understand the recipients’ reactions towards change. During this sense making process there is a possibility of misinterpretations due to different expectations. The change agent expects certain behaviour and as a result of misinterpretations it seems that the behaviours of others confirm this expectation of the change agent, this phenomenon is called self-fulfilling prophecies (Ford et al., 2008). Moreover, the interactions between agents and recipients facilitate the sense making of individuals and also help in developing the collective sense making (Bartunek & Balogun, 2011).

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individual and group attitudes of change recipients, which seems to be crucial for achieving change success (Vakola, 2013). However, this can also lead into failures when for example the disrupted trust cannot be restored due to broken agreements or communication breakdowns (Ford et al., 2008). Moreover, change agents often use the sense giving process to shape the sense making of the change recipients by using symbols, images and influence tactics (Maitlis & Christianson, 2014).

2.5.2. Behaviour of change agents

In addition to the sense making and sense giving process, the behaviour of the change agent is also part of their response. Higgs & Rowland (2011) have explored this impact of leaders’ behaviours on the successful implementation of change. Three broad sets of leadership behaviours are identified (Higgs & Rowland, 2011): (1) shaping behaviour, also known as leader-centric behaviour, contains communication and actions which are directly related to the change; (2) framing change, is about creating starting points, a framework, guiding principles and emotional connections to the change; and (3) creating capacity, is about creating individual and organizational capabilities, communications streams and connections. Leaders with the most successful implementations of change used all behaviours sets, but with a minimum presence of shaping behaviour and with most emphasis on framing change and creating capacity (Higgs & Rowland, 2011). However this behaviour depends on the degree of change that is needed by the organization; when the change is planned the agent needs to create change and is a prime mover, and when the change is continuous or emergent the agent needs to make sense of the change and redirect the organization (Cawsey et al., 2016). Next to the degree of change, the focus level of leadership also plays a role in the behaviour of the agent. Change agents can focus interventions on the individual or group level, which have an influence on the change approach (Vakola, 2013). On the individual level interventions such as training and development programmes or performance appraisals can be used (Vakola, 2013). On the group level it is important to create favourable group norms by for example describing task and role expectations (Vakola, 2013). Next to these behaviours and interventions, change agents can also use more concrete influence tactics to shape favourable attitudes toward change, which will be elaborated on in the following paragraph.

2.5.3. Influence tactics

As described in paragraph 2.5.1, change agents try to influence and shape the sense making of change recipients by using among others influence tactics. So, change agents try to influence the attitudes of the change recipients with responses that are inspired by influence tactics, which can consist of: (1)

pressure tactics, when change agents use demands, warnings, threats or intimidation to convince

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praises and act friendly to influence the way recipients feel about change; (5) inspirational appeals, when change agents appeal to recipients’ values, ideals, confidence and aspirations to develop commitment or enthusiasm; (6) personal appeal, when change agents ask for a favour by appealing to an recipients’ feeling of loyalty or friendship; (7) consultation tactics, when change agents seek for participation of the recipient in making decisions or planning how to implement a change and invites them to give input; (8) exchange tactics, when change agents offer the recipients rewards or tangible benefits if the recipient complies with a request or proposal; and (9) rational persuasion, when change agents use logical and evidence-based arguments to persuade recipients into believing that a request or proposal is viable (Yukl & Falbe, 1990; Falbe & Yukl, 1992; Wadsworth & Blanchard, 2015). These influence tactics can be divided in hard (1-3), soft (4-7) and rational dimensions (8-9), which refer to the strength of the influence tactic that allows the recipient in choosing whether to comply or not (Knippenberg, Eijbergen, & Wilke, 1999). According to Falbe & Yukl (1992) the most effective tactics are consultation and inspirational appeals, which can result in commitment, but they are often used in combination with another tactic. The least effective tactics are pressure, upward appeals and coalition, which are the hard tactics and could lead to resistance. However, these hard tactics can be useful for gaining conformity (compliance) when it’s combined with rational persuasion (Falbe & Yukl, 1992). To conclude, all the tactics can be useful to influence attitudes when used in the appropriate situation (Yukl & Falbe, 1990).

