| Despite organizational change becoming a primary focus of management and research, studies have shown that varying but high change failure rates from 50% (Marks, 2006) to 70% (Burke, 2011). The purpose of the qualitative multiple case study was to analyze the beliefs of employees and corporate leaders to gain an understanding as to why organizational failure rates remain very high despite over 50 years of research on the subject. The sample of this qualitative multiple case study were employees and leaders who have participated in a minimum of one organizational change process. The participants were interviewed using the critical incident technique based on a single change initiative they participated in that failed to meet expected results. The findings of this study led to five categories, each with multiple themes. The five emergent categories present during a failed change initiative were: change status, communication, employee engagement, attributes of leadership, and resistance. Five themes were identified in the communication category and were noted most frequently as contributors to the failed change by employees in non-leadership roles. Four of the five themes in the communication category were mentioned as contributing factors by 100% of the employees in non-leadership roles compared to only one of these themes noted by 100% of the leaders interviewed. Only four themes were identified by 100% of the employees and leaders interviewed as present during a failed change initiative. Three of these four themes identified involved leadership, to include leadership's lack of communication, leadership's role in change, and unsupportive leadership. Three recommendations were made for use during the organizational change process and two recommendations were made for future research relative to the study of organizational change. |
