ABSTRACT

Employee strain during change can manifest in a range of physical and psychological ill-health indicators. This chapter presents two studies with employees in the midst of prolonged organization-wide change. Sample 1 was employees of a state government department undergoing restructuring and redundancies. Sample 2 was employees from an energy provider that had been experiencing corporatization, restructuring and downsizing for the last two years. When employees feel consulted about change, they will appraise the situation as one in which they feel efficacious in their ability to cope, such that it provides a protective mechanism for employees experiencing high levels of role demands. Thus, it was hypothesized that high change consultation would be stress-buffering and, in contrast, low change consultation would be stress-exacerbating. Information-based and participation-based change strategies require a significant investment from employees in terms of time and cognitive and emotional resources. However, for employees with the most to lose because of organizational change, low change consultation was stress-buffering.