2.6. Change success

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2.7. Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework, presented below in figure 1, is derived from the literature review. This research consists of three main objectives, which are indicated in the framework by the three arrows: (1) to gain a deeper understanding of how individual and group attitudes toward change influence each other; (2) to gain a deeper understanding of how change agents respond to these constituted attitudes; and (3) to see how the responses of the change agents influence these attitudes and eventually the change success. This will be examined by means of a case study.

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3. METHODOLOGY

This section will provide an overview of the chosen research approach, including the research design, research site, case selection, data collection process, the quality criteria, and finally the method of analysis are outlined.

3.1. Research design

The literature review gives a brief overview of the literature to date on the separated constructs: individual attitudes toward change, group attitudes toward change, change agents’ responses to change, change success, and their possible links. However, the academic literature is not very extensive on the relationships between these constructs and their possible outcomes. Therefore, the phenomenon in this research is still very explorative in nature and suits the design of theory-development best (Van Aken, Berends, & Van der Bij, 2012). This theory-theory-development process is based on the first part of the empirical cycle, which is in alignment with the work of Eisenhardt (1989) that builds theories from case study research. The steps start off with selecting a business phenomenon that is not extensively addressed in academic literature: how do attitudes of individuals and groups towards change influence each other and how do change agents respond on these constituted attitudes, to have an influence on the change success. The following step is to use semi-structured interviews to collect primary data collection to observe this phenomenon. Subsequently, within-case and cross-case analyses will be conducted to compare with existing literature. Finally, the emerging insights gained from these analyses will be used to form propositions (Eisenhardt, 1989; Van Aken et al., 2012).

3.2. Research site

The research site is a company named Regionaal Instituut voor Dyslexie (RID). This company is the main specialist in the research and treatment of dyslexia and dyscalculia. RID was one of the first institutes in the Netherlands, which specialized in the treatment of dyslexia. The company has existed for over 25 years with 12 main institutes across the country including the head office of the company, which is located in Arnhem. The employees who perform the dyslexia treatments are all women, which makes that this company exists out of far more females than males.

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tenders, with the municipalities. These changes had impact on organizational level but also on operating level.

At the operating level multiple locations were added to use for treatments. Due to the decentralization these added locations, also referred to as satellite locations, were expected to be available to provide better service at a more local level. So, next to the 12 main institutes, 90 extra satellite locations were opened in the years 2015 and 2016. The employees were suddenly expected to work once or twice a week at one of these satellite locations, in addition to their current main location. This change had triggered a lot of emotions among the employees who had to work on different locations. The extra buildings and other necessities to arrange these satellite locations were controlled centrally. However, the ‘institute’ managers at the main locations were responsible for the real implementation, which entails the communication towards the employees and decisions of who is going to which location within their institute. Therefore, it is expected by the director and the researcher that the change approach between the three managers differ, which may result in different effects and results.

3.3. Case selection

Within this research, three cases are used, which are selected by the director and researcher and are based on pragmatic and theoretical reasons. Firstly, the pragmatic reason entails the curiosity of the director to the experiences in those specific institutes in combination with the fact that the institutes were willing to participate. Secondly, the theoretical reason is based on theoretical sampling. In theoretical sampling cases are chosen, not randomly, for theoretical reasons and are likely to replicate or extend the emergent theories (Eisenhardt, 1989). The three cases used in this research are based on the main objectives represented in the theoretical framework (figure 1), which holds that the multiple research levels should be clearly present in the chosen cases. By the use of multiple cases, within-case and cross-case analysis can be conducted, which can be used to extend emergent theory and it allows for replication logic (Eisenhardt, 1989). According to Eisenhardt (1989) replication logic is an essential element when doing a multiple case analysis and it can be described as treating a series of cases as experiments with each case serving to confirm or disconfirm emergent relationships.

