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A theory of organizational readiness for change
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Change management experts have emphasized the importance of establishing organizational readiness for change and recommended various strategies for creating it. Although the advice seems reasonable, the scientific basis for it is limited. Unlike individual readiness for change, organizational readiness for change has not been subject to extensive theoretical development or empirical study. In this article, I conceptually define organizational readiness for change and develop a theory of its determinants and outcomes. I focus on the organizational level of analysis because many promising approaches to improving healthcare delivery entail collective behavior change in the form of systems redesign--that is, multiple, simultaneous changes in staffing, work flow, decision making, communication, and reward systems. DISCUSSION: Organizational readiness for change is a multi-level, multi-faceted construct. As an organization-level construct, readiness for change refers to organizational members' shared resolve to implement a change (change commitment) and shared belief in their collective capability to do so (change efficacy). Organizational readiness for change varies as a function of how much organizational members value the change and how favorably they appraise three key determinants of implementation capability: task demands, resource availability, and situational factors. When organizational readiness for change is high, organizational members are more likely to initiate change, exert greater effort, exhibit greater persistence, and display more cooperative behavior. The result is more effective implementation. SUMMARY: The theory described in this article treats organizational readiness as a shared psychological state in which organizational members feel committed to implementing an organizational change and confident in their collective abilities to do so. This way of thinking about organizational readiness is best suited for examining organizational changes where collective behavior change is necessary in order to effectively implement the change and, in some instances, for the change to produce anticipated benefits. Testing the theory would require further measurement development and careful sampling decisions. The theory offers a means of reconciling the structural and psychological views of organizational readiness found in the literature. Further, the theory suggests the possibility that the strategies that change management experts recommend are equifinal. That is, there is no 'one best way' to increase organizational readiness for change.
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“Weiner’s theory of organisational readiness to change [71] proposes that readiness depends on collective behaviour change linked to two key factors, described as change commitment (wanting to change) and change efficacy (able to change).”
From PARIHS revisited: from heuristic to integrated framework for the successful implementation of knowledge into practice (2015) · cites this paper as [71]
In the citing paper
“Weiner’s organizational theory of innovation implementation suggests that leaders are critical in creating readiness for change, ensuring innovation-values fit, and developing plans, practices, structures, and strategies to support implementation (Weiner, 2009).”
From The Roles of System and Organizational Leadership in System-Wide Evidence-Based Intervention Sustainment: A Mixed-Method Study (2016) · cites this paper as Weiner, 2009
In the citing paper
“Organizational readiness for change theory postulates that a higher level of organizational readiness increases the success of innovation adoption and decreases the risk of failure (Snyder-Halpern 2001;Weiner 2009).”
From Ready or not, AI comes—an interview study of organizational AI readiness factors (2021) · cites this paper as Weiner 2009
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Metadata
- Authors
- Weiner, B. J.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Corresponding author
- Weiner, Bryan J
- ORCID
- Weiner, Bryan J
- Venue
- Implementation Science
- Published
- 2009-10-19
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 67-67
- ISSN
- 1748-5908 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2770024
- OpenAlex
- W2170135023
- Cited by
- 2,268
- References
- 75
- Citations by year
- 2026: 264 · 2025: 182 · 2024: 224 · 2023: 190 · 2022: 229 · 2021: 233 · 2020: 187 · 2019: 153 · 2018: 141 · 2017: 108 · 2016: 84 · 2015: 85 · 2014: 76 · 2013: 52 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 33.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Implementation Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA124402)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Change and Leadership
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Management and Change
- Keywords
- organizational preparedness, change management, commitment to change, change efficacy, health care delivery improvement, task demands, resource availability, situational factors, implementation capability, organizational change theory
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