Mohamad Reza ardalan; fariborz erfanizadeh; fariborz erfanizadeh
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
To survive in today's ever-changing environment that technology and communication networks are constantly evolving, organizations are faced with challenges such as competition, development, stability, merger and acquisition, and reengineering of work processes. These factors cause organizations ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
To survive in today's ever-changing environment that technology and communication networks are constantly evolving, organizations are faced with challenges such as competition, development, stability, merger and acquisition, and reengineering of work processes. These factors cause organizations to reconsider their strategy, structure, policies, operations, processes, and culture. In this situation, organizational change is inevitable. To perceive employees readiness for change can serve as a guideline for the organization’s leaders to determine the best way of implementing needed changes. Since organizations and especially universities are fields for human activities, their destiny is tied up with change. Change plans at different levels of universities usually fail because they neglect success factors such as employees’ readiness for change and its affecting variables. Considering the above, this research seeks to answer the question that whether organizational commitment, job commitment, and social relations in the workplace affect employees’ readiness for change.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Organizational change is of the most important factors for organizations to survive by optimizing organizational performance. Change may worry employees about ambiguous and unknown situations and consequently lead to threat feelings, uncertainty, alienation, and anxiety. On the one hand, change is a human phenomenon and it is necessary for organizations to be aware of employees' perceptions of change before implementing it. Employees are the human capital that has the most impact on the organization’s survival on the other. A key aspect of organizational change is the readiness of organization members for change. Readiness for change is a construct that creates positive behaviors and attitudes in employees toward new ideas. Therefore, scholars are required to identify affecting factors of employees’ readiness for change in line with understanding their attitudes and beliefs toward the organizational change. Reviewing the change management literature indicates the association of organizational commitment, social relations in place of work, and job commitment with employees’ readiness for change. If employees are committed to their job and organization, they will have a positive attitude toward change and establish positive social relations that lead to their readiness to accept changes.
3- METHODOLOGY
This is a descriptive-correlational study and its statistical population is comprised of 744 employees in Bu-Ali Sina University of Hamadan. By conducting proportional stratified random sampling based on Cochran’s formula, 184 employees were selected as the research sample. Needed data was gathered using a questionnaire encompassing three standard measures of attitude toward change, job stress, and organizational commitment. The opinions of management and education experts confirmed the questionnaire’s validity, and its reliability was investigated by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Gathered data was analyzed in SPSS and LISREL software.
4- RESULTS
Research results indicated that the effects of organizational commitment, job commitment, and social relations on employees’ readiness for change are positive and significant. Therefore, organizational commitment, job commitment, and social relations are of the factors that university managers should consider to increase the employees’ readiness for change.
5- DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
Organizational change has become an inclusive phenomenon in organizations due to pressures of the external and internal environments. University is an essential institution for development process of any country that facilitates the economic, social, political, and cultural development of society. The higher education system is faced with factors such as reduced rate of graduates' employment, increased number of students, demand for more effective training, globalization, increased competitiveness, and market orientation. For this reason, it is necessary for a higher education system to be ready for changes and consider their affecting factors. Organizational commitment is of the factors that are significantly associated with readiness for change. If an employee is committed to the organization, they devote themselves to the organization and establish a strong belief on and commitment to change plans. Job commitment can create positive emotions and thoughts toward change. If an employee is satisfied with their job, they may exert positive feelings and attitudes toward organizational changes. Social relations in the workplace are focused on employees’ feelings, attitudes, and perceptions and affect their readiness for change. Accordingly, when deciding to implement organizational changes in the university, managers should pay more attention to employees’ readiness for change and its affecting factors such as organizational commitment, job commitment, and social relations in the workplace.
Mohamad Reza ardalan; fariborz erfanizadeh
Abstract
1. Introduction
The significance of the human factor in organizations has recently been taken into account in the science of human resources management and psychology; given the role of humans in productivity, growth, and development of organizations, focusing on manpower is of substantial necessity. ...
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1. Introduction
The significance of the human factor in organizations has recently been taken into account in the science of human resources management and psychology; given the role of humans in productivity, growth, and development of organizations, focusing on manpower is of substantial necessity. Since universities are fields for human activities where the foundations of political, economic, cultural, and social growth of any country originate from, managers and authorities in universities should particularly pay attention to everything related to their manpower. On the other hand, the requisite for improving any organization such as universities depends on a correct identification of the changes required in line with environmental challenges as well as planning for their implementation. The absence of a proper platform regarding this area in universities along with the staff’s lack of attention toward planning for change have been completely tangible. Consequently, it is of utmost importance to examine the job stress of the staff with regards to the attitude toward organizational change and commitment, for which universities should offer appropriate mechanisms for development purposes. Given these subjects, the present study is an examination of the relation between attitude toward organizational change and job stress with the mediator role of organizational commitment.
2. Theoretical Framework
Changes occur constantly, at any place and any time. Changes taking place in organizations may be due to any reasons, and organizations need changes in order to survive and continue being influential. However, many organizational plans for change face failure, regardless of the effort and money invested in them. Failure in organizational plans for change could be the result of unsolicited responses such as stress, reduced organizational commitment, resistance against change, and declined levels of organizational change reception. Accordingly, the presence of stress relative to plans for change plays a very significant role in executing the processes for change. In other words, high job stress levels leads to a lower organizational commitment in staff. In return, organizational commitment is an important factor for accepting changes in organizations as well as lowering the staff’s stress levels. As a result, not only organizational commitment could describe the results of changing processes in organizations, but it also could be considered as an indicator of attitude toward organizational changes. Consequently, the beliefs, understandings, and Attitude of the staff are vital in a successful implementation of the plan.
3. Method
The method of the study is descriptive and the research plan is correlation through structural equations modeling. The total population of the study included the entire staff of Bu-Ali Sina University of Hamadan, i.e. 777 individuals, out of whom 215 were selected as the sample population of the study using random sampling. To estimate the number of sample population, the Cochran formula was used. As for date collection, three types of questionnaires were used including standard, attitude toward organizational change, job stress, and organizational commitment. The validity of questionnaires were examined and confirmed using the comments of management and educational sciences experts. Cronbach’s alpha was also used for the reliability of questionnaires. After collection, the data of the study were analyzed using SPSS and LISREL softwares.
4. Results and Discussions
The results of structural equations showed a significant, negative and positive direct impact of attitude toward organizational change on Job stress and organizational commitment, respectively. However, the impact of organizational commitment on job stress is not significant. The indirect effect of attitude toward organizational change on job stress through organizational commitment mediator is also not significant. As a result, factors that should be taken into account by university managers parallel to reducing job stress involves improving the staff’s Attitude toward organizational change and commitment.
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
When a process of change begins in an organization, it usually increases the staff’s Job stress which results in their resistance against changes. Yet, when individuals are committed to their organizations, they would accept the process of change easier and show less resistance as they trust the organization and feel a sense of responsibility toward it. On the other hand, committed manpower who comply with organizational purposes and values are considered as an important factor in the effectiveness of organizational change; not only the presence of such assets in organizations increases the level of performance and reduces resistance against change, but it also provides the means for decreasing job stress in line with the changes. Accordingly, when deciding on implementing organizational changes in universities, it is recommended that managers pay significant attention to having close relations with the staff, their attitude, their understanding of managers’ actions, encouraging them, and constant enhancement of the work space as well as the contexts for increasing organizational commitment.