The University of Sheffield International Faculty, CITY College

MSc in Business Management, Technology and Innovation

THE IMPACT OF AGE AND EXPERIENCE AS RESISTANCE TO CHANGE FACTORS

A STUDY IN THE BANKING SECTOR IN ALBANIA

This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Business Management and Technology

GRIGOR SEVO

October, 2013

Approved

Dr. Alexandros Psychogios

DECLARATION All sentences or passages quoted in this thesis from other people’s work have been specifically acknowledged by clear cross-referencing to author, work and page(s). I understand that failure to do this, amounts to plagiarism and will be considered grounds for failure in this thesis and the degree examination as a whole. Name : GRIGOR SEVO Signed: ……………………………………………………… Date: ………………………………………………………..

ABSTRACT There are a lot of factors that influence resistance to organizational change. Age and experience are among them. This is an industry study of the banking sector in Albania. It analyzes how age and job experience act as resistance to change factor. By means of quantitative and qualitative research this study shows that older employees are more resistant to change than younger employees. On the other hand it shows that experienced employees are less resistant to change than the other employees. In order to reduce age driven resistance to change the study suggests that older employees have less resistance to change if the reasons and goals of the change are clearly explained to them and if they are more involved during the change implementation. To reduce job experience related resistance the study suggest that experienced employees are less resistant to change if they are part of the decision making process and if they have room to introduce their ideas during the change process.

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TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1 - Participant's bank _________________________________________________________ 21 Figure 2 - Gender __________________________________________________________________ 22 Figure 3 - Age _____________________________________________________________________ 23 Figure 4 - Age * Gender Cross tabulation ______________________________________________ 24 Figure 5 - Years of experience in the banking sector ______________________________________ 25 Figure 6 - Years of experience in the current bank ________________________________________ 26 Figure 7 - Job title _________________________________________________________________ 27 Figure 8 - Division/Department _______________________________________________________ 28 Figure 9 - Personal characteristics - Age _______________________________________________ 30 Figure 10 - Org. supports change - Experience in the sector ________________________________ 31 Figure 11 - Org. doesn't support change - Experience in the bank ___________________________ 32 Figure 12 - Org. doesn't support change - Experience in the position _________________________ 33 Figure 13 - Time of last change implementation __________________________________________ 35 Figure 14 - Experience in the job position when change occurred ___________________________ 36 Figure 15 - First reaction – Age ______________________________________________________ 37 Figure 16 - First reaction - Experience in the sector ______________________________________ 38 Figure 17 - First reaction - Experience in the bank _______________________________________ 39 Figure 18 - Personal difficulties - Age _________________________________________________ 40 Figure 19 - Most relevant informant ___________________________________________________ 42 Figure 20 - Change management process - Age __________________________________________ 43 Figure 21 - Change management process - Experience in the current bank ____________________ 46

TABLE OF TABLES Table 1 - Participant's bank __________________________________________________________ 20 Table 2 - Gender___________________________________________________________________ 21 Table 3 - Age _____________________________________________________________________ 22 Table 4 - Age * Gender Cross tabulation _______________________________________________ 23 Table 5- Years of experience in the banking sector _______________________________________ 24 Table 6 - Years of experience in the current bank _________________________________________ 25 Table 7 - Job title __________________________________________________________________ 26 Table 8 - Division/department ________________________________________________________ 28 Table 9 - Personal characteristics - Age ________________________________________________ 29 Table 10 - Org. Supports Change - Experience in the sector ________________________________ 31 Table 11 - Org. doesn't support change - Experience in the bank ____________________________ 33 Table 12 - Org. doesn't support change - Experience in the position _________________________ 34 Table 13 - Time of last change implementation __________________________________________ 34 Table 14 - Experience in the job position when change occurred ____________________________ 35 Table 15 - First reaction - Age________________________________________________________ 37 Table 16 - First reaction - Experience in the sector _______________________________________ 38 Table 17 - First reaction - Experience in the bank ________________________________________ 39 Table 18 - Personal difficulties - Age __________________________________________________ 40 Table 19 - Most relevant informant ____________________________________________________ 41 Table 20 - Change management process – Age __________________________________________ 43 Table 21 - Change management process - Experience in the current bank _____________________ 46 Table 22 - Comparison of findings ____________________________________________________ 49

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. BACKGROUND 1 1.2. AIMS , OBJECTIVES AND BENEFITS OF THE STUDY 2 1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 4 1.4. RESEARCH AREA 5 1.5. STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY 5

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1. ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND RESISTANCE TO CHANGE 6 2.2. AGEING AND JOB EXPERIENCE AS RESISTANCE FACTORS 8 2.3. L ITERATURE GAP 11

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (1850/2000) 12

3.1. M ETHODOLOGY 12 3.2. SAMPLING 13 3.3. REASONS FOR CHOOSING THIS METHODOLOGY 14 3.4. L IMITATIONS OF THE CHOSEN METHODOLOGY 15 3.5. STUDY DESIGN 17

4 RESULTS 20

4.1. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 20 4.2. QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 47 4.3. COMPARISON OF FINDINGS WITH LITERATURE REVIEW 49

5 DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS 50

5.1. CONCLUSIONS 50 5.2. ANSWERS TO RESEARCH QUESTIONS 52 5.3. FUTURE RESEARCH SUGGESTIONS 54

6 REFERENCES 55

7 BIBLIOGRAPHY 60

8 APPENDIXES - 1 -

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background

More and more often, change is part of our life. We either need to adapt to it and

advance, or resist it and stay behind. Nowadays more and more companies embrace

organizational change as a normal way of doing business. To follow this way of

operating, employees need to constantly take measures and adapt. This process is

often followed by employee’s resistance to change. The main reason is the fact that

people don’t want to change the status quo and don’t want to exit their comfort zone.

Among other factors that influence employee’s resistance to change, age and job

experience are the most important ones.

This study analyzes the importance of age and job experience as resistance to change

factors. It is an industry study, focused on the banking sector in Albania. Participants

in this study are employees of different age categories and with different job

experience, working in the banking industry in Albania. The study analyzes how

ageing operates as a resistance to change driver and how employees of different age

categories react to organizational change. It also investigates the relationship

between age and job experience in the process of change management. Job

experience can either be experience in the banking sector, experience in the current

organization or experience in the job position. This study analyses all the three types

of experience. The information gathered is used to provide grounding theory to

propose a change management framework to be used in different age categories and

job experience in order to reduce resistance to change.

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To identify the current state of knowledge regarding ageing, experience and

resistance to change, articles from EBSCO, JSTOR, Elsevier ScienceDirect and

Emerald Management Reviews were analyzed. The study covers the current state of

research regarding organizational change and how it affects employees. It also covers

types of resistance to change and how ageing is related to resistance to change. The

literature review part also identifies the gaps in the actual state of research regarding

ageing and resistance to change in the banking sector.

1.2. Aims, Objectives and Benefits of the Study

The overall aim of the study is to find a correlation between resistance to change and

two employee’s individual characteristics, age and job experience. It analyzes how

employees of different age and job experience act and react given a particular change

in their working environment; whether they embrace and accept change or they reject

it. To accomplish this, the study focuses on the two individual factors of resistance to

change: age and job experience. There are stereotypes that imply that older people

are more resistant to change than younger people. The same stereotypes exist for the

job experience also. The more experience an employee has the more resistant to

change he is. On the other hand there are studies that suggest the contrary.

Another aim of the study is to find a pattern for resistance to change in the

employee’s behavior and propose actions to minimize it. By analyzing employee’s

responses the study identifies possible approaches to implement change with

minimal individual resistance.

