How can employees adapt to change? Clarifying the adaptive performance concepts

• Published in: Human resource development quarterly Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. E1 - E15
• Main Authors: Park, Sohee, Park, Sunyoung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA Wiley Periodicals, Inc 01.02.2021; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: adaptive performance; change; Employees; learning agility; proactivity; resilience; role flexibility; workforce agility
• ISSN: 1044-8004; 1532-1096
• DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21411

Global and technological environments have rapidly become dynamic, ambiguous, and complex. Thus, it is critical for organizations to develop employees who are capable of working effectively within the context of these changes. As such, scholars and practitioners have discussed the importance of employees' attributes to help them adapt to change. However, the literature has used several terms to discuss these attributes. The purpose of this study is to investigate, compare, and clarify six concepts (adaptive performance, proactivity, resilience, role flexibility, learning agility, and workforce agility) related to employees' ability to adapt to new and changing situations in organizations. Based on our analytic framework with three categories, awareness, process, and direction/outcome, we found that all six concepts have a change orientation. The different emphases of the six concepts are elaborated, followed by discussion, implications, and recommendations.