| Today's organizations are challenged with increasingly dynamic environments with changes emanating from both external sources and from within the organization itself. Organizational restructuring to meet the demands of change has resulted in fewer hierarchical levels and more fluid boundaries between the functional areas within the organization, necessitating greater coordination between employees to accomplish work.;The demands placed upon the people within the organization are further compounded with an increase in information volume and the ever changing technological complexity brought about by solutions to current business problems. Especially when the message and plans are about changes to the organization, leaders of organizations and change management experts too often focus on the formal organizational structure, the structure prescribed by the hierarchical organization chart, to convey messages and carry out plans. Yet, with increasing fluidity and decreasing hierarchy in today's organizations, the formal organizational structure provides only one limited view of how work is accomplished and interactions occur in an organization. It is through the informal network of relationships that work is accomplished, organizational change is implemented and the benefits are realized in organizations. It is here that the concept of network has become the metaphor for understanding organizations.;This research study employs a social network perspective to analyze individual readiness for organizational change. The study explores the individual-level attributes or characteristics of those involved in the intended change to identify if any of those attributes influence readiness for organizational change. The focus of this research study is on the role that energy and Psychological Capital have on an individuals' readiness for organizational change.;As described by Armenakis, Harris, and Mossholder (1993) readiness for organizational change is "the cognitive precursor to the behaviors or either resistance to, or support for, a change effort" (p. 681-682). The idea that an individual's behaviors could be influenced prior to a change, to either support or resist the change, provides organizational change consultants with the opportunity to guide the intended change on a path toward success. |