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To have a clearer view of the final aim, the study will pursue the following

objectives:

• Determine employers and/or managers perception of how employees, from

different generations, react to change

• Determine how different generation of employees percept and react to change

• Explore how ageing is related to resistance to change

• Find a relationship between job experience and resistance to change from a

managing prospective

• Propose change management actions or models to be applied to different

generations of employees, and employees with different levels of expertise in

order to reduce resistance to change

On the theoretical field the study aims to contribute to the research carried out by

Posthuma and Campion (2009) regarding age stereotypes in the working

environment. It also aims to contribute to the Albanian academic environment where

this kind of study is never done. It will create the theoretical basis for future research

in the field of overcoming resistance to organizational change.

On the practical field this study is going to contribute to the work environment. More

specifically it will help the managers to have a clear picture of how to deal with

employees of different age categories, in order to minimize resistance, when they

need to apply some organizational change in their working environment.

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1.3. Research Questions

Research done so far has shown that there are some connections between age and

resistance to change. In order to determine if this connection is either positive or

negative, first age needs to be analyzes as a moderator of resistance. The first

research question that this study answers is:

Q1. How is ageing related to resistance to change?

Stereotypes exist that experienced employees are more resistant to organizational

change than the less experienced ones. This research evaluates if this stereotypes are

true by studying how job experience is related to resistance. The next research

question is this:

Q2. How is job experience related to resistance to change?

People of the same age category might have different job experience. Since there is a

possibility that job experience might influence the results then it needs to be taken

into account. So the third research question that this study answers is:

Q3. In what ways do ageing and job experience correlate in resisting change?

The study analyzes the responses from both employees and managers in order to

determine how both parts consider change. By finding common patterns in their

behaviors the study creates practical guidelines for reducing resistance to change:

Q4. How to reduce age driven resistance to change?

The study shows that employees with different job experience have different

approaches to accepting/resisting change. For this reason different approaches should

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be used to help experienced and non-experienced employees to overcome resistance.

Hence the fifth research question is:

Q5. How to reduce job experience driven resistance to change?

1.4. Research Area

This study combines information from the area of economy and psychology. First it

studies organizational change and change management. Then it focuses in depth on

employee’s individual attributes, like age and job experience, as resistance to change

factors.

1.5. Structure of the study

After the introductory part, the study continues with the literature review. It analyses

the current state of knowledge regarding organizational change and resistance to

change drivers. It focuses on age and job experience as resistance to change factors.

The literature review part explains form a theoretical point of view how

It continues with the explanation of the methodology used in the research. It covers

some important aspects like sampling and design of the research. It also covers the

reason for choosing this methodology and the limitations this methodology has.

The study continues with the research results. It explains the analysis and the results

of the quantitative research and the findings of the qualitative research. It concludes

this part with the comparison of the findings with the literature review.

The last part of the study is the discussion and conclusion part. This section explains

the findings of the research. It also gives the answers to the research questions set

forth in the beginning. The section concludes with some suggestions for future

research.

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Organizational Change and Resistance to Change

What is change, type of changes (organizational, individual), and schools of

thought?

Change is an integral part of every organization. According to Burnes (2004),

organizations treat change either as a one-off event or as a continuous event in their

everyday operations. The later have considered change as a normal way of doing

business. External drivers can trigger change, like: globalization, politics,

demographics, economy, information and technology. On the other hand it can have

internal triggers, like: human resources and managerial decisions.

Change management theory is based on three schools of thought:

The individual perspective – The supporters of this school are focused on the

individual behavior in order to manage change.

The group dynamics – This school is based on the work of Kurt Lewin and the

supporters of this school focus on the behavior, norms and values of groups in an

organization in order to manage change, Cummings and Huse (1989).

The open system – The supporters of this school believe that inside the

organizations there are some sub-systems that interact with each other and with the

external world and these sub-systems need to be managed in order to manage

change, Scott (1987).

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There are two main approaches for change management:

Planned approach – It is based on the three step model of Kurt Lewin (Unfreezing –

Moving – Refreezing). It was later developed by other authors like: Bullock and

Batten (1985), Lippit (1985), Cummings and Huse (1989).

Emergent approach – It considers that any organization has five areas that need to

be considered in order to have a successful change management. They are:

Organizational structure, Organizational Culture, Organizational learning,

Managerial behavior, Power and politics. The emergent approach is mostly based on

the work of Kanter, Kotter (1996) and complexity theorists like: Bechtolt (1997),

Arndt and Bigelow (2000) and Burnes (2005).

Any organizational change is followed by resistance to change. It can be:

organizational resistance or individual resistance from the employees. The later resist

because they feel frightened that they comfort zone will be disturbed. Maybe they

will lose their job, their status or the economic benefits, Caruth et al (1985), Baker

(1989). According to Smollan (2011) organizational change should be seen as a

game where there are winners and losers and people do not want to lose and that is

why they resist. Individuals can have: open active resistance, hidden/indirect

resistance, passive behavior. According to Oreg (2003) the resistance to change can

somehow be measured in order to find the appropriate way of dealing with it. To

overcome individual’s resistance, managers should: create attitude for change,

communicate, set good examples, solicit opinions and reward acceptance, Caruth et

al (1985), Garvin and Roberto (2005).

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2.2. Ageing and Job Experience as Resistance Factors

2.2.1. Workforce is ageing

There is strong evidence that a demographic shift related to ageing is happening.

This shift has direct relation to productivity which is why it is threatening companies

and economic growth, around the world, Feyrer (2007). Especially in developed

countries, people are living better, are healthier and live longer. On the other hand

the birth rate has dropped drastically and in many countries it is below the population

replacement level. This means that the workforce is ageing and very soon the

companies will face a shortage on new workforce needed to replace the retiring

workforce, Shultz and Adams (2012). For these reasons the companies need to find

ways to manage and overcome the ageing workforce problem, in order to reduce the

imminent threat, Dychtwald et al (2004). According to Sørensen et al (2000)

organizations lose their innovative side because of the ageing workforce. For this and

other reasons organizations have started addressing this issue by increasing

workforce diversity and introducing technology in their work processes but still more

needs to be done, Burke and Ng (2006).

Managing and coping with the ageing workforce is a very delicate issue for the

companies and it is constantly threatened by negative age stereotypes that employees

and employers have against ageing personnel, Hedge et al (2006). There is a lot of

legislation that protect older workforce but sometimes it is not known by the

employers, Barnes et al (2009). Sometimes these negative age stereotypes and

discrimination have cost companies millions of dollars, and this is why companies

need also to fight against negative, age stereotypes, Lieber (2007). Even though

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many organizations are very sensitive about this issue only a small part of them have

actually implemented adequate changes, Capowski (1994).

2.2.2. Age stereotypes and discrimination

Posthuma and Campion (2009) followed later on by Posthuma et al (2012) identified,

analyzed and summarized researches done so far, in age stereotypes. Results showed

that both negative and positive stereotypes exist. The most common age stereotypes,

they identified, include:

• Older employees have lower ability to learn, lack motivation and are less

productive than younger workers, Nelson (2004).

• Older workers cost more to organizations. This is because in comparison to the

younger workers they use benefits more and are paid more.

• Older workers are more loyal, trustworthy and more committed to the job than

the younger workers.

• Older workers are less flexible and are more resistant to organizational change.

These age stereotypes and negative attitudes toward older employees exist not only

among younger employees but among older employees also, Taylor and Walker

(1994). This means that even the older employees think negatively for coworkers of

the same age category, Hassell and Perrewe (1995), Kite et al (2005).