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however they have regular meetings where group processes can be observed. Per institute the manager (change agent) and three employees (change recipients) are interviewed. Furthermore, at the head office, the director and the operational manager are interviewed to give more insight into the context of the two major events that caused the changes at organizational and operational level. The director and operational manager are also the contacts for the managers at the institutes. In total, the primary data will consist of 14 semi-structured interviews. An overview of the cases can be found in table 1.

3.4. Data collection process

The first contact with the company was during a meeting with the director to discuss the possibilities of conducting the research. After agreement the managers of the chosen institutes were contacted to invite them to participate in this research. The managers were all willing to participate and the interviews were planned from October 2016 until November 2016. Several data techniques were used to collect the information to build the cases: semi-structured interviews and a short survey. By using multiple data collection methods the substantiation of constructs is stronger (Eisenhardt, 1989).

3.4.1. Semi-structured interviews

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research. The interview protocol of the corporate agents is more specified to the context of the two major events that caused the change at operational level and zooms in on communication with the managers of the institutes. The interview protocol of the managers and operational employees are only specified to the change on operational level. The three interview protocols can be found in Appendix II, III and IV. The names of the interviewees have been replaced by codes to ensure anonymity, see table 2.

3.4.2. Survey

In addition, a short survey was developed to strengthen the content and the grounding of theory by triangulation of evidence (Eisenhardt, 1989). The collected qualitative data implies theory that can be reinforced by quantitative data, which minimizes false impressions and it can provide extra support when findings match (Eisenhardt, 1989). Two different surveys are developed to support the qualitative data, one for the change recipients and one for the change agents. The short survey for the change recipients contains 11 questions and the short survey for the change agents contains 8 questions, which can be found in Appendix V and VI. All the surveys were returned, indicating a 100% response rate.

3.5. Quality criteria

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through interview protocols and standardized surveys, and in analyses by using coding schemes. There will be used multiple research instruments to collect data, interview and survey, which can correct each other and reduces the instrument bias. Selecting respondents of different hierarchy levels and on different institutes will reduce the respondent bias. To minimize the circumstances bias the semi-structured interviews will be held on different days and on different times. Third, a research is valid when the results are justified by the way they are generated (Van Aken et al, 2012). To increase the construct validity multiple data collection methods will be used which are partially based on literature and an expert (supervisor) will check them. The participants of the research are of different hierarchy levels in the organization, which increases the internal validity. Lastly, interviewing people from different institutes on different locations to enable generalizability will increase the external validity.

3.6. Method of analysis

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4. RESULTS

In this result section, the data derived from the interviews and the short surveys are analysed. First a more extensive description of the change project will be given, based on the interviews with the corporate agents. Second, a within-case analysis will be provided in which the three cases will be analysed separately. Each case analysis will include the data derived from the interviews and the results of the survey. The full results of the survey can be found in Appendix IX. Finally, a cross-case analysis is presented in which the three cases will be compared to discover similarities and dissimilarities. The quotations that are used in this section in order to clarify the results are translated from Dutch.

4.1. The change project

At the start of February 2014 the director and largest shareholder of the RID suddenly passed away, which caused a switch in functions and the operational manager became managing director. Three months later it became known that the funding of the healthcare sector in which the company is established changed per January 2015 from the healthcare provider to the municipalities. This meant that the funding changed immediately and the organization had to be ready for this transition in order to approach the municipalities for the financing part. This event has brought about a huge organizational change because in six months 52 tenders had to be done and nobody knew what a tender was. As a result the managing board had to reformulate their strategic plan and focused it on the transition. Next to this transition of the funding source also a decentralisation took place, which meant that the municipalities had a huge autonomy because they are in charge of the amount of funding for each institute. So, the second change was to react on the consequences of this decentralisation, which became clear in the course of 2014, namely the municipalities demanded that care had to be arranged locally and there were financial cutbacks. The strategic reaction of the RID was to set up satellite locations in the twelve regions where their institutes are vested to meet the requirements of the municipalities, to create more flexibility in locations towards the clients, and to keep up with the competition. For a graphical overview of these events see figure 2.

