A Grounded Model of Organizational Scheme Change During Empowerment

A Grounded Model of Organizational Scheme Change During Empowerment
Author(s): Labianca, Giuseppe and Gray, Barbara and Brass, Daniel J.
Year: 2000
Paper Number: GBS-OM-2000-001
Goizueta Department: Organization and Management

Abstract

We analyzed employee resistance to an organizational change project in which employees were empowered to participate in the design of a new organizational structure. What emerged from our analysis was the importance of cognitive barriers to empowerment. Employees' resistance appeared to be motivated less by intentional self-interest than by the constraints of well-established, ingrained schemas. Resistance was also fueled by skepticism among the employees about management's commitment to the new decision-making schema, especially because employees judged managerial actions to be inconsistent with their new espoused framework. A grounded model of schema change is developed for changes in organizational decision-making schemas during empowerment efforts. Theoretical implications and suggestions for improving organizational change efforts are proposed.