Readiness for Organizational Change The Systematic Development of a Scale

• Published in: The Journal of applied behavioral science Vol. 43; no. 2; pp. 232 - 255
• Main Authors: Holt, Daniel T., Armenakis, Achilles A., Feild, Hubert S., Harris, Stanley G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England Sage Publications 01.06.2007; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Corporate culture; Discriminant analysis; Efficacy; Employee involvement; Employees; Initiatives; Land surveys; Leadership; Management; Managers; Measures; Organization development; Organizational behavior; Organizational change; Participation; Private sector; Questionnaires; Scale models; Studies; Validity; attitudes toward change; scale development; readiness for change
• ISSN: 0021-8863; 1552-6879
• DOI: 10.1177/0021886306295295

Using a systematic item-development framework as a guide (i.e., item development, questionnaire administration, item reduction, scale evaluation, and replication), this article discusses the development and evaluation of an instrument that can be used to gauge readiness for organizational change at an individual level. In all, more than 900 organizational members from the public and private sector participated in the different phases of study, with the questionnaire being tested in two separate organizations. The results suggest that readiness for change is a multidimensional construct influenced by beliefs among employees that (a) they are capable of implementing a proposed change (i.e., change-specific efficacy), (b) the proposed change is appropriate for the organization (i.e., appropriateness), (c) the leaders are committed to the proposed change (i.e., management support), and (d) the proposed change is beneficial to organizational members (i.e., personal valence).