Projects

Change Management

Change Management Effectiveness Within the Paper Industry:
A Multi-Level Investigation

Research Theme: Workplace Transformation

Project Objective Statement: To further our understanding of employee responses to change within the paper industry by investigating multiple change efforts and their resulting outcomes.

Project summary: The central thesis of this research project is that we need to better understand how individual employees within the paper industry cope with and respond to organizational changes. To achieve this, we will investigate how individuals' reactions to changes, such as their support for the change and its impact on their organizational commitment, are affected by the following: 1) aspects of the particular change being implemented (e.g., the amount of disruption caused and the effects of the change on work unit functioning and performance), 2) how the change is managed (e.g., level of employee involvement), 3) other changes taking place in the environment (e.g., restructurings while staff reductions are taking place), and 4) aspects of the individuals who are the targets of the change (e.g., personality dimensions such as achievement orientation and their tolerance for uncertainty). Our objective is to identify empirically how these four factors work together, either synergistically or in conflict, to affect individual-level responses to change. The project will encompass multiple change efforts in host paper organizations that are nearing completion or have recently been completed. Our aim is to generate useful information for organizations in the paper industry concerning the management of organizational change.

Contacts:

Prof. David Herold, Georgia Tech College of Management, Georgia Inst. of Technology
Tel: 404 894-4920    david.herold@mgt.gatech.edu

Prof. Donald Fedor, Georgia Tech College of Management, Georgia Inst. of Technology
Tel: 404 894-4925     donald.fedor@mgt.gatech.edu

Planned Duration: 2 years; starting in Summer 2003