This study provides information on organizational change. Themiddle manager’sinitial commitmentto change is determined by his views on the importance of change.There is a change in the type of commitment to change.There are various factors affecting changes in the type of commitment ofmiddle managers.
Organizations today are required to change with extraordinary speed (Piderit, 2000). However, not all organizational changes run successfully.
Two of the three organizational change initiatives failed. Another opinion states that at least 70 percent of all initiatives to make organizational changes end in failure.
A common factor causing the failure of organizational change is the inability of managers to cope with the demands of organizational change.Furthermore, the lack of commitment from themiddle manageralso contributes to failure.
Commitment to change is the key to a successful implementation of change. Consistent efforts are needed in building commitment to change in employees.
In this condition, amiddle managermust have acommitment to changebecause they are role models for their employees.The results showed that leader as a model during a time of change would increase commitment to change in employees.Leaders must havea highcommitment to change, especiallymiddle managerswho have positions close to employees.They have a significant influence on the successful implementation of change.(Herzig & Jimmieson, 2006).
All this time, the role of themiddle managerin a period of change is not discussed as prominently as the top manager (Huy, 2002) even though they play an important role.To add study reference on commitment to change inmiddle managers, this study was conducted.It aims to answer the question of the commitment ofmiddle managersto organizational change.
This study used a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach through longitudinal studies.The number of participants in this study was ninemiddle managerswho felt the impact of changes happening in the organization where they worked.
At the data collection stage, all participants were asked for approval to participate in the interview study. Interviews were conducted at the participant’s workplace, recorded, and verbatim transcripts were made.
One year later, the participants were contacted again and asked for their willingness to conduct an interview using the same procedure as the previous interview. The type of interview conducted was a semi-structured interview.
In the beginning, participants were asked to describe recent or ongoing organizational changes that had an impact on the way they did work. It aims to ensure that they experience the effects of change.
The next question is how participants perceive the changes happening in the place where they work.They were also asked to describe their experiences asmiddle managersin the early days of the change.
The second interview was conducted one year later, and they were given questions about how participants perceive the changes happening in their workplaces.They were also asked to describe their experiences asmiddle managersduring the change period in one year.
Data were analyzed usinginterpretative phenomenological analysis(IPA) with the following stages: comprehension of transcripts and initial recording, formulation of emergent themes, formulation of superordinate themes, patterns between cases/intervals of participants’ experiences (La Kahija, 2017).
After analysis, threesuperordinatethemes were foundas follows:
(1) Themiddle manager’sview on the change influences commitment to change at the beginning of organizational change.During the process of change,middle managersmake judgments and considerations based on what they know, experience, and feel.This assessment is influenced by their cognitive and emotional.From this arises a change inmindsetthat organizational change must be supported, although the support on the change is caused by different reasons and different factors by each individual.
(2) There is a change in commitment ofmiddle managerafter one year of organizational change.In the first year, affective commitmentto changeandnormative commitment to change was found, however in the second interview (one year later) the difference betweenaffective commitment to changeandnormative commitmentto changebecame less clear.The experiences they feel during a period of change affect cognitive change and affective change.The benefits of the changes they feel both in their changing ways of thinking and feeling positive emotions were the reasons for themiddle managerimplementing changes, they changed not only because of obligations (normative) but also for the perceived benefits and positive emotions they felt (affective).
(3) Factors influencing changes in commitment to change inmiddle managersinclude organizational support in the form of training to increase competence, clear and transparent information, good relations with superiors, leadership, participation in decision making, emotional attachment to the company and reasons for the changes.
Authors: Evi Kurniasari, Fendy Suhariadi, Fajrianthi
Details of this research available at
Purwaningrum, E.K., Suhariadi, F., & Fajrianthi (2019) Middle manager commitment to change : A Qualitative study. Journal of Educational, Health and Community Psychology, 8 (2): 47-65. DOI:
