ENABLING MIDDLE MANAGERS AS CHANGE AGENTS: WHY ORGANISATIONAL SUPPORT NEEDS TO CHANGE

Change efforts frequently fail to achieve their desired outcome with failure often attributed to employee resistance to change. The literature on resistance indicates that it can emerge from ineffective change management and... [ view full abstract ]

Change efforts frequently fail to achieve their desired outcome with failure often attributed to employee resistance to change. The literature on resistance indicates that it can emerge from ineffective change management and this article argues that change management could be improved through middle managers undertaking a change intermediary role and enabling employees to make sense of, and reframe, the change. Qualitative data is used to explore the extent to which middle managers had the capacity and support necessary to implement and support ongoing change. The article concludes by proposing that when managers are actively engaged change agents who frame and make sense of the change with employees they can reduce resistance. However, for this capability to be realised, organisational competence around change management needs to be enhanced to support this role.