The Development, Validation, and Practical Application of an Employee Agility and Resilience Measure to Facilitate Organizational Change

Abstract

Traditional change management approaches that focus on linear models and top-down control have proved less than adequate in addressing organizational change within the complexity and speed of today's unprecedented change. Researchers have suggested that by developing greater workforce agility, companies may be better positioned to manage or moderate rapid change and use this capability as a competitive advantage. Complementing current strategies with a different approach to managing change focused on individual agility and resilience may be a first step. This article focuses on the development, validation, and practical application of an employee agility and resilience measurement scale as part of a program in support of an alternative approach to managing organizational change. Results indicate that focusing on individual agility and resilience can prepare employees to handle uncertainty more successfully by adapting to change quicker and managing stress more effectively.