The impact of organizational change on the perceptions of UK managers change

Redundancy, delayering, downsizing, and various other forms of organizational change have become increasingly prevalent. This article focuses on the impact of different forms of organizational change on managers' perceptions of the organizations they work within and the comparison between changes that involve redundancy and/or delayering and those that do not involve such changes. The literature has many accounts of the negative effects associated with redundancy and delayering, but are these effects unique to these types of change or are they a consequence of negative experiences of a range of organizational changes? Hypotheses were tested to assess, first, whether there are differences between different levels of management, notably between directors and nondirectors in the way they perceive organizational change, second, to assess how change has affected managers' perceptions of their organizations and their working lives, and third, to explore if different forms of change are associated with differences in managers' perceptions of their organizations “as a place to work”. Hypotheses were tested with data from a cross-sectional survey with 830 managers from the UK. Organizational changes include cost reduction and culture change programmes, delayering, mergers/demergers, outsourcing, redundancy programmes, and contract/ temporary workers. The analyses reported here indicate clearly that specific forms of change are associated with managers' reports of their experiences at work; some forms of change (notably redundancy and delayering) seem to have particularly damaging implications for managers' experiences in the workplace. The analyses also show that there is a difference in the way directors and nondirectors perceive the changes. Finally, the article considers strategies for ameliorating the effects of change including the role of HR.

Managerial cognitions in technological innovation processes:a study of interpretative processes

In this research, conceptualizations of the links between technological innovation and organizational change are explored and recommendations in the literature concerning such changes are reviewed and criticized. Such recommendations do not usually address the details of social interactions by which organizational changes take place. As a consequence, the issue of how these recommendations become relevant for the actors who would carry them out is not addressed. The complexity of organizational change processes highlights the role of actors' interpretations of organizational reality. Interpretations take place through the use of language in the interaction between actors. Theoretical contributions and recommendations concerning organizational changes should be seen therefore as discourses which contribute to these interpretations. They will influence the process of change only if they become relevant for organizational actors'. A method for analysing discourse in organizations is presented. It is used to identify the variety of discourses which are put forward in organizations, and to describe the structure of their distribution among actors. The structures of discourses in three companies suggest that knowledge about technological innovation processes becomes relevant to the extent that it contributes to political/discursive processes maintained by actors attempting to secure or change their role definitions. It follows that recommendations concerning planned organizational change should take into account these processes explicitly. It is therefore suggested that the analysis of discourse can be a valuable instrument for monitoring change processes. Suggestions for further research are made, concerning (i) the development of the method itself and its use in real situations (ii) the study of how discourse structures evolve over time and episodes of change.

How can HRM promote organizational innovation

Our work investigating managerial practices in UK manufacturing organisations has shown that people management practices play an important role in promoting innovation. Having developed an instrument to analyse innovation (defined by West and Farr in 1990 as “the intentional introduction and application in a job, work team or organisation of ideas, processes, products or procedures which are new, and designed to benefit the job, the work team or the organisation”), we were able to give each of the 30 organisations in our sample a score of between one and seven to capture innovation in a range of domains. This instrument took into account the magnitude of the innovation in terms of the number of people involved in its implementation, and how new and different it was. We found that much innovation involves relatively minor, ongoing improvements, rather than major change. To achieve sustained innovation, organisations must be able to draw upon the skills and knowledge of employees at all levels of the business. So which HRM practices are most likely to promote a positive learning environment? We developed a scale to take into account three facets of HRM that shape the learning environment and predict the extent to which individuals can gain the skills to promote innovation. First, organisations should have a vision statement capturing their approach to learning and development and communicating to staff the importance that they attach to these processes. Second, they must implement and endorse mentoring schemes. Last, they should consider offering staff the opportunity to have regular career development meetings. Where a positive learning climate exists, organisations tend to be more innovative. The results also show that organisations that make explicit the link between appraisal and remuneration perform relatively less well in innovation terms than those whose appraisal systems have no relationship with pay. Many have argued (for example, Lawler,1995) that pay-for-performance schemes provide a “line of sight” between performance and reward, thereby enabling individuals to make appropriate decisions about where best to direct the effort. Our findings do not imply that performance-related pay is ill advised in all circumstances, but we suggest that organisations should exercise caution before introducing such schemes. People are central to innovation, and this study suggests that high innovation can be achieved when people are empowered to make changes at local levels. HRM has an important, perhaps crucial, role to play in creating an environment that enables people to develop the skills and confidence necessary to affect change. Key points: Organisational innovation is an important determinant of competitive performance and advancement, enabling organisations to anticipate and respond to the challenges of globalisation. HRM has an important, perhaps crucial, role to play in promoting organisational innovation – to the extent that it creates a positive environment for learning and removes barriers that may inhibit creative performance (for example, linking appraisal to remuneration).