In this study we integrate insights from 'top-down' and
'bottom-up' traditions in organizational change research to
understand employees' varying dispositions to support change. We
distinguish between change initiation and change execution roles
and identify four possible role configurations in which top
managers (TMs) and middle managers (MMs) can feature in change. We
contend that both TMs and MMs can play change initiation and/or
change execution roles, TMs and MMs have different strengths and
limitations for taking on different change roles, and their
relative strengths and limitations are compounded or attenuated
based on the specific configuration of change roles. We
subsequently hypothesize employee support for change in relation to
different TM-MM change role configurations. Our findings show that
change initiated by TMs does not engender above-average level of
employee support. However, change initiated by MMs engenders
above-average level of employee support, and even more so, if TMs
handle the change execution.
Authors: M.L.M. Heyden et al. (2016)
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