EFFECTS OF MANAGEMENT BEHAVIOR ON EMPLOYEE EMOTIONS - A case study

Abstract

This research looks at change management during change projects from the employee’s perspective in a Finnish subsidiary of a multinational company. The research context was challenging as employees were faced with statutory negotiations and significant changes to the company structure. Partly due to the economic situation in Finland and partly due to the change in the nature of business, drastic change processes are becoming more common and therefore quality change management is more important than ever. How can a company keep its employees motivated during change processes? Change resistance is almost inevitable. Could companies use that to their advantage? This research goes inside a Finnish company and finds out what are the challenges and emotions that employees have to deal with during change processes and what actions can management take in order to successfully lead the process.

This research is an in-depth single case study. It focuses on analyzing the emotions of employees during change processes and whether management behavior could affect these emotions. This research utilizes a qualitative research method and the research data was mainly collected in semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Although it was clear to the employees that the company was facing declining profits and had to make changes, partly because their mixed experiences of previous change processes, they were unsure if the actions planned by the company were going lead to desired results. During the change process the employees were faced with challenges related to the change itself, uncertainty of their future, renewed company structure, training and communication.