Measuring change readiness: How to successfully quantify readiness for change

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to clarify central aspects of change readiness, focusing on how to successfully quantify this attitude. This was done by investigating three hypotheses: quantitative versus qualitative method; relationship between individual and organizational change readiness and relationship between positive and negative change readiness. Research on change readiness is hindered by the absence of a reliable and valid measure on both individual and organizational level. Hence, the Organizational Climate Measurement (OCM) survey was used in this thesis to measure change readiness. The Open system quadrant in the Competing Values Framework (CVF) was operationalized as positive change readiness while Internal process quadrant was operationalized as negative change readiness. In addition to the survey, qualitative interviews were used on the same sample. The results indicate that the interviews and surveys detected different amounts of change readiness. It is therefore not indifferent which method is chosen to examine change readiness. The relationship between individual and organizational change readiness were not surprisingly found to be different from each other. It is therefore important to separately measure change readiness at both levels. Results also indicate that change readiness at an individual level can be both positive and negative at the same time. It is therefore important to measure both positive and negative change readiness, not just overall change readiness. Finally, a number of suggestions for future research are identified, focusing on the conceptual and methodological issues that need to be addressed.