It is because of the negative stereotypes that often, older worker suffer age

discrimination, either in the recruitment process or in the job environment. As

research shows, this is mainly because they are considered to be ineffective, are

missing the required skills and not adaptive to the job, Taylor and Walker (1994),

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Doering et al (1983). Even though according to Williams et al (2006), older people

are more emotionally stable and can deal better with negative situations and stress,

than the younger ones.

2.2.3. Age and job experience as a resistance factor

One of the typical stereotypes about age is that older employees are more resistant to

change. This is often connected to the fact that managers consider their older workers

to be slow learners and unmotivated, Rosen and Jerdee (1977). Their result was later

supported by the study of Weiss and Maurer (2004). They also concluded that

managers think that older employees are more resistant to change than the younger

employees, Chiu et al (2001). This is not always the case. Some research has shown

that the contrary is true. According to Kunze et al (2010), younger employees are

more resistant to change than their older colleagues. The study argues that this might

happen because older employees are more emotionally stable and can suppress better

their negative reactions, Williams et al (2006).

Research shows that less experienced employees tend to be less resistant to change.

This is because according to O'Connell et al (2008) when employees are new to a job

position they are eager to learn the new way of working. This result is backed up also

by other authors. According to Sagie et al (1985) the more job experience an

employee has, the more resistant to change he is and organizations should persuade

their employees into change by emphasizing personal benefits rather than

organizational benefits.

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2.2.4. Bank environment

The bank environment is not immune to the resistance to change. As different case

studies show the main issue in implementing a new process or technology is the

employees resistance to change, Chew and Choo (2008).

According to Munir et al (2013), managers have a very important role in facilitating

the change process to their employees. They should do so by explaining the reasons

for change and the benefits of it, Gaertner (1988), Garvin and Roberto (2005).

Another study states that in order to deal with resistance to change every successful

organization, including banks, should create a change leadership team that will guide

the whole change process, Brown, G. F. (2013).

2.3. Literature gap

The actual state of knowledge coves extensively organizational change and

resistance to change. It partly covers the ageing as a resistance to change factor.

Research in this field is rather contradictory so this study helps in sorting out some

stereotypes and replaces them with real findings. On the other hand the current state

of knowledge does not cover the ageing in the banking sector and also does not cover

how ageing and job experience are related in influencing the resistance to change.

There is a lack in literature especially for the Albanian context. These are the points

that this study explores.

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3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (1850/2000)

3.1. Methodology

The objective of the study is to understand how employees of different age and

experience react to organizational change. Another objective is that of finding ways

of reducing resistance to change. To have a thorough understanding of the problem

the study needs the prospective of the employees and the managers. Opinions of both

groups need to be taken into consideration in order to create a cross check of the

findings.

In order to analyze how different generations react to change in the working

environment and how job experience is related and influences change acceptance, a

quantitative research is conducted. The research methodology chosen is cross-

sectional. It is an on-site survey through paper-based questionnaires that is

distributed to 180-250 employees of ten second level banks. Where not possible the

questionnaires are to be distributed in electronic form. The chosen sample is not a

random sample; rather it is a purposive sample, which comprises that the employees

fall on different age categories and with different job experience. They are chosen to

have participated in some change recently or are going to participate in some change

in the near future. The questionnaire focuses on the personal opinions of the

participants regarding personal characteristics, organizational behavior and change

management process. The data is collected personally from the employees and is

processed via SPSS, in order to find the trends and relationships between age, job

experience and resistance to change. The full questionnaire structure can be found on

APPENDIX A.

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In order to understand the manager’s perception on how employees of different

generations and job experience, react to change a qualitative research is conducted. It

is a one-to-one, face to face interview, with 3-6 middle/top managers of the banking

sector. Even though it is not favorable, where not possible to have a face to face

interview the electronic approach is to be followed. In this case the managers need to

respond by email. Again the sample is chosen to be a purposive sample including

that the managers are from departments where different age categories of employees

operate and also that have participated in some change in recent time or are going to

face change in the near future. The interviews focus on the actions and measures that

the managers follow in order to communicate the need for change, to their employees

and to follow change implementation. The interviews are semi-structured and have

only open questions. The answers to the interview questions are used to analyze how

managers percept age and experience as resistance to change factors. The answers

are also used to help in identifying how, age and experience driven, resistance to

change can be minimized in future changes.

3.2. Sampling

Sampling is the process of sizing down the population into a smaller group consisting

of representatives from different categories of the population. It is impossible to

collect data from the entire population, hence the need to sample. The main reasons

for using sampling are to save time and money. Even though it offers a better view, it

is very costly and time consuming to gather data from the entire population. Another

reason is that sometimes it is not physically possible to include the entire population

in the research. Choosing the right sample method is very important because it helps

in making more accurate inferences regarding the research questions. Sampling is

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divided in two main categories: probability and non-probability. Probability

sampling means that sample cases have equally chances to be selected from the

entire population. Non-probability sampling means that some cases have higher

probability than others to be chosen by the research.

This study uses the non-probability sampling method. This is because the employees

chosen to participate in the study do not represent a random sample of the entire

bank’s personnel, rather they are chosen to be from departments that have recently

underwent change or are going through change in the near future. The chosen

sampling method is a combination between purposive sampling and self-selection

sampling. First only the departments that have experienced change are chosen and

next the group of employees in these departments is invited to participate. The study

focuses on identifying patterns on how employees of different age categories resist

change and this is better done through heterogeneous sampling. For this reason the

employees that participated in the research fall in different age groups, sex and

education.

3.3. Reasons for choosing this methodology

In order to create a better understanding of the issue both the employees and the

managers prospective are needed. Employees are the ones that experience change in

their everyday job and the ones that can have resistance to change. On the other hand

managers are the ones that initiate and manage change through its lifecycle. We need

both variables in the equation in order to understand how resistance to change is

related to age and how to overcome it.

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Cross-sectional methodology is chosen instead of longitudinal because there are

limitations of time and money that don’t allow for an extended on job study.

Questionnaires are chosen as a way of collecting data because they are easier to

distribute to the chosen sample and can be filled in an appropriate moment and in

total privacy by them. On the other hand face to face interviews with change

initiators are an appropriate way of identifying body language, hidden expressions

and fully benefit from open questions.

3.4. Limitations of the chosen methodology

Being a social study in a very busy environment like the banking sector, the chosen

methodology has some limitations. First of all it is difficult for the employees to

explain their emotions/feelings/behavior/evaluation, on some change that happened

in the past. It is even more difficult for them to express themselves about some

change that is going to happen in the near future. This raises the level of uncertainty.

For this reason the questions were chosen to be as simple as possible and beside

focusing on the employees opinions and behavior they were chosen to analyze the

employees actions. The participants were instructed to answer regarding actions they

have taken during the last organizational change or future actions to be taken in cases

of an upcoming change.

Another limitation of the chosen methodology is the difficulty in identifying

employees, which have expressed high levels of resistance to change. By not

accepting the new organizational behavior these employees could have left the

company or could have been fired. Otherwise they could still be working for the

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company but in another department. To overcome this limitation as much as possible

the sample will be carefully chosen in order to contain employees from different

departments. This way, the chances of including the most resistant employees in the

sample, are higher.

The banks have very strict security policies regarding entering their premises making

it difficult to meet employees from their head office. Where possible the participants

were met in person. In the banks that physical contact was not possible the

questionnaires were delivered in electronic form by using Google Forms. This

method has its own limitations. First of all the response rate is lower than paper

based questionnaires and second there are some banks that have restrictive internet

access policies. This limitation also reduces the response rate. To overcome these

limitations a representative was chosen for each bank, where the electronic

questionnaire was distributed. The representative role was to increase the response

rate by doing periodic follow ups on the participants. This method drastically

increased the response rate up to 70% on the electronic questionnaires.

