The moderating effect of organizational change cynicism on middle manager strategy commitment

Health ambassadors in the workplace: a health promotion intervention mobilizing middle managers and RE-AIM evaluation of outcomes

Background

The workplace provides an ideal setting for health promotion, as adults spend most of their day at work. Middle managers hold a strategic position to lead workplace health promotion. This study evaluates the outcomes of an intensive intervention training middle managers to promote health in the workplace.

Methods

A workshop was designed and conducted to train female middle management employees to construct, implement, and evaluate a health promotion program in their workplace. Semi-structured interviews were carried out post-intervention to assess workplace health promotion outcomes according to the RE-AIM framework, and identify variables contributing to success. Additionally, questionnaires were distributed pre and post-program assessing personal health and self-efficacy changes.

Results

Eighteen participants from 13 government offices, who serve 19,560 employees, completed the training course. Nine workplaces had workplace health promotion programs in progress 12 months after the course had ended, of which 8 made health promotion changes in organizational policy. Workplace RE-AIM scores showed that 8 workplaces were high or partial performers, and 5 were low or non-performers. Factors that increased the likelihood of successful interventions included management support, steering committee, comprehensive programming, conducting a needs assessment and flexibility in program implementation in the presence of challenges. Post course, participants reported increased health knowledge related to workplace health promotion (p < 0.001), and increased health promotion self-efficacy (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Training and continued guidance of middle managers resulted in the design and successful implementation of workplace health promotion interventions. A RE-AIM based assessment was found to be an effective method for evaluating multi-content workplace health promotion programs.

Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, https://www.clinicaltrials.gov, registration number:

NCT03295136, registration date: 24/09/2017.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-11609-8.

Change and Innovation in Healthcare: Findings from Literature

BACKGROUND

Change is an ongoing process in any organizations. Over years, healthcare organizations have been exposed to multiple external stimuli to change (eg, ageing population, increasing incidence of chronic diseases, ongoing Sars-Cov-2 pandemic) that pointed out the need to convert the current healthcare organizational model. Nowadays, the topic is extremely relevant, rendering organizational change an urgency. The work is structured on a double level of analysis. In the beginning, the paper collects the overall literature on the topic of organisational change in order to identify, on the basis of the citation network, the main existing theoretical approaches. Secondly, the analysis attempts to isolate the scientific production related to the healthcare context, by analysing the body of literature outside the identified citation network, divided by clusters of related studies.

METHODOLOGY

This review adopted a quantitative-based method that employs jointly systematic literature review and bibliographic network analysis. Specifically, the study applied a citation network analysis (CNA) and a co-occurrence keywords analysis. The CNA allowed detecting the most relevant papers published over time, identifying the research streams in literature.

RESULTS

The study showed four main findings. Firstly, consistent with past studies, works reviewed pointed out a convergence on the micro-level perspective for change's analysis. Secondly, an organic viewpoint whereby individual, organization and change's outcome contribute to any organizational change's action has been found in its early stage. Thirdly, works reported change combined with innovation's concept, although the structure of the relationship has not been outlined. Fourth, interestingly, contributions have been limited within the healthcare context.

CONCLUSION

Human dimension is the primary criticality to be managed to impede failure of the re-organizational path. Individuals are not passive recipients of change: individual change acceptance has been found a key input. Few papers discussed healthcare professionals' behaviour, and those available focused on technology-led changes perspective. In this view, individual acceptance of change within the healthcare context resulted being undeveloped and offers rooms for further analyses.

Determinants of content marketing effectiveness: Conceptual framework and empirical findings from a managerial perspective

Content marketing has gained momentum around the world and is steadily gaining importance in the marketing mix of organizations. Nevertheless, it has received comparatively little attention from the scientific community. In particular, there is very little knowledge about the effectiveness, optimal design and implementation of content marketing. In this study, the authors conceptualize content marketing as a set of activities that are embedded in and contingent on the specific organizational context. Based on this framework, the authors empirically investigate the context features determining content marketing effectiveness from a managerial perspective, using primary data collected from senior marketers in 263 organizations from various sectors and across different size categories, conducting multiple regression analysis. The empirical results indicate that clarity and commitment regarding content marketing strategy and a content production in line with the organization’s target groups’ content needs as well as normative journalistic quality criteria are context factors associated with higher content marketing effectiveness. The outcomes also reveal that regularly measuring content marketing performance and using the data obtained as guidance for improving content offerings positively influence content marketing effectiveness, as do structural specialization and specialization-enabling processes and systems. The insights provided in this study could offer important theoretical contributions for research on content marketing and its effectiveness and may help practitioners to optimize the design and implementation of content marketing initiatives.

