The Role of Time in Organizational Change

Organizational change is an inherently temporal phenomenon which unfolds over time. Change processes are difficult to predict, take unforeseen turns, and are often implemented sequentially. This typically causes uncertainty and ambiguity and affects employees’ appraisal of a change project and the related beliefs, expectations, emotions, and behavioral reactions. The unfolding of change processes over time is addressed in only few theoretical conceptualizations (e.g., the "change curve"). In this chapter we explore the time-related psychological aspects of organizational change. More specifically, we explore how change processes can be theoretically modeled to include a temporal perspective, how change recipients’ cognitive and emotional experiences and reactions to change evolve over time, and how individual and organizational factors influence change recipients’ experiences and reactions over time. We propose a phases model in which we describe the development of change recipients’ reactions over the course of a change project. Here, we integrate literature from the fields of organizational psychology and organizational behavior as well as change management and sensemaking.