Nell Anne Kimberley

Change process characteristics and resistance to organisational change: The role of employee perceptions of justice

Although there are many potential causes of failed change, ‘resistance to change’ is widely recognised as a significant contributor to this problem. Much of the literature relating to resistance has focused on the context-specific antecedents which can be divided into those relating to change outcomes and those that focus on change implementation. Justice research acknowledges the importance of employee perceptions of fairness in change management, and identifies it as a key factor in developing positive employee attitudes toward organisational change. Using change process characteristics of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), participation and information as antecedents, the aim of the present study was to examine the influence of employee perceptions of justice on resistance to change. The results of a survey of 100 employees in an Australian workplace indicate that informational justice mediated the relationship between LMX and resistance to change.

Strategic capabilities which lead to management consulting success in Australia

Reports the findings of a study which aimed to identify the strategic capabilities which lead to management consulting success. The study also aimed to find out what management consultants consider to be performance indicators of consulting success and whether these were related to the strategic capabilities. The research design for this study was a modified generative strategy. Several data collection methods, namely, interviews, content analysis and questionnaire surveys, were used to generate both quantitative and qualitative data. Twenty‐one strategic capabilities were identified. These were subsumed under the broad categories of (1) functions and (2) skills and values. The three most critical functions identified, in descending order, were quality of service, setting objectives and solving problems. The three most crucial skills/values were integrity and honesty, client‐consultant communication and credibility. Ten performance indicators were identified. Of these, the three most critical, as identifi...

Building a climate of trust during organizational change: The mediating role of justice perceptions and emotion

Over the years, research has shown that, although there are various factors which contribute to failed change, one of the key reasons people resist change is due to the inability of leaders to convince employees to support change and to commit the energy and effort necessary to implement it. Senior management can ensure an organization is change-ready by developing and maintaining a supportive culture and climate that positively influence the emotional health and welfare of employees. Despite the obvious importance of leadership to change efforts, little previous research has investigated, holistically and in the context of major change, the relationship between senior management actions and employee responses. Furthermore, the change literature largely ignores the role that emotions play in employee responses to change initiatives. This chapter addresses both areas, and develops a model of organizational change from a justice and emotions perspective, which depicts employees’ justice perceptions related to senior executives as affecting trust directly and indirectly, through associated emotional responses.

Exploring Skill Ecosystems in the Australian Meat Processing Industry: Unions, Employers and Institutional Change

This article discusses the concept of the skill ecosystem in the context of the network oriented literature on learning and skill acquisition. Three critical features of skill ecosystems are identified and then applied to an analysis of the abattoir sector of the Australian meat processing industry. The analysis highlights the important role of the employee union in the skill ecosystem, including maintaining a flow of new entrants into the sector. The article then examines the impact of major institutional change, through the deregulation of industrial relations, on the ecosystem. It concludes by discussing the applicability of the skill ecosystem concept to a mature, low-skill industry such as meat processing and then draws some conclusions about the limitations of the skill ecosystem concept itself.