Navigating crisis from the backseat? How top managers can support radical change initiatives by middle managers☆

We advance the premise that to navigate crisis, rather than reactively cutting costs by culling middle management, top managers can benefit from enabling radical change initiatives by middle managers. Contextualizing this idea to the marketing function and the COVID-19 crisis, we ask: How can Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) support marketing middle managers (MMMs) in initiating radical change in crisis situations? We take the position that marketing managers' distinctive functional influence on radical change is in driving product and service innovations that are new-to-the-firm. We then argue that crisis situations present an opportunity for top and middle managers to rethink assumptions about ‘who does what’ in radical change initiatives from the marketing function, focusing on the underemphasized possibility of MMMs initiating change and CMOs implementing. Building on recent findings on ‘change role reversal’, we unpack the notion that change initiatives may be most effective when middle managers initiate, while top managers implement. This unconventional change route would see CMOs taking a deliberate and supportive back seat in navigating crisis, while MMMs take the wheel in driving radical change initiatives. We identify duties and hurdles to a change role reversal— approach faced by MMMs throughout three stages of innovation-enabled radical change proposed by Burgelman (1991; variation-selection-retention) and chart corresponding roles that CMOs can play to support MMMs: advisor, judge, and guardian. Three tangible final questions addressed to CMOs guide managerial applications, while considerations outside scope are also discussed.

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We advance the position that the current crisis is an opportunity to rethink strategic and tactical roles of Chief Marketing Officers and marketing middle managers in radical innovation and change.

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We advance the case for change role reversal to navigate change, executives need to encourage and support marketing middle managers to initiate innovation-led change.

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We chart three supporting roles that Chief Marketing Officers need to play to address hurdles faced by marketing middle managers in different phases of radical change initiation: Advisor, judge, and guardian.

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We outline specific challenges faced by CMOs in effectuating a change role reversal approach to navigate crisis.

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Limitations and supporting activities to effectuate a reverse role change strategy are presented.

Moderating role of cynicism about organizational change between authentic leadership and commitment to change in Pakistani public sector hospitals

PURPOSE

This study aims to explore the moderating role of cynicism about change in the positive relationship between authentic leadership and employee commitment to change.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

This study used an exploratory research design with deductive approach to invite responses of doctors, nurses and para medical staff of public sector district hospitals, set to be privatized, on structured close-ended questionnaires. Data gathered from four hospitals chosen because they were undergoing restructuring that facilitated the testing of our propositions were analyzed through structural equation modeling using AMOS. A total of 271 usable responses (response rate of 65 per cent) were analyzed. Interaction and simple slope tests were applied to test moderating effects.

FINDINGS

Results indicate that authentic leadership is positively related to commitment to change. Cynicism about change moderated this positive relationship such that a high level of authentic leadership has a stronger impact on commitment to change when cynicism is low rather than when cynicism is high.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Results show that in Pakistani hospitals undergoing restructuring, leaders who use authentic leadership will have followers who are more committed to enacting the planned changes, but this effect is magnified if followers are not cynical about the change. Thus, regulators of public sector hospitals may benefit from this study by developing authenticity in hospital leaders to mitigate cynicism about and enhance their commitment to change.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This study is the first which has explored relationships among cynicism about change, authentic leadership and commitment to change in a privatization context of Pakistan. Findings should be tested in other cultural contexts to determine generalizability.

Building quality culture in higher education

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe an approach to build a quality culture within a higher education institution.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on Action research and a Case study.

Findings

The authors show the result of the mapped processes of a higher education institution, Management planning and control, Education, Research and Support, and describe how the mapping was performed, working in cross-functional teams. Further on, they discuss the result of the pilot and the plan for implementation.

Originality/value

A process-oriented approach in higher education institutions, with its complexity, creates opportunities for successful quality assurance and control when having an integrated quality assurance system.

Implementing workplace health promotion – role of middle managers

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address a missing link between top management and employees when it comes to understanding how to successfully implement and embed workplace health promotion (WHP) as a strategy within organizations: the role of the middle managers.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual framework based on review of theory is applied within an empirical multi-case study that is part of a health intervention research project on increased physical activity among office workers. The study involves six Danish organizations.