The final limitation of the chosen methodology is the diversified nature of the

participants and the organizational changes considered. It is difficult to include in the

study all the organizational changes that the participants may have experienced. It is

in the participants decision to choose which change he is going to respond for. On

the other hand the magnitude of organizational change may vary and hence the

magnitude of resistance may be different for different participants. In fact even

though two participants may have responded equally to all the questions this doesn’t

mean they have equally resisted to the change.

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3.5. Study Design

The study is based on primary source data, gathered from questionnaires and face to

face interviews. The questionnaire used in this study is designed in 3 sections:

Introduction and Individual characteristics; Organizational behavior; Change

process. In the first section the participant is asked about personal data like: age,

education, marital status, job position, years of experience in the banking sector and

years of experience in the current bank. The first section also contains some

questions in which the participant should describe his attitude toward change. These

questions help understand if the participant considers himself a person that likes

change or a person that doesn’t like change.

The second section is about organizational behavior. The questions are organized in a

way to understand the participant’s perception about his organization. If the

participant’s perception is that his company doesn’t support change then chances are

that the participant will be more resistant to change. Otherwise if the participant

considers his organization to be supportive about change then expectations are that

the participant will be less resistant to change.

The third section is about change itself. It helps understand when the change

occurred and what the participant’s reactions were. This section also helps identify

how the change was notified and who were the people that helped the most during

the change phase. The section concludes with some questions that help understand

what the participant considers to be the most helpful actions during the change

process.

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Answers to most of the questions are going to be analyzed using the age and the job

experience variable in order to answer the first three research questions: how do age

and job experience influence resistance to change. The last part of section 3 and the

interviews will help answering the last two research questions: how to reduce age

and job experience driven resistance to change.

First the questionnaire was piloted with 10 participants from one bank. The pilot

phase offered very good insights regarding the questionnaire content and layout.

Afterwards the final questionnaire was distributed in all the banks. Where possible

the questionnaire was distributed in electronic form. In the banks where the

participants didn’t have access to internet the questionnaire was distributed in hard

copy. With little exception, the number of questionnaires in each bank was the same.

The response rate was 85%, 200 questionnaires were collected out of the 230 that

were distributed.

The interviews on the other hand were face to face, opened questions, interviews

with high management of the banks. The interviewees consisted of CEO’s, Deputy

CEO’s and CIO’s that offered a different prospective to the problem and a real

benefit to the study. The interview was built around but not limited to the following

questions:

• Please describe the most challenging organizational change implemented in your

bank.

• Which were the major difficulties during the implementation of the change?

• Related to personnel of the bank, what were the most significant problems

faced?

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• Adaptation to the change was easier for the experienced personnel or easier

for the less experienced? Regarding age have you noticed any trend?

• According to you, what where the reasons that influenced personnel’s

resistance to change?

• Beside the difficulties encountered can this organizational change considered

a success story for your bank?

• From your experience, what are the actions that a manager should do in order

to reduce personnel’s resistance to change?

Full interview design can be found in APPENDIX C.

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4 RESULTS

4.1. Quantitative analysis and findings

4.1.1. Section 1 - Demographics

The data gathered by the questionnaires were carefully formatted and then analyzed

through SPSS. It was in dual form: hard copy and electronic form. The first step was

to convert the hard copy responses to electronic copy. For this reason all the paper

based responses were inputted manually to an online questionnaire in Google Forms.

After that all the responses were formatted and prepared to be imported into SPSS.

Following are the main results from the SPSS analysis.

There were 200 participants in the survey from 10 second level banks in Albania.

With very little exception, the number of participant was chosen to be almost the

same from each bank. The rationale behind this decision is to equally analyze how

organizational change is managed across the banking sector, regardless of the size of

the organization.

Frequency Percent

Valid

Credit Agricole 20 10.0 International Commercial Bank 12 6.0 Intesa SanPaolo Bank 28 14.0 ProCredit Bank 15 7.5 Raiffeisen Bank 36 18.0 Societe Generale 15 7.5 Tirana Bank 17 8.5 Union Bank 14 7.0 United Bank of Albania 19 9.5 Veneto Banka 24 12.0 Total 200 100.0

Table 1 - Participant's bank

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Figure 1 - Participant's bank

Of the 200 employees from 10 second level banks that participated in the survey,

58% were women and 42% men. Women have an advantage against men when it

comes to working in the banking sector. This may come because for offering their

services the banks prefer women instead of men, or the other way around, it is the

women who prefer the type or jobs that the banking sector has to offer.

Gender

Frequency Cumulative Percent

Valid

Female 116 58.0

Male 84 42.0

Total 200 100.0

Table 2 - Gender

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Figure 2 - Gender

Results show that there is a big difference in numbers between age 40+ and the other

age categories. Only 12.5% of the participants were above 40 years old, whereas the

other age categories covered up 44% (20-29) and 43.5% (30-39) respectively. This

means either the banking sector in Albania is more attractive to the work force below

40 years old or the banks in Albania do not prefer to employ over 40 years old

personnel.

Frequency Percent

Valid

20 - 29 88 44.0

30 - 39 87 43.5

40+ 25 12.5

Total 200 100.0

Table 3 - Age

23

Figure 3 - Age

Following are the results of a cross tabulation between age and gender. As the results

the banking sector is employing male and female working force almost equally. On

the other hand there is a visible difference when it comes to ages above 40. This

could mean two things: the banking sector in the past was not preferred by masculine

work force; male employees over 40 years are less preferred in the banking sector

than women of the same age.

Gender Total

Female Male

Age

20 - 29 42 46 88

30 - 39 55 32 87

40+ 19 6 25

Total 116 84 200

Table 4 - Age * Gender Cross tabulation

24

Figure 4 - Age * Gender Cross tabulation

The participants have various years of experience in the banking sector. As the

results show 41.5% of them have less than 5 years of experience whereas 40.0% fall

in the range of 5-10 years and 18.5% have more than 10 years of experience in the

banking sector. This fact helps a lot the research because the responses about the

organizational change come from employees of various experience, making it easier

to find a correlation between resistance to change and experience in the banking

sector.

Frequency Percent

Valid

Less than 1 year 10 5.0

1 - 5 Years 73 36.5

5 -10 Years 80 40.0

Over 10 Years 37 18.5

Total 200 100.0 Table 5- Years of experience in the banking sector

25

Figure 5 - Years of experience in the banking sector

Regarding years of experience in the current bank, results show that only 10% of the

participants have less than 1 year in the current bank. This means that 90% of the

participants are capable of giving valid opinions regarding the bank they are

currently working. This is a good indicator that the responses are about recent

organizational changes.

Frequency Percent

Valid

Less than 1 year 20 10.0

1 - 5 Years 90 45.0

5 -10 Years 68 34.0

Over 10 Years 22 11.0

Total 200 100.0

Table 6 - Years of experience in the current bank

26

Figure 6 - Years of experience in the current bank

Seen from another prospective the participants have job positions that reflect their

job experience in the banking sector. As results show almost 40% of them hold a

Junior or Specialist position/title, 42% hold a Senior or Team Leader position and

almost 20% of them are in managerial position either middle line or first line.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Valid

Junior/Specialist 78 39.0 39.4

Senior/Team Leader 84 42.0 42.4

Mid-Line Manager 28 14.0 14.1

First-Line Manager 8 4.0 4.0

Total 198 99.0 100.0 Missing NA 2 1.0 Total 200 100.0

Table 7 - Job title

27

Figure 7 - Job title

Initially there was no intention to differentiate between organizational position

between the participants. After analyzing the banking sector context and the nature of

the study, it was decided to favor the IT department and the Operations department

the most. The rationale behind this decision is the fact that IT and Operations

department are the ones that participate in most of the organizational changes in the

banking sector. Participants from IT & Operations constitute 53% of the overall

participants, followed by the Business and Finance department with 22%. The other

departments left have more or less same weight as it is in their participation in

number of employees in the bank.

