Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om hur kommunikation med och involvering av medarbetare inverkar på medarbetares inställning till en omorganisation. Metod: Forskningsansatsen är av kvalitativ karaktär. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer utförda på Polismyndigheten Region Nord som genomgår en omorganisation. Materialet tolkades med hjälp av vår egen modell som är baserad på tidigare forskning, då vi utgått ifrån de resultat vi funnit i vår litteraturstudie.  Resultat och slutsats: Bristfällig kommunikation och lågt medarbetarinvolverande inverkar till att medarbetare intar en likgiltig eller negativ inställning gentemot en omorganisering, och att en bra kommunikation och ett högt medarbetarinvolverande leder till en positiv inställning. Vi upplever att kommunikation är den starkaste faktorn eftersom bra kommunikation är en förutsättning för att medarbetare ska uppleva att de har inflytande och därmed är delaktiga i omorganisationen. Vi anser även att vår studie visar att en negativ inställning till en omorganisation innebär att medarbetare motsätter sig en omorganisering.  Studiens bidrag: Ge en ökad förståelse för vilka faktorer som inverkar till att medarbetare motsätter sig en omorganisering, samt vilken inverkan kommunikation och involvering av medarbetare har på medarbetarnas inställning till en omorganisering. Förslag på vidare forskning: Vi kom i denna studie fram till att bristfällig kommunikation innebär att medarbetare upplever att de inte involveras i förändringsprocessen, vilket i sin tur leder till ett bristande förtroende för organisationen och därmed även ett motstånd till omorganisationen i sig. Vårt förslag på vidare forskning är att testa den nya modell vi kommit fram till för att se om dessa slutsatser är överförbara även på andra organisationer som genomgår en organisationsförändring. / Aim: The aim of this study is to improve our understanding on how communication and employee involvement affect employees' attitude towards an organizational change. Method: Our research approach is qualitative. The empirical data was collected through semi structured interviews conducted at Polismyndigheten Region Nord, which is currently undergoing an organizational change. We used our own model, based on previews researched, to analyse the data.                    Conclusions: The lack of good communication and low employee involvement leads to employees’ developing a negative or indifferent attitude towards an organizational change. Communication is the strongest factor do to the fact that good communication is essential for making employees’ feel involved in the changing process. Our study also shows a connection between a negative attitude towards an organizational change, and employees’ being against change in general. Contribution of the thesis: Provide a greater understanding for which factors that influence employees’ to oppose an organizational change, as well as which impact communication and employee involvement have on employees' attitudes towards an organizational change. Suggestion for future research:           Our conclusion based on this study, is that poor communication makes employee’s feel that they are not involved in the change process, which leads to a lack of confidence for the organisation and a resistance for the organizational change. Our suggestion for future research is therefor to test our new model to see if our conclusions are transferable to other organizations undergoing a change process.

The corporate world today is highly competitive and in order for organizations to survive and remain competitive, they must constantly evolve through change. However, the majority of organizational changes neither result in successful implementation or foster sustained change. It is suggested that the success of changes are highly contingent on employees’ responses towards them. To this end, Islamic Work Ethic (IWE) has become a subject of growing interest amongst academia and human resource literature attempting to understand and predict employees’ responses towards organizational change, particularly in Muslim societies. Despite this, studies attempting to uncover IWE’s influence on characteristics of employees’ responses towards change have revealed varying outcomes. Thus, the nature of the relationship remains ambiguous. To tackle this gap, this study contributes to knowledge by developing a conceptual model that assists in identifying the influence of IWE on employees’ responses towards change in the shape of their commitment to change and organizational deviance behaviors. The testing of these relationships was carried out in the ever changing and developing Islamic banking industry within the Middle Eastern context of Kuwait. Through a quantitative case-study approach, data was collected from 398 branch-level employees via questionnaires. The outcomes revealed that the extent of IWE’s influence on employee commitment to change varied greatly across different components (affective, normative and continuance). On the other hand, IWE was found to negatively influence employee engagement in organizational deviance towards change. Due to such findings, several theoretical implications, practical recommendations and future research directions are put forward.

