Developing employee resilience to organisational change: the development of a practitioner intervention framework

Sherlock-Storey, Mandi (2016) Developing employee resilience to organisational change: the development of a practitioner intervention framework. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

Purpose – Recent research has explored employee resilience as a personal resource capable of development for both individual and organisational outcome benefits. Reviews examining programmes to build employee resilience have identified only a small number of empirical studies. Whilst one to one modes of resilience programme delivery have been identified as being potentially more effective than other modes, review authors conclude the current literature to lack coherence and call for further work. This thesis focuses upon employee resilience in the context of organisational change, a context with a current literature gap. The thesis sought to develop and trial an intervention framework, to examine impacts on participant psychosocial variables and to compare delivery modes.

Design/methodology/approach - Qualitative interviews with n=16 public and third sector employees experiencing organisational change were conducted and results analysed using template analysis. Findings along with factors from the adult resilience literature informed the development of an intervention framework consisting of seven areas - optimistic style, getting perspective, using strengths, self-efficacy, social support self-care and goal setting - which was piloted with n=12 public sector managers. A quasi experimental study comparing group and one to one delivery modes was conducted with n=44 public sector employees randomly allocated to the two delivery modes. Pre and post intervention (1 week and 4 weeks) measures of participant resilience, well being and change efficacy were analysed using mixed between subjects ANOVA’s. A final controlled trial involving a three session group based delivery programme was conducted with n=27 intervention participants and n=27 waiting list control participants from a public sector organisation. Participant resilience, change efficacy and well-being were measured in both groups one week prior to the intervention delivery, one week after completion and four weeks later. After controlling for level of change impact using ANCOVA’s, results were analysed using mixed between subjects ANOVA’s.

Findings – One to one delivery was associated with positive gains in participant well-being and change efficacy and some, but not all aspects of participant resilience. Group workshop delivery modes did not lead to any increases in study variables.

Research limitations – Design limitations mean it is not possible to distinguish the most efficacious components of the interventions. The small public sector sample restricts generalisation of findings to other contexts. The outcome focus of the studies prevents clarifying the extent to which process variables impacted findings. Overall results should be viewed as preliminary/exploratory.

Practical implications – Some support has been provided for the use of one to one resilience intervention for public sector employees experiencing change. The thesis intervention framework provides a potential template for resilience intervention design. Piloting and a process evaluation approach are recommended for any future application.

Originality/value – A focus upon employee resilience in an organisational change context offers an original contribution to the literature. Support for resilience as a functional personal resource with development potential is also offered.

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