Employee Participation in Organizational Change: Investigating the Effects of Proactive Vs. Reactive Implementation of Downsizing in Swedish Hospitals**/Mitarbeiterbeteiligung Im Organisationalen Wandel: Die Effekte Proaktiver Vs. Reaktiver Implementierung von Downsizing in Schwedischen Krankenhäusern

Zusammenfassung

---

Whereas employee participation is generally conceived to facilitate implementation of organizational change, only limited research has investigated whether it may reduce the negative effects of downsizing. This study compares two Swedish hospitals that implemented downsizing in different ways. While there were no major differences in stressors between hospitals, proactive implementation was associated with more employee participation. Moreover, employee participation variables were positively associated with employee work attitudes and well-being at both hospitals. These findings provide insights concerning the importance of a long-term strategic implementation of organizational change.

Siehe den Gesamtinhalt dieses Dokumentes

Auszug

---

Employee Participation in Organizational Change: Investigating the Effects of Proactive Vs. Reactive Implementation of Downsizing in Swedish Hospitals**/Mitarbeiterbeteiligung Im Organisationalen Wandel: Die Effekte Proaktiver Vs. Reaktiver Implementierung von Downsizing in Schwedischen Krankenhäusern

Over the past decades, downsizing and other structural reforms (e.g., mergers, acquisitions, and privatisations) have become increasingly characteristic of organizations in most countries (e.g., Burke/Cooper 2000; Gowing/Kraft/Quick 1998; Parker 2003). The accelerating rate of organizational change in modern working life has also gradually affected the health-care organizations in their strivings for economic savings and improved effectiveness (Cunningham et al. 2002). This trend to rationale the public sector, sometimes labeled "new public management" (Ferlie et al. 1996), has influenced the health care sector in most industrialized countries. In Sweden, the most visible examples concern privatisations and slimming of health care organizations through cost savings and downsizing (Falkenberg et al. in press; Öhrming/ Sverke 2001, 2003).

However, even though the consequences of organizational restructuring and downsizing are well-documented (e.g., Armstrong-Stassen 2005; Brockner 1990; Greenglass/Burke 2001; Hellgren/Näswall/Sverke 2005), less is known about how such negative effects may be reduced. Since the effectiveness of any downsizing process ultimately depends on the reactions of the downsizing survivors (Kozlowski et al. 1993; Pfeffer 1998), a crucial issue concerns how the organizational change process is implemented. A widely embraced observation is that fair treatment of employees, with ample opportunities for participation in the process of change, may facilitate implementation of organizational restructuring (e.g., Heller et al. 1998; Hellgren /Sverke 2001; Hopkins/Weathington 2006).

Despite the fact that a proactive, strategic approach to downsizing not only may improve employee opportunities for participation but also result in less detrimental effects of downsizing (Judge et al. 1999; Kozlowski et al. 1993; Parker/Chmiel/Wall 1997), only a few studies have compared the consequences of different ways to implement downsizing (e.g., Fairhurst/Cooren/Cahill 2002; Iverson/Zatitick 2007; Kalimo/Taris/Shaufeli 2003; Sadhev 2003). Moreover, most studies have tended to focus on only one or a few aspects of employee participation ...

Siehe den Gesamtinhalt dieses Dokumentes

---