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who perform the treatments of dyslexia have to work on these satellite locations. At this moment most employees work on one satellite location and they work at least one day on the main institute. The work itself has remained the same, only the location is different. Now, two years later most satellite locations are established and it is the reason that the company still exists.

When looked at the prevailing nature of change in this change project it is a planned change: ‘it

started at the top, we had to create the plan and after that it went down to the staff, managers and eventually to the employees’ (1CO1). However the change project does have some emergent elements,

which should be taken into consideration: ‘when we were writing the plan we already had to do calls

for tender… so during the development of the plan, the working group already had to be established, it was hectic’ (1CO1). As a result, the change already had to be implemented during this writing process

of the strategic plan, which forced the managing board to take a lot of ad hoc decisions, and sometimes even act by the day. Overall, there was a strategic plan and the managing board already wrote the next plan for 2016-2019. So, the intention is planned change, however due to the emergent element this is not always possible.

Figure 2: Overview of major events in 2014/2015

4.2. Within-case analysis

4.2.1. Case 1

Case 1 is the institute in Arnhem, which also is the main institute of the company. Besides the managing board and the staff departments that are vested in this institute there is one institute manager who leads the employees that perform the dyslexia treatments. Next to this manager there is an institute coordinator to support the manager with content related matters. In total there are 22

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employees and 8 satellite locations. In this case the manager involved the operational manager in the process of deciding which satellite locations will be opened.

Individual attitudes toward change

The three change recipients mainly had a positive attitude towards the change among others, by the positive variety that it gives to the job. However they did saw some downsides to it, ‘only the work

climate has changed because you work alone’ (1CR3), but the initial attitude was positive. The change

agent mentioned that some other recipients did had some issues with the change: ‘some employees

mentioned that they preferred not to go a particular location, but it happened anyway’ (1CA1),

referring to the obligatory change. Their attitudes all changed over time, some became more positive and some became more neutral. There were no negative attitudes toward the change because they understood the need for this change and two out of three only worked there for a year and at their application the satellite locations were already mentioned, so it was part of the job. The other recipient was very positive because she identifies closely to the company and it is in her characteristic to put the company first.

Survey results

The survey results of the change recipients are in line with their interview results. The change recipients indicated that they had a neutral or positive attitude towards change and what stands out is that the understanding of the need for change is very high, with an average of 4,67 on a scale of 5. The change agent refers to the attitude of the recipients as neutral.

Group attitudes toward change

When asked about the group attitudes the change recipients and agent noticed more neutral and negative attitudes. The change agent has the feeling that the change recipients were neutral about the change: ‘I think because every employee works at least one day on a different location that they have

the feeling that they bear the burden together’ (1CA1). The recipients did notice some negative sounds

from other colleagues, which they say may be due to the feeling that they cannot do their work as efficient as they could on the main institute. The group attitude did change over time into a more neutral and positive one. What stands out is that the group values a strong group cohesion and therefore everybody needs to be subjected to the change: ‘however, if only I would have to go to a

satellite location I wouldn’t like it because then you do not feel the commitment with the organization anymore’ (1CR2).

Relationship between both attitude levels

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conversations were more about the practical concerns than on the attitude. The other change recipient did not experience any sense making processes because when she had to work on a satellite most colleagues were already working on one, so it was already part of the job. The influence on emotions, opinions and behaviours of most change recipients were not consciously present; they mentioned that it was not really happening in their team. However the change recipient with a mainly positive attitude did refer to her performing a positive influence on the emotions and opinions of the change recipients who were less positive: ‘I always try to enthuse people and transfer the feeling that it is fun, you can

see other people on different locations which brings you new ideas’ (1CR2).

