Individual Readiness for Organizational Change

This chapter reviews the idea underlying the construct of individual readiness for organizational change and discuss its implications for organizational change research. It evaluates the common use of the term “resistance to change” and reconceptualizes organizational members' attitudes towards organizational change, focusing on the concept of individual readiness for organizational change. Traditionally, individuals' attitudes towards organizational change have often been conceptualized as resistance to change, which has long been considered a barrier to organizational change attempts. This chapter focuses on one of the constructs, readiness for change, because it is comprehensive and it captures Lewin's idea of unfreezing well. The research studies reviewed in this chapter show that individual readiness for organizational change is shaped by a range of situational variables. In addition, future research needs to be conducted to determine the effects of individual readiness for organizational change.