Assessing the management of readiness: An empirical examination using a mixed-methods approach

Abstract

Using a mixed-methods approach, the readiness of 776 participating members of a technology company to accept a new service-oriented strategy at the expense of the old hardware-oriented strategy was explored. First, a test of a model for institutionalizing change developed by Armenakis, Harris, and Feild (1999) was performed by simultaneously assessing the two strategic readiness variables with three process variables of active participation, rites and ceremonies, and personal development (taken from the institutionalizing-change model) as well as two context variables (manager credibility and organizational climate). Additionally, the potential moderations of the readiness-process variables relationships by the context variables were also tested. The hypothesized relationships between the service-oriented strategy and the process and context variables were found to exist. However, the results also showed a similar positive relationship existing between the old hardware-oriented strategy and the process and context variables. No moderating effects were found. Although the positive relationships with the hardware-oriented variable were not anticipated, nevertheless, support for a portion of the institutionalizing-change model was shown. Finally, to develop a deeper understanding of the perceptions of the change in strategic direction, the participant responses to one open-ended question were content analyzed to determine if those responses could be categorized into elements of readiness for the new strategic direction. Means of the service readiness variable were then compared, categorized by the participants’ qualitative statements of readiness or nonreadiness for the new strategy. It was found that, although the participants largely expressed readiness for the new service-oriented strategy in the quantitative portion of the survey, in the qualitative portion they expressed concern that the organization was not capable of successfully implementing the new strategy. The implications of the research are discussed.