28

Frequency Percent

Valid

Finance 20 10.0

Risk 12 6.0

Operations 43 21.5

IT 60 30.0

Organization 12 6.0

HR 6 3.0

Business 22 11.0

Audit 8 4.0

Treasury 6 3.0

Legal 3 1.5

Marketing 1 .5

Compliance 1 .5

Total 194 97.0 Missing NA 6 3.0 Total 200 100.0

Table 8 - Division/department

Figure 8 - Division/Department

29

The mean scores chart between Personal characteristics and participant’s Age shows

that employees over 40, scored less in almost every segment of question 11.

Although, according to ANOVA test, the difference is statistically significant in the

questions:

• I like to do the same old things rather than try new and different ones.

• I'd rather be bored than surprised.

• I sometimes find myself avoiding changes that I know are good for me.

This means that older employees do not consider change as part of their lives

and sometimes they even avoid change. This kind of behavior is a significant

indicator that older employees are more resistant to organizational change.

Age

Personal characteristics Sig.

Changing plans doesn’t bother me much .260

I generally consider changes to be a negative thing .061

I like to do the same old things rather than try new and different ones .028

I often change my mind .311

I sometimes find myself avoiding changes that I know are good for me .031

I'd rather be bored than surprised .007

My views are very consistent over time .789

Often, I feel a bit uncomfortable even about changes that may potentially

improve my life

.108

Once I've come to a conclusion, I'm not likely to change my mind .428

When I am informed of a change of plans, I tense up a bit .077

When things don't go according to plans, I adapt .878

Whenever my life forms a routine, I look for ways to change it .336

Table 9 - Personal characteristics - Age

30

Figure 9 - Personal characteristics - Age

On the other hand results show that there is no significant statistical difference

between personal characteristics and experience. ANOVA tests show that neither

experience in the banking sector, experience in the current bank nor experience in the

job position when change occurred, influence participants responses on the personal

characteristics section.

4.1.2. Section 2 – Organizational behavior

Results show that participant’s age is not related anyhow to the questions:

• Organization supports change by…

• Organization does not support change by…

This because according to the results there is no significant statistical difference

between the responses from participants of different age categories. This is not the

case with the experience. In different questions, of the same section, responses have

shown statistical differences related to experience in the banking sector or experience

in the current bank. For example, the answer to the question: Organization supports

change by…; is related to the experience in the banking sector of the participants.

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Me

an

Sco

re

Personal Characteristics - Age

20 - 29

30 - 39

40+

31

The more experience in the banking sector the more employees think positively

about their bank. This is a good indicator that the more experienced employees

are less resistant to change.

Figure 10 - Org. supports change - Experience in the sector

Experience in the banking sector

Organization supports change by… Sig.

Communicating the impacts of change 0.02

Communicating the need to change 0.03

Conducting more external customer research 0.26

Eliminating products/services that are no longer viable 0.09

Empowering employees 0.34

Informing employees regarding the change process 0.04

Providing career transition services when needed 0.75

Table 10 - Org. Supports Change - Experience in the sector

The same trend is even more visible when the employee has a large experience in the

current bank. As the results from ANOVA test show, employees with more than 10

years have lower mean scores than the least experience ones. This means that the

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Me

an

Sco

re

Org. Supports Change - Exp. Sector

Less than 1 year

1 - 5 Years

5 -10 Years

Over 10 Years

32

more experience in the same bank the more employees think positively about the

organization.

The reason behind this attitude might be the fact that employees are

accustomed to the organization’s way of doing things and they accept it easier

than the less experienced. As a result, experienced employees show less

resistance to organizational change.

Figure 11 - Org. doesn't support change - Experience in the bank

Experience in the current bank

Organization does not support change by… Sig.

Allowing certain departments to be excluded from change 0.09

Being unwilling to hire from outside the company 0.89

Delaying implementing changes after their announced time 0.23

Focusing only on profits, not people 0.04

Holding back information on where things are going 0.78

Moving good people to other departments 0.03

Not asking employees if there is a better way to do things 0.01

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3

3.2

3.4

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Me

an

Sco

re

Organization Doesn't Support Change - Exp.

Bank

Less than 1 year

1 - 5 Years

5 -10 Years

Over 10 Years

33

Not encouraging a team effort 0.12

Not fully exploring the consequences of change 0.19

Not having a common goal shared throughout the company 0.86

Not making managers accountable for resisting change 0.04

Not preparing employees soon enough for change 0.03

Not sharing the successes of change with employees -

Table 11 - Org. doesn't support change - Experience in the bank

Figure 12 - Org. doesn't support change - Experience in the position

Job experience when change occurred

Company does not support change by… Sig.

Allowing certain departments to be excluded from change 0.26

Being unwilling to hire from outside the company 0.41

Delaying implementing changes after their announced time 0.45

Focusing only on profits, not people 0.29

Holding back information on where things are going 0.94

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3

3.2

3.4

3.6

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Me

an

Sco

re

Org. doesn't support change - Exp. position

1-3 Months

4-12 Months

More than 1 Year

34

Moving good people to other departments 0.94

Not asking employees if there is a better way to do things 0.01

Not encouraging a team effort 0.00

Not fully exploring the consequences of change 0.32

Not having a common goal shared throughout the company 0.41

Not making managers accountable for resisting change 0.03

Not preparing employees soon enough for change 0.11

Not sharing the successes of change with employees 0.46

Table 12 - Org. doesn't support change - Experience in the position

4.1.3. Section 3 – Change process

Regarding time of the last organizational change the results were very positive.

Almost 75% of the participants have experienced an organizational change during

the current year, 35% of which were actually experiencing an ongoing change in

their organization. Since the change is recent, the answers to the questionnaires

reflect with high accuracy the participant’s behavior and opinion during the change.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Valid

Currently Going On 71 35.5 35.7

1-3 Months 30 15.0 15.1

4-12 Months 45 22.5 22.6

More than 1 Year 53 26.5 26.6

Total 199 99.5 100.0 Missing NA 1 .5 Total 200 100.0

Table 13 - Time of last change implementation

35

Figure 13 - Time of last change implementation

The question: “How long have you been working in your position when the change

occurred?”; has also given some positive results regarding the quality of data. 65%

of the participants stated they have had more than 1 year of experience in the job

position when the organizational change, that affected their work, was implemented.

This means that 65% of the responses come from employees that know very well the

processes of their everyday job and can express, with more confidence, their

opinions regarding change. Only 14% of the participants were new in the job

position before the change occurred.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Valid

1-3 Months 28 14.0 14.1

4-12 Months 41 20.5 20.7

More than 1 Year

129 64.5 65.2

Total 198 99.0 100.0 Missing NA 2 1.0 Total 200 100.0

Table 14 - Experience in the job position when change occurred

36

Figure 14 - Experience in the job position when change occurred

Analysis of the question: What was your first reaction when you heard about the

change? - shows that employees over 40 score lower than the others. This means

their first reaction is more negative than the reaction of the other employees. The

difference is statistically significant in segment 2 and 4 of this question. Results of

the answers to this question show an interesting trend. According to the means the

employees of age 30-39 show more positive reaction than the younger employees of

age 20-29.