Findings

Middle managers play a key role in successful implementation of WHP, but feel uncertain about their role, especially when it comes to engaging with their employees. Uncertainty about their role appears to make middle managers reluctant to take action on WHP and leave further action to top management instead.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations included the middle managers’ low attendance at the half-day seminar on strategic health (50 percent attendance), the fact that they were all office workers and they were all from Denmark.

Practical implications

Middle managers ask for more knowledge and skills if they are to work with WHP in daily business.

Social implications

Implementing and embedding WHP as a health strategy raises ethical issues of interfering with employees’ health, is seen as the employee’s personal responsibility.

Originality/value

This study adds to knowledge of the difficulties of implementing and embedding WHP activities in the workplace and suggests an explicit and detailed research design.

Knowledge management strategy: an organizational change prospective

Purpose

The most critical phase of a change process is change implementation and it is evident that the masterfully originated change process fails due to its poor implementation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to profile how knowledge management (KM) strategies, personalization and codification, are helpful in successful change implementation by reducing employee cynicism and increasing the level of readiness for change.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 196 executives of National Bank of Pakistan at Time 1 (pre-implementation) and Time 2 (post-implementation) with the temporal research design. Multiple regression analysis is used to test the direct effect; Preacher and Hayes (2004) test is applied to measure the mediating effect and guidelines of Aguinis (2004) are followed for analyzing the moderating effect.

Findings

The result of the direct effect shows that both KM strategies have significant positive effect on successful change implementation. Further, mediation analysis proves that readiness for change partially mediates between KM strategies and successful change implementation. In addition, partial interactive effects of employee cynicism is observed between readiness for change and successful change implementation.

Research limitations/implications

The management should initiate steps to boost personalization and codification strategies at their optimal levels. This would ultimately be helpful to implement a successful change through developing readiness for change and reducing the employee cynicism regarding change.

Originality/value

The area of successful change implementation in the context of KM strategies was untapped, and is examined in this study.

What’s organization knowledge management strategy for successful change implementation?

Purpose

In recent times, progression of technology and growing demands of customers have substantially influenced the services sector to introduce fast real-time mechanisms for providing up-to-mark services. To meet these requirements, organizations are going to change their end-user operating systems but success rate of change is very low. The purpose of this paper is to address one of the practitioners’ complaint “no one tells us how to do it” and uncovers the indirect effects of knowledge management (KM) strategies: personalization and codification, toward organizational change via organizational learning and change readiness. The current study also highlights how organizational learning and change readiness are helpful to reduce the detrimental effects of organizational change cynicism toward success of a change process.

Design/methodology/approach

Temporal research design is used to get the appropriate responses from the targeted population in two stages such as pre-change (Time-1) and post-change (Time-2). In cumulative, 206 responses have been obtained from the banking sector of Pakistan.

Findings

The results of the current study are very promising as it has been stated that KM strategies have an indirect effect on successful organizational change through organizational learning and change readiness. Moreover, change cynicism has a weakening effect on a change process and can be managed through effective learning orientation of employees and developing readiness for change in organizations.

Research limitations/implications

Change agents have to use an optimal mix of personalization and codification strategies to develop learning environment and readiness for change in organizations that are beneficial for implementing a change successfully. Moreover, change readiness and organizational learning in the context of change are equally beneficial to reduce organizational change cynicism as well.

Originality/value

This study is introducing a unique model to initiate a change with the help of KM strategies, organizational learning and readiness for change.

Führungskräfte-Coaching bei Change Prozessen

Zusammenfassung. Ziel dieser Längsschnittstudie ist es, die Wirkung von Führungskräfte-Coaching bei organisationalen Change Prozessen auf die berufliche Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung, das Führungsverhalten und den Affekt von Führungskräften zu evaluieren. Dabei wird der Einfluss von Autonomie und Managementunterstützung als moderierende Kontextbedingungen berücksichtigt. Den theoretischen Rahmen bildet das Job Demands-Resources Model ( Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001 ). Mit einem quasi-experimentellen Kontrollgruppendesign wurden 66 Führungskräfte im mittleren Management unterschiedlicher Organisationen während laufender Change Prozesse (NEG = 28; NKG = 38) zu drei Messzeitpunkten befragt. Die Multilevel-Analysen ergaben signifikante Dreifach-Interaktionseffekte, die zeigen, dass Führungskräfte mit Coaching (EG) bei hoher Autonomie bzw. hoher Managementunterstützung nach sechs Monaten (T3) höhere Werte hinsichtlich beruflicher Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung, Führungsverhalten und positivem Affekt sowie niedrigere Werte im negativen Affekt aufweisen als Führungskräfte ohne Coaching (KG). Basierend auf den Ergebnissen werden praxisorientierte Handlungsempfehlungen für Führungskräfte, Coaches und Personalentwickler abgeleitet, damit Coaching bei organisationalen Veränderungen wirksam werden kann.