The influence of group attitudes on individual attitudes: although the group is large and they do not see each other that often anymore, most change recipients do indicate that their co-workers and manager form one team. Due to this large group of employees the team has no regular consultations with all the co-workers, instead the team has been divided into two teams for meetings. The satellite locations and this division of teams are the reasons why a lot of colleagues do not see each other anymore, only during study days, which are held approximately twice a year. Some change recipients therefore have lost some team spirit and the group cohesion became weaker: ‘we do not really feel like

a team because we are not aware of each others activities due to poor information sharing, a monthly newsletter for example would be nice’ (1CR2).

Survey results

The survey results of the individual influence on the group attitude are in line with the interview results. The change recipient with the most positive attitude did acknowledge to have influenced the other recipients in a positive way. The more neutral change recipients did not perform any influence on others. The survey result of the group influence on individual attitudes indicates that the change recipients have not experienced any influence or pressure from the group.

Change agent responses to attitudes

First, when looked at the sense making process, the change agent of this institute did engage in some self-fulfilling prophecies: ‘my expectation was that the employees were not happy with this change,

and it appears to be true for some employees’ (1CA1). However this is an interpretation of the feelings

of the employees, which had effect on her attitude towards the change recipients: ‘due to the negative

attitudes of some colleagues the manager found it difficult to bring messages which she feels were bad messages, but who says that it is a bad message? Her feeling about this change is not automatically my feeling’ (1CR2).

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communication and is not so good in communicating changes in a gentle way or to enthuse people’ (1CR2). Two out of three change recipients mentioned that they would have liked a short feedback

moment after they have been placed on the location. This interaction issue is something that the change agent also acknowledged herself: ‘I could have been more clear in my communication’

(1CA1). However the change agent primarily thinks she behaves more in a way in which she creates

starting points and a framework to guide the change.

Third, the change agent uses both focus levels to communicate with the change recipients. In general, the announcements and the need for change are mostly discussed in group-sessions, ‘when more

locations pop up I will discuss it on group-level’ (1CA1), and when a particular employee is asked for

a satellite location this is discussed individually.

Finally, the change agent refers to the use of multiple influence tactics. This manager used the coalition tactic to discuss content related items with her coordinator and to set up the satellite locations with the operational manager. This coalition tactic was only used for organizational purposes and therefore unknown to the change recipients. During the individual conversations she tried to convince the employees with ingratiating tactics: ‘some employees I complimented with the fact that we are

really happy that an experienced employee works at a school’ (1CA1), with personal appeals: ‘I mentioned this is the plan to rescue the organization and you can play a part in it if you go to this or this location’ (1CA1), and with rational persuasion: ‘if you can make clear what the urgency and necessity is of the change, than it’s easier to get people on board’ (1CA1). However, only the rational

persuasion is a tactic that is recognized by the change recipients. Next to these influence tactics to convince the employees she tried to do everything in consultation, which entails that no decisions were made without consulting it with the recipients first. These consultation tactics are indeed acknowledged by the change recipients. Furthermore, with the use of inspirational appeal she tried to set a good example for the employees to also work on a satellite location: ‘I think it helps in the

perception of change that a manager is also willing to work on a different’ (1CA1). Unfortunately the

fact that the change agent is working on a satellite location herself is remarkably unknown to the change recipients: ‘I didn’t knew she was working on a satellite, I only work one day at the main

institute so I miss a lot of information’ (1CR1).

Survey results

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tactics the change agent stated to have used the exact same seven influence tactics that she also mentioned in the interview. The change recipients only acknowledge four out of those seven tactics, which are ingratiating tactics, personal appeal, consultation tactics, and rational persuasion. Finally, the change recipients state that they are satisfied with the approach of the change agent.

Change success

The overall satisfaction of the change agent and recipients with the process of the change project is quite positive. However the change recipients had some points of attention concerning the communication, the explanation of the effect and need of the change: ‘on a scale from 1 to 10, a 6

because we should have discussed the effect of the change, what it means for our organization, more’ (1CR2). The change recipients and the change agent were more satisfied with the outcome of the

change, because the change is visible paying off. They mention that the clients really show their appreciation and the customer satisfaction is high. When looked at the three dimensions of change success, it can be concluded that the level of resistance is low, the goal achievement is high, and the organizational commitment is present, however this could have been stronger with better communication of the change agent.

