Fängslad av förändring - En fallstudie om anställdas förändringsattityd under en radikal omorganisation

Sammanfattning: Along with globalization, organizational change is becoming increasingly frequent. These initiatives are time consuming and costs tremendous amounts of money. Given that 80 percent of these efforts fail; it is of vital importance to gain a deeper understanding of how failure can be prevented. Hence, this study sheds light on one of the main reasons reorganizations fail; employee's resistance towards change. The aim is to further investigate what affects employees change attitudes in times of radical change. A majority of research within the field is focused on how a change leader should act to achieve successful implementation. However, this study turns the perspective and examines implementation from the employee's point of view. The aim is to understand factors that affect their readiness towards a behavior of adoption or resistance with the ultimate objective of institutionalizing the change. A case study of the Swedish Police Authority, under reorganization for the past two years, serves as empirical focus of this abductive study. During the process previous research was studied, followed by a pre-study and later a focus study consisting of a total of fourteen interviews. Employees with proximity to the operating core were interviewed as well as operation unit leaders for greater input. The analysis is based on a model generated by Vinitsky and Kling (2012) with eight factors affecting employee's change attitudes; Discrepancy, Appropriateness, Probability of success, Change awareness, Trust, Co-worker support, Self-efficacy and Personal valence. To capture the full extent of organizational change and the creation of readiness for change, these eight factors were integrated into four dimensions of change; content, process, context and individuals. The study confirms that all eight factors are valid. However, empirical evidence provided three additional factors; Extrinsic conditions, Closest leadership and Participation. With contextual limitations and implications in mind, this study offers partial understanding of employee's resistance towards change and ultimately potential tools to obtain a successful reorganization.