Detrimental effects of cynicism on organizational change

Purpose

– The purpose of this research is to investigate the detrimental effects of cynicism on organizational change. It presents an interactive and novel theoretical research model based on organizational cynicism. The study aims to determine the causes of cynicism and suggests remedies for it so that change may be implemented with the consensus of all stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

– This is an associational study that aims to test the hypotheses of linear relationships among the variables used in the proposed model. Data have been collected from 417 employees, working for three public sector organizations, by using self-administrated questionnaires. The model proposed in this research has been tested by using regression analysis in Amos 22. The interactive effects have been examined by using Aguinis’s (2004) multiple moderated regression.

Findings

– The results reveal that dispositional resistance increases the intention of an employee to exhibit withdrawal behavior and that organizational contextual factors have statistically significant relationships with employees’ withdrawal behavior and their job satisfaction. Moreover, the results of interactive effects are partially significant.

Practical implications

– The Government of Pakistan, the managements of public sector organizations and workplace unions can resolve the issues of cynicism and job insecurity by involving employees in decision making and by building trust in change leaders. Employees’ participation and their trust in change leaders can decrease their intentions to exhibit withdrawal behavior and lessen the occurrences of organizational cynicism. In addition, trust in change leaders can raise job satisfaction, while job insecurity can decrease the job satisfaction levels of employees.

Originality/value

– This research presents and examines a unique multiple interactive model of organizational cynicism. Until recently, a scant number of studies particular to Asian culture, have investigated the detrimental and interactive effects of cynicism on organizational change.

Organizational cynicism and its impact on privatization (evidence from federal government agency of Pakistan)

Purpose

– The aim of this study is to explore the impact of cynicism on the relationship among personality traits, organizational contextual factors and job outcomes. This study set up and examined the overarching model on resistance to change. Moreover, there were two models theoretically presented and investigated, i.e. direct and indirect models. This study was an attempt to explore and capture the causes of organizational cynicism against the change initiative.

Design/methodology/approach

– A case study research design was used in this study, and data were collected from 335 employees by using purposive sampling technique and structured questionnaire. While linear regression and Baron and Kenny’s (1986) tests were used to evaluate the direct and indirect models.

Findings

– Results highlighted the considerable positive relationship between dispositional resistance and employee’s turnover intention. Additionally, significant connection was also examined among organizational contextual factors and job outcomes, whereas interactive impact of behavioral resistance was found in the relation among dispositional resistance, organizational contextual factors and employee’s intent to quit. However, another dimension of organizational cynicism, i.e. cognitive resistance, could not influence the direct linear relationship between organizational context and continuance commitment.

Research limitations/implications

– Major limitations of this research were non-probability sampling technique, cross-sectional design, single organization and traditional data collection tool.

Practical implications

– Management can eradicate cynicism by providing social support and positive information, i.e. job security, wage award, medical benefits and promotion criteria, after implementing change. The management can clarify the objectives of that change by including employees in decision-making, reducing employee’s turnover intention. Organizational cynicism is a faith, which means that the change leaders have lack of integrity; when organizational cynicism mixes with negative cognitive process, it leads to a more destructive behavior against that change.

Originality/value

– This study contributed to the extensive knowledge of organizational cynicism. A conceptual model of resistance to change the model was unique in nature. There were rare studies conducted to check the impact of organizational cynicism on privatization, especially in the sub-continent. Therefore, it will add a good contribution in quality literature to understand the cynicism and its consequences for privatization.

Cynical About Change? A Preliminary Meta-Analysis and Future Research Agenda

Cynicism about organizational change is often considered an important factor that influences employee acceptance of change initiatives. However, cynicism has been compared with several similar constructs with little conceptual or empirical differentiation. To provide a deeper understanding of change cynicism, we compare and contrast it with similar—yet distinct—constructs: organizational trust, resistance to change, and organizational cynicism. We begin with a narrative review of the conceptual distinctions and similarities among these constructs, followed by meta-analysis of the nomological network of change cynicism. In addition, we compare the nomological network of change cynicism with those of organizational cynicism and trust. We discuss the need for a refined conceptualization of cynicism and suggest new areas for future research.