Organizational Change: Effect of Motivational Interviewing on Readiness to Change^*

* This research is based on data collected by the author for his doctoral dissertation at Walden University.

ABSTRACT

A change agent’s use of motivational interviewing (MI) to help employees resolve ambivalent attitudes may improve the success of organizational change initiatives. Informed by the transtheoretical model of change and the theory of planned behaviour this experimental research evaluated the effectiveness of MI to increase readiness to change. Through random assignment, 56 employees of a company undergoing change populated the experimental and control groups. Members of the experimental group participated in 3 MI sessions over a 30-day period. Participants indicated their readiness by completing the Job Change Ladder. Within- and between-group differences from a mixed ANOVA revealed MI significantly increased readiness to change. In contrast to frequently used definitions of individual readiness to change as a static state, the study presents evidence supporting its conceptualization as a dynamic process. Findings suggest that incorporating principles of MI to manage change could help individuals and groups embrace the change process, thereby improving the chances the change initiative will be successful.

KEYWORDS:

• Organizational change
• reactions to change
• readiness to change
• resistance to change
• ambivalent attitudes
• theory of planned behaviour
• transtheoretical model of change
• stages of change
• motivational interviewing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Conrado J. Grimolizzi-Jensen is President of aja Behavioral, USA and a change management consultant. He holds a PhD from Walden University, as well as master degrees in business and organization development from Bowling Green State University. Mr Grimolizzi-Jensen is also fluent in the Spanish language. His professional background in domestic and international business provided him with a unique perspective into the challenges facing organizations attempting to change.

Notes

* This research is based on data collected by the author for his doctoral dissertation at Walden University.