What is organisational change?

• Change occurs when an organisation alters a major component (culture, technology, infrastructure, operations).

Three Phases of Organisational Change

1. Preparation – assessing need, readiness, planning
2. Implementation – executing the change
3. Follow-through – consolidation, evaluation, continuous improvement

Causes of Organisational Change

External Factors

• Market forces
• Economic shifts
• New technologies
• Industry competition

Internal Factors

• Leadership turnover/retirement
• New business models
• Structural reorganisations

Springfield General Hospital Case

Major Changes

• Outsourced catering
• Ward mergers
• Leadership restructuring

Initial HR-Identified Issues

• Poor doctor–nurse relationships
• Low morale
• Increased sick days
• Nurse cynicism
• Collaboration difficulties

Impacts

• Poor communication
• Safety risks
• Reduced performance in critical contexts

Organisational Structures

• Provide visual map of hierarchy + roles
• Allow psychologists to understand authority lines, workflow, bottlenecks
• Essential for diagnosing systemic issues

Diagnostic Phase

• Evidence-based practitioners investigate organisational functioning
• Tools: surveys, interviews, observation, performance analysis
• Purpose: assess behaviour, wellbeing, communication, workload, culture

Surveys

Advantages

• Efficient, low-cost
• Large quantitative data sets
• Easy to administer

Disadvantages

• Cannot establish causality
• Limited depth
• Self-report biases

Survey Measured:

• Communication
• Supervisor support
• Social support
• Skill utilisation
• Workload & time pressure
• Role conflict

Springfield Survey Results

• Normal: skill utilisation, time pressure
• Problematic: high ambiguity, high uncertainty, high role conflict
• Slightly below average: communication, social support

Importance of Contextual Comparison

• Comparisons across hospitals reveal whether results reflect sector norms or internal dysfunction

Key Constructs

Role Uncertainty / Ambiguity

• Lack of clarity on tasks, responsibilities, expectations
• Caused by poor communication or unclear hierarchy

Role Conflict

• Conflicting demands from different sources
• Contradictory instructions
• Value–role mismatch

Interviews

Purpose

• Rich qualitative insights
• Understand relationships, stressors, culture, context

Limitations

• Hard to generalise
• Time-consuming / costly
• Interviewer skill affects data
• Potential participant distress
• Social desirability bias

Springfield Interview Insights

• Doctors saw nurses as unresponsive
• Nurses saw doctors as arrogant / bossy
• Nurses felt torn between caring values vs practical demands

Collaboration & Co-Design

• Ensures solutions are feasible, realistic, culturally appropriate
• Increases staff buy-in and implementation success

Job Demands & Resources (JD-R)

Job Demands

• Physical, psychological, social, organisational requirements
• Require sustained effort
• Lead to stress and strain when excessive

Job Resources

• Autonomy
• Supportive relationships
• Development opportunities
• Reduce demands + boost motivation

Interaction

• High demands + low resources → stress, burnout
• Personal resources (optimism, coping skills) buffer strain

Resilience

• Capacity to recover quickly from adversity or stress
• Dynamic, influenced by personal, social, and organisational factors

Coping Resources

• Friendships
• Problem-solving
• Support seeking
• Adaptability

Social Identity Perspective

• People behave in line with group norms when they identify as members
• Identity is dynamic; different aspects emerge in different groups
• Can lead to in-group favouritism, stereotyping, prejudice

Models of Resilience

• Explain why individuals cope differently with the same organisational changes
• Highlight interaction between personal traits, resources, job design

Types of Interventions

• Group-based training
• One-on-one coaching
• Organisational-level policies or restructuring
• New communication systems
• Role negotiation
• Creating shared group identities

Interventions for Indigenous Employees

• Community-based programs
• Peer support groups
• Involvement of elders, healers
• Trauma-aware approaches
• Addressing socioeconomic barriers
• Anti-racism + cultural competence training
• Inclusive organisational policies