This research focused on constructing a psychological profile for change interventions by investigating both the interrelationships and overall relationships between work stress (as the independent variable), psychological attachment (job embeddedness and organisational commitment) (as the mediating variables) and attitudes towards change (as the dependent variable). A non-experimental cross-sectional quantitative survey design approach using standardised valid and reliable measuring instruments (Sources of Job Stress Scale, Organisational Commitment Questionnaire, Job Embededdness Questionnaire, Attitudes towards Change Questionnaire) was used on a non-probability purposive sample of employees from one of the largest, fast-moving consumer goods companies in South Africa (N = 350), ranging from administrative to executive level. Bivariate correlations showed a statistically positive inter-relationship between sources of work stress, psychological attachment (job embeddedness and organisational commitment) and attitudes towards change. A canonical correlation analysis indicated a significant overall relationship between the sources of work stress, psychological attachment (job embeddedness and organisational commitment) and attitudes towards change dispositions. Mediation modelling revealed the mediating role of psychological attachment (organisational commitment and job embeddedness) in the sources of work stress and attitudes towards change relationship. Moderated hierarchical regression analyses showed that age and gender significantly moderated the relationship between individuals’ sources of work stress and their attitudes towards change dispositions. Tests for mean differences revealed that significant differences exist between age and sources of work stress, affective and continuance commitment, fit and sacrifice embeddedness. Differences exist between race groups’ affective and continuance commitment. Job security is a concern across all employment levels in the organisation. Individuals at an executive, upper administrative and administrative level revealed significant differences in terms of their continuance commitment. Cognitive and behavioural attitudes towards change did not differ significantly across all employment levels. At a theoretical level, this study developed an understanding of the cognitive, affective, conative and interpersonal behavioural dimensions of the hypothesised psychological profile to manage change. At an empirical level, it developed an empirically tested psychological profile for change interventions in terms of the various behavioural dimensions. At a practical level, organisational change practices in terms of the behavioural dimensions of the psychological profile were recommended. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

This research focused on constructing a psychological profile for change interventions by investigating both the interrelationships and overall relationships between work stress (as the independent variable), psychological attachment (job embeddedness and organisational commitment) (as the mediating variables) and attitudes towards change (as the dependent variable). A non-experimental cross-sectional quantitative survey design approach using standardised valid and reliable measuring instruments (Sources of Job Stress Scale, Organisational Commitment Questionnaire, Job Embededdness Questionnaire, Attitudes towards Change Questionnaire) was used on a non-probability purposive sample of employees from one of the largest, fast-moving consumer goods companies in South Africa (N = 350), ranging from administrative to executive level. Bivariate correlations showed a statistically positive inter-relationship between sources of work stress, psychological attachment (job embeddedness and organisational commitment) and attitudes towards change. A canonical correlation analysis indicated a significant overall relationship between the sources of work stress, psychological attachment (job embeddedness and organisational commitment) and attitudes towards change dispositions. Mediation modelling revealed the mediating role of psychological attachment (organisational commitment and job embeddedness) in the sources of work stress and attitudes towards change relationship. Moderated hierarchical regression analyses showed that age and gender significantly moderated the relationship between individuals’ sources of work stress and their attitudes towards change dispositions. Tests for mean differences revealed that significant differences exist between age and sources of work stress, affective and continuance commitment, fit and sacrifice embeddedness. Differences exist between race groups’ affective and continuance commitment. Job security is a concern across all employment levels in the organisation. Individuals at an executive, upper administrative and administrative level revealed significant differences in terms of their continuance commitment. Cognitive and behavioural attitudes towards change did not differ significantly across all employment levels. At a theoretical level, this study developed an understanding of the cognitive, affective, conative and interpersonal behavioural dimensions of the hypothesised psychological profile to manage change. At an empirical level, it developed an empirically tested psychological profile for change interventions in terms of the various behavioural dimensions. At a practical level, organisational change practices in terms of the behavioural dimensions of the psychological profile were recommended. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)