The Psychology of Change in Organizations

Igniting the spark of genius: Increasing creativity through value change

Sharon Arieli
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

This research offers a novel approach to facilitate and encourage problem solving and creativity through a deliberate process of value change, in which openness-to-change values are enhanced, and in turn bolster creativity. Values exert a broad influence on behavior. They are multifaceted motivational goals defining what is good and important to individuals and groups. Although value-based mechanisms hold great promise to training, most training approaches focus mainly on providing knowledge and opportunities to practice. The main goal of this research is to inculcate a habit of creative thinking by changing and strengthening the broad motivational factors that underlie creativity in the long run – openness values. Openness values, expressing a desire for autonomy of thought and action (self-direction) and excitement (stimulation), are the values most compatible with creativity. These values also reflect an epistemic motivation – the desire to invest effort in developing a deep understanding of ideas. In two studies (N=193; 197) I propose a deliberate procedure for enhancing openness values, combining between automatic and effortful cognitive processes. Both studies included two waves of data collection showing that the intervention produced the expected effect immediately, and that the effect was robust two weeks later. Each study employed different sets of cognitive processes. Consequences for creativity will be discussed.

Design thinking as a team development intervention: Examining its impact on performance and team emergent states through a quasi-experimental field study

Peter Bamberger
Tel Aviv University

Co-authors: Dana Vashdi, University of Haifa; Claire Chen, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Design thinking (DT) has become widely adopted in many organizations as a structured approach to creative problem-solving based on experimentation and reflective practice. Yet, it remains unclear whether, how and when DT as a team development intervention impacts team performance or whether it is more effective than other, more conventional team development interventions. Results from a multi-wave, quasi-experimental field study of teams in a manufacturing company indicate that when pitted against alternative interventions, DT is associated with a greater improvement in team performance, with this effect partially explained by a more robust change in both team learning climate and transactive memory system and that team complexity plays a role in this relationship as well.

How leaders impact the evolution of employees’ reactions to change over time:
A longitudinal study of a reform in Israeli public schools

Yair Berson
McMaster University

Change initiatives tend to be highly dynamic, implicating both how leaders orchestrate and how followers react to organizational change. While extant research has demonstrated the important role that leaders have in shaping followers’ reactions to change, it rarely has taken a longitudinal approach to examine the role that leaders have in the evolution of followers’ reactions to a change effort over time. To address this question, I will report the results of a four-year study of 115 public schools (115 principals and 3584 teachers) in Israel. I will show that school principals’ charismatic leadership interacted with a climate of trust among teachers to predict how teachers’ reactions to a major school reform varied over time. Charismatic leadership also moderated the relationship between the change in teachers’ reactions and organizational outcomes. 

Modeling change in individuals and dyads using intensive longitudinal data

Niall Bolger
Columbia University

Streams of data now available via wearable devices and smartphones allow researchers an unprecedented ability to model within-individual change over time. In this talk, I will emphasize what is novel about this intensive longitudinal approach, in particular, its ability to assess between-person heterogeneity in change process. Traditional longitudinal studies, with small numbers of time points, do not allow adequate assessment of heterogeneity. Because change processes in organizations are likely to show considerable heterogeneity, intensive longitudinal methods can be especially useful in accurately capturing trajectories of change. I will provide data examples throughout my talk.

Response to change configurations: Learning styles, attribution and personality

Dave Bouckenooghe
Brock University

This study combines insights from configurational perspective and social learning theory to extend our understanding of the different individual change responses that people may adopt as a function of their personality, learning styles, and attributions. Change response configurations reflect complex patterns of emotional, cognitive, and intentional reactions that we explain through individuals’ capacity to learn from their own direct experiences. In this context, we test how personality, attributions, and learning style operate as key 'individual' dimensions that generate unique groups of change response profiles. The use of data from 454 employees who underwent large-scale change at their company helped to empirically confirm that the configurational or profile-based perspective offers an important supplement to the traditional variance-based approach to analyze people’s complex reactions to organizational change.