Survey results

The change agent is satisfied with the process and outcome of the change project, which is in line with the result of the interview.

4.2.2. Case 2

Case 2 is the institute in Hengelo. There is one institute manager who leads the employees that perform the dyslexia treatments. Next to this manager there is an institute coordinator to support the manager with content related matters. In total there are 17 employees and 7 satellite locations. In this case the manager involved the operational manager in the process of deciding which satellite locations will be opened.

Two out of three recipients were initially very positive about the change and the other recipient was more neutral. The change agent and the recipients did all mention that there was one employee in particular who was very negative about the change: ‘one employee really didn’t want to go, so that

was a rough process’ (2CA1). The change agent mentioned that this negative employee had influenced

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are some downsides to it, some practical things that cost more time’ (2CR1), and the neutral recipients

became more positive about the change. Furthermore, the perceived harm is an antecedent, which clearly played a role in the case of the negative employee.

Survey results

All the recipients indicated that they supported the change and didn’t show any resistance, which is in line with the interview results. However one of the positive recipients who became more neutral over time indicated that the change didn’t bring up any positive feelings. Furthermore, all three the recipients stated that they understand the need for change with an average of 5 on a scale of 5. The change agent refers to the attitude of the recipients as slightly resistant.

The group attitude however seems to be somehow contradicting because it is ranging from neutral to slightly negative, ‘some colleagues are not happy with it because it just changes too much and the

group climate is different’ (2CR2). Nevertheless, all the recipients and change agent indicate that the

attitude of the group changed over time into a more positive one. Furthermore, the group climate in this institute seems to be an important antecedent because it had much influence on how the group attitude changed. The negative employee affected the group climate: ‘one employee caused friction

and it influenced the group climate, after that I noticed that I had less contact with my colleagues’ (2CR3).

The influence of individual attitudes on group attitudes: only one recipient consciously looked up fellow co-workers who were in the same position to discuss the change. These conversations were mainly about the experiences of the colleagues and how to manage the work on the satellite locations. The more positive recipient however could imagine if she had a negative attitude towards the change that she would look up other colleagues who think alike. The three recipients are unaware of their own influencing behaviour. Nevertheless, they do find others to have an effect on the group, in which the negative influence is more prominent: ‘one colleague didn’t want to go and we noticed that she

influenced another colleague, we really saw her change in attitude and she became more resistant’ (2CA1). However, there were some sounds of positive influence as well: ‘one colleague had a positive experience and I think it has influenced me to say that I was also ok with it’ (2CR3).

The influence of group attitudes on individual attitudes: all the recipients feel closely aligned with the group. A lot of value is attached to this group climate and cohesion, because it could turn a negative attitude into a positive one: ‘it really makes a difference if you feel committed to the organization and

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to align with the group, because they feel more like an outsider. What stands out is that the in-group identification is high and therefore the change of going to the satellite locations is something they do together: ‘I have the belief that you need to do this as a team and that everybody has to contribute to

it’ (2CR3). Two out of three recipients mentioned that the feeling of dishonesty is fairly present when

they do not have the feeling that they are doing this together. So, these informal rules of bearing the burden together can develop a negative attitude when they are not followed.

Survey results

In the survey results the recipients do not acknowledge that there have been actions of pressure or influence from the group. One recipient did state that the group had influenced her attitude, which is in line with the interview results.

First, the behaviour of the change agent according to the change recipients can be best described as framing the change. The recipients point out that the change agent is really consulting about the change with them and tries to make connections to guide them through the change by maintaining a positive group climate. The change agent herself is also referring to the framing of change as her main behaviour due to the fact that she is really trying to make the emotional connection with the change:

‘we talked a lot about the locations and after they were placed we discuss how things are going’ (2CA1).

