An article review
Change in organizations affects employees in different ways when not instituted well. Most employees’ perceive change as a threat and therefore they develop stress that affects their work delivery. Different researchers have done various studies on the perceptions of employees during organizational change. This paper reviews an article, “Employee’s perception of organizational change: The mediating effects of stress management strategies” by Yu, Ming- Chu.
The article explores on the perception of organizations change and how these perceptions are shaped by trust and stress management strategies. The authors based the study on a survey from four Taiwanese government departments under change (Ming-Chu, 2009). These surveys involved the Coast Guard Administration, Ministry of National Defense, National Fire Agency, and National Police Agency (Ming-Chu, 2009). In the study findings indicated that change had a significant negative influence on trust and job involvement of employees. Employees fear change and this cause them jitters that leads them to be less involved in the task assigned to them. If better stress management strategies are put in place, they can therefore have a positive impact in triggering organizational identification and job involvement (Ming-Chu, 2009). Therefore, it is very critical that any moment an organization intends to make some changes it must put in place amicable plans such as stress management strategies to help relief stress among employees.
The article, has structured in a professional way, which makes it reliable and credible. The article has an abstract that provides a summary of the purpose of the article, the methodology the author used as well as the findings and the recommendation. It has all sections that a scholarly research articles need to have. By the fact that it is a peer reviewed is an indication that it meets the standards. The author is also a competent person with requisite skills in the field of human behaviors. Furthermore, the research is incorporated and supported d by various sources of information that makes this article credible and reliable.
The hypothesis that the researcher used is essential in helping to provide various answers relating to the study topic. The hypothesis also acts as guide in conducting of the research making the author avoid deviation from the study area. They are well organized and relates to the topic or research area. These hypotheses are also substantiated with information from various studies concerning organizational change and its effects on employees. For instance, most employees that are uncertain about the changes in organization have greater chances having stress and such circumstances they are in greater need of stress management strategies to help them through such periods. On the other hand, those that are certain of changes may not be in dire need of such stress management strategies.
The literature review is also in depth and straight to the point. The author borrows ideas from various studies that have deliberated on this topic and this helps in building the case in the study. It also indicates the commitments of the researcher towards the study. The methodology the researcher adopted was use of surveys. About four hundred and five surveys from different government departments were used in the study to reach the findings. These surveys provided a valuable source of information on the employee reactions and perception of behaviors hence makes the study more credible and realistic.
Various attributes relating to organization change and employees perception such as perception to change, organizational identification, trust, stress management strategy and job involvement were measured using different measuring items such as 13 items, three items and so forth. The choice of the items used in measurement is guided by the different variables.
The study also provides the findings which indicates the needs for the organization to prepare their employees in advance when instituting change. When employees are uncertain of the changes, they are stressed because they expect problems such as loss of position, increased workloads, job insecurity and therefore require to be informed in advance to relieve stress by personal stress management strategies. Such moment demoralizes employees making them less involved in their work as well as lack jobs satisfaction (Jungsik, Song & Seongsoo, 2013).
The author provides the implications of study. One of the implications is for organizations to guide and encourage employees to use stress management strategies, provide psychological support mechanisms for them, and help them by providing them with methods to deal with stress caused by organizational change. Employees’ family members can also from support groups to enable them use stress management strategies in such moments. They further require training by the organization on how to manage their stress during such moments of change (Bala & Venkatesh, 2013). This will play a key role in reducing the negative feelings about, job insecurity, loss of position and workloads, and instead foster understanding among employees. Employees trust can also be strengthened through motivation in selecting appropriate stress management strategies. This will help improve how employees perceive change and will be able to remain committed and effective in perusing the objectives of an organization.
Therefore, to conclude, this article is objective and informative. It is well researched as it incorporates various study findings. The information is well organized and well presented. It is therefore easy to read and to understand the concept as the language is simple.
References
Bala, H., & Venkatesh, V. (2013). Changes in employees’ job characteristics during an enterprise system implementation: a latent growth modeling perspective. MIS Quarterly, 37(4):1113-A7.
Jungsik, K., Song, E., & Seongsoo, L. (2013). Organizational change and employee organizational identification: mediation of perceived uncertainty. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 41( ):1019-1034.
Ming-Chu, Y. (2009). Employees’ Perception of Organizational Change: The Mediating Effects of Stress Management Strategies. Public Personnel Management, 38(1): 17-32.