Understanding within-person variability in vocational choices

Filip De Fruyt
Ghent University

The topic of within-person variability in job environments that people choose will be investigated in a unique sample of working adults (N=524) that are enrolled in two paid jobs. We will focus on both their interests and how these align with the jobs they are enrolled in. We will discuss conceptual challenges and different models to look at within-person differences and changes, and what this means for individuals and organizations.

Brokers as Agents of Change:
How Brokering Distances in Organizations Shapes Triadic Trust

Nir Halevy
Stanford University

We advance a novel conceptualization of triadic trust as a unique relational phenomenon and position it as the quintessential bridge between micro and macro explanations of trust in organizations. Our model focuses on the essential role that brokers play in influencing others’ interactions and relationships. We propose that brokers change perceived distances within Actor-Broker-Partner (ABP) triads in organizations, thereby shaping triadic trust. We conceptualize brokers as strategic decision makers who choose whether and how to change perceived distances within ABP triads. Our model explains why brokers who connect actors and partners directly inspire greater trust than brokers who connect actors and partners indirectly. By integrating trust theory, network theory, and balance theory, our novel model offers new directions for research on the ways in which brokers change social relations in organizations.

Better listening, more impactful feedback: Can high-quality listening increase readiness for change and the quality of performance feedback?

Guy Itzchakov
University of Haifa

Performance feedback is among the most frequently used techniques to elicit change in employees. However, it can fail when employees disregard its quality. I will present four studies (three experiments and a field study) suggesting that when managers listen well to their employees, they increase employees’ perception of feedback quality through increased liking and competence of the manager and enhance self-disclosure intentions. 

Leaning in together? Men as allies in promoting gender equality in organizations from an ambivalence perspective

Ronit Kark
Bar Ilan University, Exeter University

Co-author: Claudia Buengeler, Kiel University, University of Amsterdam

Sheryl Sandberg (2013) has called for women to ‘Lean In’ in organizations. Yet, it is clear from research that to achieve change both men and women need to ‘Lean In’. Men must take an active role, as the promotion of gender equality by women alone is limited in effectiveness. We draw on ambivalence theory, to offer a comprehensive and systematic review of the diverse findings in earlier studies on men as allies in organizations, accounting for the complexities and nuances of becoming an ally. We trace ambivalence in all components of the allyship process (attitudes, motivations, behaviors, and outcomes) among women and men and chart directions for future research. We will also present initial empirical findings of experimental studies we held.

How can a supervisor who listens to their subordinates undergo self-change?

Avi Kluger
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Co-authors: Dina Nir, Ono Academic College; Eyal Rechter, Ono Academic College

When people listen well, they produce psychological safety and authenticity in the conversation. When the conservation is authentic, it leads to a state of togetherness under which both speaker and listener may undergo cognitive change and be creative, according to the Episodic Listening Theory (Kluger & Itzchakov, 2022). Here, I will demonstrate how one listening tool, the Feedforward Interview (Bouskila-Yam & Kluger, 2011; Budworth et al., 2015; Kluger & Van Dijk, 2010; Kluger & Nir, 2010; McDowall et al., 2014; Rechter et al., 2023, under preparation) can produce a change in the listener. First, I will describe several case studies in which a listening supervisor changed their understanding of the employee and took new actions. Second, I will describe a new theory to explain the specific listening elements producing the change. Last, I will describe the test of this new theory with an ongoing quantitative research program.

Exploring the mechanisms for employee personality change as a function of the work environment

Chris Nye
Michigan State University

Although personality is viewed as a relatively stable individual difference, research suggests that personality traits tend to change over time. Given the timing of these changes, individuals’ experiences in the workplace seem to play an important role in determining if and when these changes occur. This presentation will describe my research to explore these mechanisms and identify the factors that may facilitate employee development over time.