Second, the change agent uses a combination of the individual and group level focus to communicate change. The group meetings are mostly used to introduce the change and to explain the need for the change. The announcements of who is going to which satellite location have been done individually. Most recipients find this more comfortable because it gives you time to discuss your own situation. However, one recipient also indicated a downside of this individual focus level: ‘a disadvantage from

discussing it individually is that it is not clear who is going where which causes unrest’ (2CR1). The

focus level of the change agent concerning the negative employee who influenced others was on individual level to avoid further escalation.

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the operational manager and changed her approach into a more direct one with less consultation.The change agent even used the exchange tactic once to keep a employee within her institute: ‘one

employee was working as a ‘flying keep’ and we offered her a deal in which she can work a couple of days on the main institute but also on two satellite locations… and she accepted’ (2CA1).The change recipients acknowledged four out of these five influence tactics, with the exception of the exchange tactic. Finally, one change recipient mentioned that she would have liked an inspirational appeal from her manager because than they would be able to talk on a more equal level: ‘I noticed at other

institutes that the manager also went to a satellite location, which I think sets a good example… I miss that here because they do not think about what kind of consequences it has for me’ (2CR2).

Survey results

Two out of three change recipients stated in the survey that their manager did not alter their attitude. The other recipient who was more neutral did indicate that the change agent had a positive influence on her attitude. The change agent and recipients both stated that there is not much difference in the focus level because they were used both, which is in line with the interview results. All three recipients stated that the change agent framed the change and the agent acknowledged this. Furthermore, when looked at the influence tactics the change agent stated to have used three influence tactics that she also mentioned in the interview, namely the coalition tactic, the ingratiating tactic and the rational persuasion. The change recipients acknowledge these three tactics, but they added two other tactics, which are the consultation tactic and the personal appeal. Finally, the change recipients state that they are satisfied with the approach of the change agent.

Change success

The change recipients were satisfied with the change process and especially how the need for change was communicated. Only the negative employee felt like she didn’t had a choice and that she was forced to go to a satellite location. The change agent concluded that the communication with her probably should have been different. Nevertheless, apart from this negative employee the change agent was also satisfied with the process: ‘I’m satisfied with how the process went from the managing

board to us and I’m satisfied with how we translated it to the team’ (2CA1). Furthermore, both the

change recipients as the change agent are satisfied with the change outcome. When looked at the three dimensions of change success, it can be concluded that the level of resistance is moderate, the goal achievement is high, and the organizational commitment is high, however this could have been stronger when the change agent used an inspirational appeal by going to a location herself.

Survey results

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4.2.3. Case 3

Case 3 is the institute in Amersfoort. There is one institute manager who leads the employees that perform the dyslexia treatments. Next to this manager there is an institute coordinator to support the manager with content related matters. In total there are 17 employees and 6 satellite locations. In this case the manager involved, besides the operational manager, the employees in the process of deciding which satellite locations will be opened by letting them participate in the search for new satellite locations.

Two out of three change recipients are initially positive towards the change. The other recipient is more neutral towards the change. These attitudes changed over time; the positive employees noticed certain downsides to the locations, which changed their attitude into a more neutral one. The recipient with the neutral attitude became more positive due to habituation: ‘well I’m used to it now, in the

beginning I found it more difficult and it becomes more enjoyable now’ (3CR2). The perceived harm

seems like an important antecedent, which caused a switch in the positive attitude toward a more neutral one. The recipients experienced more practical downsides to the work on the location, such as:

‘ICT problems or parents who do not want to join the treatments anymore’ (3CA1).

Survey results

In the survey results the two positive recipients stated that they were very supportive to the change, which is in line with the interview results. However, the neutral recipient stated that she was slightly resistant towards the change, which indicates that she leans more towards the negative side than the positive side of ‘being neutral’. Furthermore, all three the recipients stated that they understand the need for change with an average of 4,33 on a scale of 5. The change agent refers to the attitude of the recipients as supportive.

