Abstract
We analyzed employee resistance to an organizational change project in which employees were empowered to participate in the design of a new organizational structure. What emerged from our analysis was the importance of cognitive barriers to empowerment. Employees' resistance appeared to be motivated less by intentional self-interest than by the constraints of well-established, ingrained schemas. Resistance was also fueled by skepticism among the employees about management's commitment to the new decision-making schema, especially because employees judged managerial actions to be inconsistent with their new espoused framework. A grounded model of schema change is developed for changes in organizational decision-making schemas during empowerment efforts. Theoretical implications and suggestions for improving organizational change efforts are proposed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 235-257 |
Number of pages | 23 |
Journal | Organization Science |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2000 |
Keywords
- Cognition
- Empowerment
- Organization Change Process
- Organizational Schemas
- Resistance to Change
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Strategy and Management
- Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
- Management of Technology and Innovation