Managing change under threat:
How and when leader threat perception relates to employee change adaptivity

Shaul Oreg
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Co-authors: Xueqing Fan, Rutgers University; Xueling Fan, Nanjing University; Wen Wu, Beijing Jiaotong University; Xiaoyun (Aarn) Cao, Illinois Institute of Technology

Organizational changes are often a source of threat, both to those on the receiving end, and those implementing them. Experiencing such threats can often hinder employees’ ability to adapt to the change. Among the factors that can relieve threats, research points to the provision of information about the change, yet the effect of information depends on its content and timing. Junior leaders, who are often responsible for implementing the change, serve as gatekeepers and may engage in information buffering to prevent the experience of threat from their subordinates, and thus improve their adaptivity. In the present study, we test this possibility using data from 52 team leaders and 383 employees, collected at three points in time, in the early stages of an organizational change. In line with our hypotheses, leader threat perception was indirectly negatively associated with employee adaptivity, via leaders’ information buffering and employees’ threat perception. Moreover, the effects of information buffering were weaker among team leaders who had poor relationships (i.e., leader-member exchange) with their teams. The implications of our findings for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

“But how do you it?” The challenge of work design in challenging times

Sharon K. Parker
Curtin University

There is a huge appetite and need for better work quality in many contemporary organisations, with overloaded and under-resourced workers, and high levels of psychological distress.  In this presentation, I describe a program of work design in which we work collaboratively with several partner organisations to redesign work. But the context of staff shortages, a lack of management capacity, and many externally-generated pressures makes achieving organisational change exceptionally challenging. I discuss our different approaches to work design, highlighting implications for future research, theory and practice.

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Employee communication, emotion and focus during organizational growth:
A computational analyses of organic data

Anat Rafaeli
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Co-authors: Rani Khoury, Yoed Kennet, Roee Shraga, Ofra Amir

Digital internal communication is a primary mode of conversations in organizations. Its analysis can offer a non-obtrusive window into people's expressed emotions, communication focus, and general communication patterns. I will describe analyses of a rich data set of the digital communication of all the employees in an organization that in 4 years grew from a start-up (with 34 members) to an SME with over 300 members, branches in several countries, and extensive investment funding. Our analyses use novel computational data science tools, and identify changes over time in (i) communication behavior of members; (ii) topics discussed; (iii) emotions expressed; and (iv) networks of communication. We consider two indices of firm growth (number of members, number and amount of investments), and describe the opportunities afforded by new types of data and data analysis tools for organizational research during organizational growth.

Pivoting inclinations of startup founders: The joint effects of founders’ personal values and mentors’ mentoring style

Eyal Rechter
Ono Academic College

Pivoting – changing core aspects of the business – is challenging but vital to new ventures' success. In this study of novice startup founders, conducted in the context of acceleration programs in Israel, we examine the role of founders’ personal values and the type of mentoring they receive in predicting the perceived impact of the program on their inclination to implement significant changes in their startup.

The right to success: Paradoxical dynamics and change processes in multi-sectoral collaboration

Tammy Rubel
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The research examined the interplay between multiple institutional logics in a multi-sectoral initiative. It shows how changes in the initiative are related to the paradox dynamics between multiple logics, following the alternating dominance of actors in the leadership of the initiative. Taking a longitudinal approach, we tracked the first three years of a multi-sectoral initiative that was founded by business and civil actors who invited the state to join them. The initiative aimed to reduce social inequality by promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. We investigated the interplay between the three different institutional logics and its dynamic evolvement over time. Our case study analysis drew on 31 in-depth interviews with key partners in three waves, as well as 34 formal documents of the initiative, media articles, and public campaigns. Results showed the initiative oscillated between a civil logic, seeing STEM as a ‘springboard’ for equal opportunities and social change, and a market logic, seeing STEM as a ‘pipeline’ to a technological workforce and economic profit. The state logic influenced this oscillation by converging with one of the two other logics, affecting both the working processes and the social impact of the initiative. We identified three main mechanisms that drove this process: power shifts, logic convergence, and turning points. Discussion points to implications for change management in complex organizational environments.