37

Figure 15 - First reaction – Age

Age First reaction to change Sig. I believe the change will improve my everyday job .192 I don’t like the change and will not accept it .002 I fear of losing my current position/status/importance at work .060 I like changing things at work .006 If I find other employees that don’t like it then maybe it will not be implemented

.456

This change is not the best it could happen to me but I’m still going to accept it

.779

Table 15 - First reaction - Age

On the other hand results show that first reaction is not related to the experience of

the employee to the banking sector. As the chart of the means show there is no

covariance in the experience in the sector and the first reaction.

2.5

2.7

2.9

3.1

3.3

3.5

3.7

3.9

4.1

4.3

4.5

1 2 3 4 5 6

Me

an

Sco

re

First Reaction - Age

20 - 29

30 - 39

40+

38

Figure 16 - First reaction - Experience in the sector

Experience in the banking sector

First reaction Sig.

I believe the change will improve my everyday job 0.10

I don’t like the change and will not accept it 0.18

I fear of losing my current position/status/importance at work 0.90

I like changing things at work 0.32

If I find other employees that don’t like it then maybe it will not be

implemented 0.04

This change is not the best it could happen to me but I’m still going to

accept it 0.25

Table 16 - First reaction - Experience in the sector

Almost the same results are valid even for the experience in the current bank. As the

chart shows the means are very scrambled. This means that there is no relationship

between first reaction and experience in the bank, even though there are statistically

significant differences. On the other hand, between experience in the same job

position and first reaction, there is no significant statistical difference and this means

they are not related too.

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

-1 1 3 5 7

Me

an

Sco

re

First Reaction - Exp. Sector

Less than 1 year

1 - 5 Years

5 -10 Years

Over 10 Years

39

Figure 17 - First reaction - Experience in the bank

Experience in the current bank

First Reaction Sig. I believe the change will improve my everyday job 0.28 I don’t like the change and will not accept it 0.31 I fear of losing my current position/status/importance at work 0.76 I like changing things at work 0.80 If I find other employees that don’t like it then maybe it will not be implemented

0.01

This change is not the best it could happen to me but I’m still going to accept it

0.04

Table 17 - First reaction - Experience in the bank

As the results show employees over 40 have more difficulties in adapting to the

organizational change. They have scored lower than the other employees, especially

in the last two questions:

• System/Process (was way more difficult than the existing one)

• Training (was lacking or missing)

This means that they feel uncomfortable with the change either because the new

process is more difficult than the existing one or because they think that they were

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Me

an

Sco

re

First Reaction - Exp. Bank

Less than 1 year

1 - 5 Years

5 -10 Years

Over 10 Years

40

not trained enough. Both of these issues are related to the ability to learn new

technology/process and in this case the employees over 40 demonstrate that they

need more attention when it comes to implementing a change.

On the other hand employees of age 20-29 show more difficulties in adapting to

change than the employees of age 30-39. As the chart shows employees of age 20-29

have scored lower than employees of age 30-39. This demonstrates that there is no

clean relationship between personal difficulties and age.

Figure 18 - Personal difficulties - Age

Age

Personal difficulties Sig.

Documentation (was very technical, small or missing) 0.09

People (were not so cooperative) 0.50

Responsibilities (were not well defined or not defined at all) 0.68

System/Process (was way more difficult than the existing one) 0.01

Training (was lacking or missing) 0.05

Table 18 - Personal difficulties - Age

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3

3.2

3.4

3.6

3.8

4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Me

an

Sco

re

Personal Difficulties - Age

20 - 29

30 - 39

40+

41

Analysis of personal difficulties and experience does not show any significant

difference between mean scores. Neither of the experiences (sector, bank, position)

did not have significant differences, so it can be concluded that they are not related

also to personal difficulties.

To the question: “Which individual or group provided you with the most relevant

information regarding the changes at your organization?” the participants responded

in a very interesting way. Even though it is expected that organizational change to be

explained top down, from the managers to their dependents, in this case 43.5% of the

participants responded that their Co-workers and the Senior Executives were the

people that provided the most relevant information regarding change. Instead, only

46% put the Managers as the people that provided the most important information

regarding change. This means the participant’s perception is that their direct

managers are not explaining the organizational changes as they should.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Valid

Co-workers 64 32.0 35.8 Manager 92 46.0 51.4 Senior Executives 23 11.5 12.8 Total 179 89.5 100.0

Missing NA 21 10.5 Total 200 100.0

Table 19 - Most relevant informant

42

Figure 19 - Most relevant informant

The last question of section three: How was the change process managed by the

organization? ; is very important because it gives some hints about how the change

process can be managed in order to avoid resistance to change from the employees.

The responses to this question and the interviews are the key elements in defining the

theory about resistance to change minimization. Statistical significant differences are

found on the following assertions:

• I would vigorously support a change in work place if the reason for the

change was effectively communicated to me

• Key implementation personnel were chosen, put in charge and left unchanged

• The reasons for change were unclear and there were different views of the

goals of the implementation

43

Age Change Management Process Sig.

Conflicts within the change process were avoided 0.73 I would vigorously support a change in work place if the reason for the change was effectively communicated to me

0.05

Ideas were openly communicated and encouraged within the implementation

1.00

If asked for feedback regarding a newly implemented change, I am willing to provide it with suggestions for improvement if needed

0.86

If I feel a process has been implemented incorrectly, I will volunteer a corrective action

0.86

If I was involved in the decision making process regarding significant changes, I would be less resistant to the change

0.51

Key implementation personnel were chosen, put in charge and left unchanged

0.08

The implementation was influenced by resistance to change 0.57 The reasons for change were unclear and there were different views of the goals of the implementation

0.05

There were guidelines for how the change is to be managed and these were followed

0.82

Training was frequently given with supporting materials creating confidence with the system and the processes

0.28

Table 20 - Change management process – Age

Figure 20 - Change management process - Age

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Me

an

Sco

res

Change Management - Age

20 - 29

30 - 39

40+

44

Analysis of the mean scores shows that younger employees are more eager to support

change in the workplace than the older employees. From another prospective it can

be concluded that older employees are not so eager to support change because they

think that the organization does not communicate effectively the reasons for change.

Hence the first suggestion about reducing, age driven, resistance to change:

Older employees accept change only if effectively communicated to them.

Mean score chart also shows that older employees value the importance of key

personnel put in charge and left unchanged during the process of change

implementation, more than the younger employees. Seen from another prospective,

younger employees think that key implementation personnel is not carefully chosen

or is changed often during the change process. These results build the second

suggestion for resistance to change minimization:

Key personnel should be carefully selected and left unchanged during the

change implementation process.

The third result that can be deducted from the mean scores is the fact that older

employees are more negative than the other employees, regarding reasons for change

and goals to be achieved by the change. Either they think that the organization does

not have a clear vision of the change goals, or the organization does not state these

goals in a clear way for its employees. Younger employees do not seem to share the

same opinion. They are more positive regarding the organization’s vision and goals.

Hence the third suggestion for reducing age driven resistance to change:

45

Older employees are more sensitive about organization’s goals and objective, so

these must be carefully decided and communicated to them.

When compared to the employee’s experience, change management process seems to

be related only to experience in the bank of the participant. The experience in the

sector and in the job position when the change occurred does not seem to offer any

statistically significant difference. Experience in the current bank shows significant

differences in the following three assertions:

• Ideas were openly communicated and encouraged within the implementation

• If I was involved in the decision making process regarding significant

changes, I would be less resistant to the change

• The reasons for change were unclear and there were different views of the

goals of the implementation

Experience in the current bank

Change Management Process Sig.

