Oreg et al. (2018)

Study Notes

Recent research on the responses of employees to organizational changes has focused on expanding beyond the traditional concept of resistance to include a range of reactions such as cynicism, withdrawal, readiness, support, and commitment.
These responses are often categorized on a single valence dimension, ranging from highly negative to highly positive, ignoring the role of activation in responses to change.

The text introduces the concept of emotional episodes as a way of understanding how individuals respond to change events.
Emotional episodes are described as sequences of affective processes, integrating emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to trigger events or objects.
The valence of an emotional episode is influenced by the degree to which change is consistent with the goals of an individual's organization.
Incongruence between personal and organizational goals can lead to ambivalence, which refers to the simultaneous experience of positive and negative emotions toward the change event.

Primary Appraisal: Goal relevance (the degree to which an event has a significant bearing on the individual's well-being) is a key factor influencing response activation.
Secondary Appraisal: Coping potential (the degree to which the individual believes they can effectively cope with the change) is another factor impacting response activation.
Proposition 1: Change recipients' appraisal of organizational goal congruence will be positively related to the valence of their affect toward the change event and their behavioral response.

The text proposes a circumplex model of responses to change events, which combines valence (positive/negative) and activation (high/low) dimensions.
The model identifies four quadrants of responses: change acceptance, change disengagement, change resistance, and change proactivity.
Change acceptance is likely to occur when there is high goal congruence, relatively low goal relevance, and relatively low perceived coping potential.
Change disengagement occurs when all three cognitive appraisal components (goal congruence, goal relevance, and coping potential) are low.
Change resistance is more likely when there is low goal congruence but high goal relevance and coping potential.
Change proactivity emerges when all three cognitive appraisal components are high.

The text highlights the importance of emotional episodes in organizational change, providing a more comprehensive understanding of recipients' responses.
It argues that current research on organizational change often ignores or confounds activation with valence, leading to an inadequate understanding of responses.