Values and change: Who, why and when?

Lilach Sagiv
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Personal values are abstract representations of desired goals. They influence the ways individuals make sense of the world and motivate their action. Individuals strive to act in ways that allow them to express their values and attain their underlying goals. Typically, change is compatible with the motivation underlying openness to change values, which express the motivation of autonomy of thought and action (self-direction) and of novelty and excitement (stimulation). Accordingly, a growing body of research points to the impact of these values on change in perception, attitudes and behaviors. In the current presentation I will review some of these findings. I will further discuss, however, contexts in which other values may also motivate change. Specifically, I argue that whereas openness to change values motivate change as a means to an end, self-transcendence values motivate change that leads to desired social change and self-enhancement values motivate change as a means to attain self-promoting goals. Finally, conservation values express the motivation to preserve the status quo by adhering to traditions (tradition), complying with social norms (conformity) and preserving stability and safety (security). Emphasizing these values typically lead to resistance to change. I will discuss the conditions under which conservation values are likely to motivate change.      

Defending and accepting organizational change failure: Modelling how individuals assess and respond to failing

Gavin M. Schwarz
UNSW Sydney

Co-author: Dave Bouckenooghe, Brock University

This paper challenges conventional approaches to researching organizational change and failure together. While failing is pervasive within organizations, critical attention commonly focuses on questions and themes on managing and surviving change, and then learning from or questioning implications of failing to change. Using a longitudinal, sequential mixed method design (Phase 1 interviews: n = 54, Phase 2 survey: n = 479), we explore how organizational members assess and respond to change failure, developing a nuanced reconfiguration of responses to planned change that fails. Findings identify defending and accepting failure as pivotal framing mechanisms that work concurrently to shape four profile responses to change failure (supporter, endorser, guardian, and fearer), prompting a more wide-ranging articulation on what failing to change means. Doing so models a spectrum on how individuals assess and respond differently to the same organizational change failure, recognizing that like change, the resultant failure reactions are not uniform. This variety opens new paths for framing failure and its possible diversity in organizations undertaking change.

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Turn and face the strange (Or not): Preliminary findings on ambivalence, indifference and disengagement in the context of change

Noga Sverdlik
Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Whereas most of the research on change reactions focuses on reactions that entail a clear valence towards the change (positive or negative), much less is known about ambivalent reactions that involve a combination of positive and negative valence. In this talk, I will review previous studies that focus on the motivational antecedents of such reactions and present preliminary findings concerning the experience of ambivalence towards organizational changes. Specifically, based on data collected from various organizations (N=203), I will show that ambivalence is related to experiencing the situation of change as familiar and demanding, yet distant from oneself. Additionally, based on two studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic among faculty (N=199) and school teachers (N=208), I will demonstrate that ambivalence is most closely associated with behavioral responses of disengagement from the situation (responses that are considered low in activation and negative). However, at the same time, it positively predicts self-reports of brokerage behavior above and beyond responses that are high in activation (proactivity and resistance), highlighting the paradoxical nature of ambivalence. I will conclude by suggesting and demonstrating that ambivalence is a more adaptive reaction than indifference and by presenting a summary model illustrating possible mechanisms by which ambivalence may affect behavioral reactions.

How to change an entire ecosystem: Mapping burnout and job-related stressors in the Israeli public health care system

Sharon Toker
Tel Aviv University

In this talk, I will discuss the challenges and pitfalls of initiating change in the Israeli public healthcare system, specifically in relation to surveying burnout and work-related stressors among the entire healthcare workforce in Israel. In 2018 and 2021, we mapped the entire healthcare system, comprising of approximately 150,000 employees, and offered tailored solutions to address these issues. This comprehensive and systematic approach allowed us to identify the root causes of burnout and develop effective solutions.