Conflicts within the change process were avoided 0.24 I would vigorously support a change in work place if the reason for the change was effectively communicated to me

0.88

Ideas were openly communicated and encouraged within the implementation

0.05

If asked for feedback regarding a newly implemented change, I am willing to provide it with suggestions for improvement if needed

0.97

If I feel a process has been implemented incorrectly, I will volunteer a corrective action

0.43

If I was involved in the decision making process regarding significant changes, I would be less resistant to the change

-

Key implementation personnel were chosen, put in charge and left unchanged

0.64

The implementation was influenced by resistance to change 0.22

46

The reasons for change were unclear and there were different views of the goals of the implementation

-

There were guidelines for how the change is to be managed and these were followed

0.65

Training was frequently given with supporting materials creating confidence with the system and the processes

0.38

Table 21 - Change management process - Experience in the current bank

Figure 21 - Change management process - Experience in the current bank

Analysis of the mean scores shows that experienced employees think that ideas from

the personnel were not encouraged during the implementation. This can also

interpreted that experienced employees did not consider themselves involved enough

in the change process. Hence the first suggestion to reduce experience related

resistance to change:

Experienced personnel should be as much as possible involved in the change

implementation and allowed to express their ideas and opinions during the

process.

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Me

an

Sco

re

Change Management - Exp. Bank

Less than 1 year

1 - 5 Years

5 -10 Years

Over 10 Years

47

Analysis of the means on the second assertion, shows that experienced employees

scored lower than the less experienced. This means that experienced employees are

more interested in being part of the decision making process.

More experienced personnel need to be involved in the decision making process.

The last significant finding in the analysis of the mean scores is the fact that

experienced personnel are more sensitive to the organization having clear goals and

objectives, than the less experienced personnel are. They have scored lower in this

assertion meaning that they think that the organization does not have clear reasons

for change and stable goals about the implementation. The suggestion for minimizing

resistance in this case is:

The organization must have clear reasons for implementing change and also

must have clear goals and objectives until the end of the change implementation

process.

4.2. Qualitative analysis and findings

The interviews were conducted in person with high executives of the banking sector.

The interview was constructed around organizational change: how it was deployed;

what difficulties it faced; how did the personnel respond. The interview concluded

with some suggestions on what managers should do in order to reduce resistance to

change. Full interview structure is found on APPENDIX C.

When asked about the most challenging organizational change the interviewees

responses included from organizational structure change to new product

development. All of the changes included a lot of personnel in the process so

48

apparently the most challenging changes according to the executives are the ones that

have to do with a lot of people.

When asked about the major difficulties during change implementation, all the

respondents said, the personnel. The most difficult part in implementing change was

to persuade the personnel that the change is good for the organization and as a result

for them. The resistance was mostly because of the fear of exiting the comfort zone

so the personnel needed to be persuaded into the change. A lot of effort has gone in

this direction but once the objectives and benefits were clear and the trust was build

everything went ok.

When asked about the relationship between age and resistance to change almost all

the respondents stated they did not notice any. There was a minority although, which

stated that, older employees are by nature more resistant to change than younger

employees, because of the comfort zone.

When asked about the relation of experience and resistance to change the

interviewees responded that according to them the more experienced employees are

less resistant to change because they have learn to adapt to the new conditions. This

is not to be mistaken with the case in which there is a revolution in the job process or

technology. In that case it is the most experienced employees that are more resistant

to change because they do not want to lose their knowledge. On the other hand less

experienced employees are not by default more resistant to change but instead,

sometimes they face difficulties in understanding the change because of their direct

managers which are not able to pass through the information coherently.

The last part was related to the suggestions on how managers should deal with

resistance in order to minimize it. The interviewees responded more or less the same.

49

In order to reduce resistance to change, either related to age or experience, it is

important to have a clear vision of the change and you should explain to the

dependents the benefits, the goals and the objectives of the change itself. You should

involve the employees in the decision making process and in the implementation

phase. By doing so you gain the trust of your employees and this is very important.

You should also create a collaborative environment and should never impose the

change.

4.3. Comparison of findings with literature review

Literature findings Research findings

Older employees have lower ability to

learn

Older employees consider the new

process/technology more difficult than the

existing one

Older workers are less flexible and

are more resistant to organizational

change.

Older employees are more resistant to

change than younger employees

Younger employees are more resistant

to change than their older colleagues

Younger employees tend to be less resistant

to organizational change

Older employees are considered to be

ineffective, are missing the required

skills and not adaptive to the job

Older employees are considered with more

skills than the younger employees

Managers consider their older

workers to be slow learners and

unmotivated

Managers do not have this opinion regarding

the older employees. They do not see a trend

between age and resistance to change

Experienced employees are more

resistant to change

Experienced employees are less resistant to

change because they have expertise.

Managers think experienced

employees play an important role in

explaining the change process to the

less experienced

Managers think that experienced employees

are a key success factor to the change

implementation

Table 22 - Comparison of findings

50

5 DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS

5.1. Conclusions

Overall, the participation can be considered satisfactory. In total 200 employees from

10 second level banks participated in the study. They represented almost all the

departments of a bank. Beside IT and Operations that were chosen to be more

numerous the other departments had more or less the same percentages in the study.

The participants also had a very good ratio between age and gender. Regarding age it

can be concluded that employees over 40 years old are hard to find in the banking

sector, especially male employees over 40 (6 out of 200 participants).

The participants had various experiences in the banking sector. 5% of them had less

than one year of experience in the sector whereas on the other hand 18.5% of the

participants had more than 10 years of experience in the sector. The in between

categories had almost the same participation. Almost the same percentages also

followed the experience in the current bank.

Results showed that older employees tend to be more resistant to organizational

change than younger employees because they seem to not like change in their lives.

They prefer to do the same things over and over, than try new ones. They also avoid

change even though they know change is good for them. Older employees had also

shown more negative reactions to organizational change. They responded they do not

like change at work and will not accept it. Older employees have shown more

difficulties in adapting to the change. They consider the new process/technology very

51

difficult and think they did not have enough training. Overall it can be concluded

that older employees have more resistance to organizational change than

younger employees.

Another conclusion derived from the results was the fact that the more experience in

the banking sector, the more positively employees think about their organization. The

same result was true even for the experience in the current bank. More time in the

same bank the more positive employees were about the organization and this is a

very good indication that experienced employees tend to be less resistant to

organizational change. On the other hand no relation was found between personal

characteristics and experience (experience in the sector, experience in the bank and

experience in the job position when the change occurred).

Regarding ways of reducing resistance to change, results showed that older

employees are less resistant to change if the reasons for the change are effectively

communicated to them. They do not like the key implementation personnel to be

changed during the implementation phase and they also value if the goals of the

implementation are clearly defined since the beginning. The interviews showed that

resistance to change is reduced if the employees are involved in the change process

and the objectives and benefits are explained clearly to them, first to the managers

and then they need to explain it to their dependents.

52

According to the results of the questionnaires, experience related resistance to

change is reduced by involving the experienced employees to express their ideas

during the whole change process, especially during decision making. The

experienced employees have shown they are less resistant if the goals and objectives

are clear and followed until the end of the process. This is backed up by the

interviewees, which said that experienced employees need to be involved in the

process because they have a lot to give to it. One of the most important things is the

fact that they act as tutors for the less experienced employees.

Results showed that more than 43% of the participants weren’t very satisfied with

their direct managers. They put co-workers and senior executives as the people that

provided the most relevant information about the change process. This means that the

managers did not do a good job in explaining the reasons of the change and the steps

to follow. As the interviews showed the managers should be leaders of the change.

They should give example to their dependents and should involve them as much as

possible during decision making and implementation phase.