The group attitude ranges from neutral to slightly negative. The biggest disadvantage seems to be that the employees are more absent from the main institute and see their colleagues less. However the need for change is clear so the employees show support for the change. The change recipients indicated that they became slightly more positive towards the change once they were used to the location. The change agent also saw the recipients change in their attitude over time: ‘very positive colleagues

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The influence of individual attitudes on group attitudes: the change recipients communicate with each other about the change project during informal occasions like the coffee breaks. These conversations are mainly about practical things and sharing of experiences. The change recipients are unaware of any influencing behaviour towards other employees. However, they do mention if some influencing behaviour did occur it was probably in a positive way. The change agent confirms this thought about positive influencing behaviour: ‘well they influenced each other mostly in a positive way by indicating

that it can be fun to work there’ (3CA1). The change agent indicated that she was quite lucky with her

employees who were willing to participate, because in other institutes this was not so obvious: ‘I did

hear on other institutes that employees were influencing in a negative way to discourage each other to participate in going to a satellite’ (3CA1).

The influence of group attitudes on individual attitudes: in this institute the team members are closely aligned and a lot of value is attached to the group climate because it keeps a positive mind. The team knew that everybody was going to a satellite location eventually, which feels like part of the job now:

‘most colleagues already work on a satellite, so the rest knew they had to go as well’ (3CR3). One

change recipient did indicate that the team on the institute is very close, however on the satellite location she cannot find any connection with the people because they feel more like outsiders: ‘you’re

on a school so you’re not really a part of the team’ (3CR2).

Survey results

In the survey results the recipients indicate that there have been no actions of pressure or influence from the group. Two change recipients stated that they didn’t influence the group with their behaviour. However one recipient did acknowledge that she had positively influenced the group with her attitude.

First, the change agent has tried to influence the sense making of the recipients by getting them enthusiastic about the change just like she is: ‘I try to keep the employees enthusiastic to go to a

satellite and keep them satisfied by explaining over and over again what the advantages are of the locations’ (3CA1).

Second, the behaviour of the change agent according to the change recipients can be best described as framing the change. The change agent tried to set up practical starting points and to make emotional connections within the new locations by framing the change: ‘I have put a lot of time in it… I took al

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developing for example negotiation capabilities: ‘I took some employees with me to do the

negotiations with a satellite location, in this way they had more responsibilities and they took more initiative themselves’ (3CA1).

Third, the change agent uses a combination of the individual and group level focus to communicate change. The first announcements were made in group-meetings in which the change agent tried to be as transparent as possible. These group meetings were in person, however the change agent also communicated via e-mail to keep everybody updated and informed. After these meetings the announcements of who is going to which satellite location have been done individually. The change agent took the initial attitude of the recipients into account when starting the conversation to convince the recipients as best as possible: ‘I first consulted the colleague and I used a different conversation

style when a more negative colleague needed to be convinced’ (3CA1).

Finally, the change agent refers to the use of multiple influence tactics. The change agent really thought about the communication towards the recipients and therefore formed a coalition with the operational manager and with the institute coordinator to make decisions. To convince the recipients the change agent used a combination of rational persuasion: ‘I really emphasized the advantages’

(3CA1), consultation tactic: ‘I always ask them if they know any locations themselves to get them involved in the process, so that they can think along with me’ (3CA1), and ingratiating tactic: ‘I mentioned that I really appreciate the colleagues that are vested on a satellite, I did this in public so the other employees also heard it’ (3CA1). What stands out is the inspirational appeal as influence

tactic in which the change agent went to the first satellite location herself: ‘I found it important to give

the right example myself, I also saw it as a positive thing that I could use as a tactic’ (3CA1). The

change recipients referred to the inspirational appeal, ingratiating tactic, consultation tactic, and rational appeal as influence tactics of the change agent. Especially the inspirational tactic has impressed the recipients: ‘we started with one satellite location and the manager went there… I think

that is the power here’ (3CR1).

Survey results

Responses of change agents on individual and group attitudes towards change: A multilevel case study on their relationship and on the potential influence on change success