The talk will highlight the steps taken, the challenges faced during the implementation process, the actions that followed, and the impact of these changes on the healthcare system in 2023. By sharing our experiences, this talk aims to provide insights into the process of initiating change in healthcare systems and offer practical recommendations to healthcare providers seeking to improve their systems.

Thrive in the GIG economy: Maintaining stability versus openness to new opportunities among GIG workers

Dina Van Dijk, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Co-authors: Ariel Daniels, Ben-Gurion University; Ronit Kark, Bar-Ilan University

The way work is accomplished has changed dramatically over the years. One trend dominating this change is the massive rise in employment through alternative work arrangements, such as GIG work, freelance work, and contract work. Adopting the regulatory focus perspective, we suggest that workers who hold a prevention focus might be ill-equipped to face uncertain times, and thus may be challenged by GIG work.  Drawing on the challenges identified by Ashford et al. (2018), we suggest two types of coping strategies ("anchors") that may support GIG workers: Maintaining stability versus openness to new opportunities. We examine how the fit (misfit) between the employees’ regulatory focus and the type of anchor they use affects their ability to thrive in the changing world of work.

Perceived similarity and change reactions’ endurance and valence: The mediating role of trust in dyads

Maria Vakola
Athens University of Economics and Business
Co-author: Janne Kaltiainen, University of Helsinki

Employee-supervisor interactions can influence employees’ reactions to change. These dyadic interactions are described as more positive when employees perceived their supervisor as similar. When similarities in attitudes exist in a dyad, employees report greater trust. The similarity in reactions to change can assure the employees about the ‘correctness’ of their reaction to change. However, trust can make them feel safe to develop endured reactions to change.  Using 168 dyads, we found support for the mediating role of trust in the relationship between perceived similarity and the endurance and shared valence of reactions to organizational change. Shifting the locus of reactions to change from individuals to dyads and from reactions’ valence to both reactions’ valence and endurance can provide realistic information to researchers and decision-makers.

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Implementing competency-based medical education fellowship programs: A breeding ground for paradoxes

Dana Vashdi, University of Haifa
Co-authors: Noa Birman & Rotem Miller-Mor-Atias, University of Haifa

Competency-based training is an outcomes-based approach to the design, implementation, assessment, and evaluation of training programs, using an organizing framework of competencies. We conducted an intervention study to examine what facilitates a successful competency based medical fellowship program and the consequences of such a program for individuals and wards. Our results revealed that the challenges associated with such a fellowship program-implementation can be mapped and organized as a set of multi-categorial paradoxes. We developed a theory of competency based training implementation, based on exposure to these multi-categorical paradoxes, which provides an explanation for the association between competency based "on the job training" and individual and ward level outcomes. 

The Psychology of Change in Organizations

The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus Campus
June 19-21, 2023

In this workshop we aim to shed light on the experience of change in organizational contexts and the psychological mechanisms that underlie and determine such experiences. We bring together leading scholars from around the world, each of whom focuses on a different perspective for understanding change. The research on the topic has been conducted in a variety of fields (i.e., organizational, educational, social), with little integration across fields. The workshop presents an opportunity for bridging the disparate perspectives and providing a more integrative understanding of the topic.

Airport

For information about transportation from Ben-Gurion airport, follow this link.

• We recommend taking a taxi, the price to Jerusalem should be around 250-300 Shekels ($70-$85), and the ride takes about 45 minutes. Taxis wait right outside the exit of the terminal, to the right.

To see the updated arrival/departure times of your flights, click here to see Ben-Gurion’s flight board.

Mt. Scopus campus

Campus map

The workshop will take place in Bronfman Hall, which is on the ground floor of the Sherman administration building (take the first left as you enter from the main entrance).

Hotel

The Maurice M. Dwek (Mishkenot Sha'ananim) guesthouse is in the Yamin Moshe neighborhood, right across from the Old City of Jerusalem.

Traveling around Israel

Tourist information

To get around using public transportation, we recommend using the Moovit site or app for finding the best route.