5.2. Answers to research questions

Q1. How is ageing related to resistance to change?

Older employees tend to be more resistant to change, than younger employees. This is

because older employees have a tendency to avoid change and also because they have shown

negative reactions when the change has occurred. Another indicator is the fact that older

employees have shown more difficulties in adapting to change.

53

Q2. How is job experience related to resistance to change?

Experienced employees, especially the ones experienced in the banking sector and in the

current bank, are less resistant to organizational change. This is because overall they show

positive opinions about how the organization communicates and implements changes in the

working environment.

Q3. In what ways do ageing and job experience correlate in resisting change?

Age and experience follow the same trend, so older employees normally are more

experienced than younger employees it can be concluded that resistance to change increases

with age because of the personal characteristics but on the other hand it is balanced by the

organizational trust that the experienced employees develop.

Q4. How to reduce age driven resistance to change?

According to the results from the questionnaires analysis older employees tend to be less

resistant if the change process is effectively communicated to them by the managers. They

are very sensitive regarding the goals and objectives of the change process. They should be

clear and communicated to everyone. Another important factor that reduces age driven

resistance to change is about change implementation key personnel. They should be carefully

selected and left unchanged during the implementation process. The above are backed up by

the interviewee’s responses. Almost all the executives interviewed considered crucial the

involvement of the personnel in decision making and implementation phase.

Q5. How to reduce job experience driven resistance to change?

Results show that experienced employees are less resistant to change if they are part of the

decision making process about significant changes. Like the older employees, the

experienced employees are very sensitive about the goals of the change. The goals should be

54

very clear and not to change during implementation. Experienced employee also prefer to

participate in a change process that allows their ideas to be implemented. On the other hand

the managers should be more involved in passing the information through and should allow

space for the experienced employees to help during decision making and implementation

phase.

5.3. Future Research Suggestions

The age categories of 20-29 and 30-39 were a large part of the sample (almost 90%).

Sometimes during analysis, this participation created problems in finding trends. It is

suggested that the age groups are cut down in groups of 5 years, for example: 20-24,

25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40+. This division can make it easier to identify other details on

how age is related to resistance to change.

This study showed that there were some incongruences between answers of

employees of age 20-29 and employees of age 30-39. They did not respond as

expected. Instead in some questions the younger employees showed more resistance

to change than the employees of age 30-39. This could be a change in trend that the

future generation is introducing. It is recommended to further investigate in this area

in order to find if really there is something that influences their resistance.

55

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A - 1

8 APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A – QUESTIONNAIRE STRUCTURE

A - 2

A - 3

A - 4

A - 5

APPENDIX B – OTHER QUESTIONNAIRES RESULTS

Marital Status

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

Un-Married 86 43.0 43.2 43.2 Married/Co-habitant 109 54.5 54.8 98.0 Divorced 3 1.5 1.5 99.5 Widowed 1 .5 .5 100.0

Total 199 99.5 100.0 Missing 9 1 .5 Total 200 100.0

Education Level

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

Graduate 106 53.0 53.0 53.0 Master 92 46.0 46.0 99.0 Doctorate 2 1.0 1.0 100.0

Total 200 100.0 100.0

A - 6

What is the approximate size of your company (in employee number)

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

Less than 100 14 7.0 7.0 7.0 100 - 300 64 32.0 32.0 39.0 301 - 500 46 23.0 23.0 62.0 More than 500 76 38.0 38.0 100.0

Total 200 100.0 100.0

A - 7

ANOVA – Company supports change – Age groups Sig.

Communicating the need to change 0.10

Using public relations to show the company is changing 0.58

Informing employees regarding the change process 0.57

Communicating the impacts of change 0.85

Supporting new ideas brought forth by employees 0.87

Providing new technologies and tools to get the work done 0.78

Eliminating products/services that are no longer viable 0.89

Conducting more external customer research 0.10

Providing internal/external trainings 0.67

Providing career transition services when needed 0.72

Empowering employees 0.33

Relocating the right people to different divisions 0.52

Holding back information on where things are going 0.85

Not having a common goal shared throughout the company 0.83

ANOVA - Company does not supports change and Age groups Sig.

Not fully exploring the consequences of change 0.72

Not encouraging a team effort 0.11

Not preparing employees soon enough for change 0.74

Not asking employees if there is a better way to do things 0.2

Moving good people to other departments 0.73

Allowing certain departments to be excluded from change 0.78

Delaying implementing changes after their announced time 0.18

3

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

3.9

4

0 2 4 6 8 10

Me

an

Sco

re

Organization Supports Change - Age

20 - 29

30 - 39

40+

A - 8

Focusing only on profits, not people 0.61

Not making managers accountable for resisting change 0.16

Being unwilling to hire from outside the company 0.22

Not sharing the successes of change with employees 0.58

Job experience when change occurred Company supports change by… Sig. Communicating the need to change 0.11 Using public relations to show the company is changing 0.56 Informing employees regarding the change process 0.75 Communicating the impacts of change 0.98 Supporting new ideas brought forth by employees 0.52 Providing new technologies and tools to get the work done 0.12 Eliminating products/services that are no longer viable 0.16 Conducting more external customer research 0.25 Providing internal/external trainings 0.65 Providing career transition services when needed 0.33 Empowering employees 0.09 Relocating the right people to different divisions 0.04

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3

3.2

3.4

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Me

an

Sco

reOrganization Doesn't Support Change -

Age

20 - 29

30 - 39

40+

A - 9

APPENDIX C – INTERVIEW STRUCTURE

Interview with the CEO of bank X

This interview is part of the diploma thesis of Grigor Sevo, for the

conclusion of the " MSc in Business Management and Technology", in the

University of Sheffield. The study objective is to understand how the

personnel of the banking sector in Albania, reacts to organizational

change. In particular, if there is any resistance to change. Another is if it

accompanies adversity more young people ( age work experience ) or

older .

1 . What was the most challenging organizational change implemented

during the time you were in this position?

2 . What were the greatest difficulties during the implementation of this

change?

3 . What were the major problems regarding personnel?

4 . Were more difficult to adapt to change personnel with less work

experience or the more experienced? Related to age did you notice any

tendency?

5 . In your opinion, what were the main causes that influenced the

adaptation of the staff ?

6 . Judging from you experience can this organizational change, be

considered a success story ?

7 . From your perspective what are the actions to be taken by management

to reduce the resistance to organizational change?

A - 10

Intervista al Direttore Generale della banca Y

Questa intervista è parte del tesi di diploma di Grigor Sevo, per la

conclusione del “MSc in Business Management and Technology”,

preso l’Università di Sheffield. Il compito e quello di capire come il

personale, del settore bancario in Albania, reagisce ai cambiamenti

organizzativi. In particolar modo, se esiste avversità al cambiamento è

se questa avversità accompagna di più i giovani (età è esperienza

lavorativa) o i più anziani.

1. Quale stato per voi il cambiamento organizzativo più impegnativo

durante il periodo come Direttore Generale della banca?

2. Possiamo considerare questo cambiamento una storia di

successo?

3. Quali sono stati le più grandi difficolta durante l’implementazione

di questo cambiamento?

4. Per quanto riguarda il personale quali sono stati le problematiche

maggiori?

5. Sono stati più difficili da adattarsi al cambiamento il personale con

meno esperienza lavorativa o i più anziani al lavoro?

6. Secondo lei quali sono stati le cause principali che hanno

influenzato l’adattamento del personale?

7. Dal vostro punto di vista quali sono le azioni da intraprendere dai

manager per ridurre la resistenza al cambiamento organizzativo,

del personale?