Cocaína y sensibilización conductual (SC)

This sub-section is broken into two parts. The first part discusses the belief in organisational part while the second part discusses turnover due to organisational changes.

4.3.6.1 Belief in Organisational Change

According to participants, they have to implement changes, based upon the political decision, which are sometimes in conflict with their core values such as non-partisanship. In addition, they disclosed that they sometimes perceive organisational changes as having negative impacts on citizens and on themselves. They provided the examples of when changes are bringing “unjustified” layoffs or when they cannot deliver the expected service quality to citizens due to the organisational change. When this happens, public servants do not see the value of the change, do not believe in the change and lose faith in the whole system. Thus, since they do not believe in the change, readiness for change is not promoted (Armenakis et al., 1993; Armenakis & Harris, 2002; Rafferty et al., 2012).

124 Perceived impact of change

“I am always positive about what I do, I am not being negative. But this is such a big thing. It is friends and it could be within your circle. People could be affected by what you are doing and you are changing a service. You know in your mind that you cannot talk about it ... it could affect the loved ones.”

MGR2: Female, > 20 years as a public servant

“Private is literally about the money that you invest and the money that you get. So for them, an employee is a dollar sign because he is there to make money for you or you spend for nothing. Hum, but we, and sometimes, we do not take into account dollars, but it is important that we realize that we are serving people. You know, it's the taxes of people paying your wages. Me, when I come in the morning, I have to work, do what I do and personally, I pay taxes.”

EMP17: Female, 0-5 years as a public servant

“We don’t have a profit motive. A lot of the stuff that the government does is not designed for efficiency. It is designed for tax money distribution… we are doing it to support the political decision that has already been made. It’s not about efficiency. People who believe otherwise are just kidding themselves. So, when you try to impose that private sector mentality, you are kidding your staff. You know, it’s, it’s, you have to be good at what you are there to do, whatever that is.”

EMP3: Male, 11-15 years as a public servant

4.3.6.2 Quitting the Existing Change for another Change

Finally, some public servants, who are no longer able to live the change, quit the organisation for a place where they feel that they would be more comfortable to work in. Paradoxically, they prefer to embrace another change at a new workplace rather than to continue to live the existing change that they feel painful. This suggests that public servants are not against changes but that they prefer changes that they feel are not detrimental to them. Furthermore, a few public servants even revealed that they need to change job every couple of years to stay motivated in the public service.

125 According to Armenakis & Harris (2002) and Rafferty et al. (2012), employees perform a cost and benefit analysis of the change with respect to their jobs or roles (personal valence) and their readiness for change will decrease if there is no added-value or if there are costs to them.

Leaving the Change

“If I were to choose my work, that's where I go and then I do not look anymore… Often I reflect what will be my responsibilities? What are my responsibilities that will change? Or rather who will authorise my work today? What is going to be different? My freedom, am I going to lose it? Every time we reorganise, we lose a little bit of freedom.”

EMP14: Male, >20 years as a public servant

In sum, public servants do not believe in organisational changes when they perceive that the changes are not according to their core values or when they perceive that the changes will impact citizens or themselves adversely. They, then, lose faith in the whole system and readiness for change is not enhanced as a result. In addition, the study findings suggest that public servants are not against changes but that they do want to live changes that are not detrimental or painful to them. If they find the change too painful, public servants leave the organisation for another job. This concludes this section on the theme of experiencing changes in the public service.

4.4

Chapter Summary

In conclusion, this chapter has provided an introduction of the three study themes that emerged from the thematic analysis and it has elaborated on the first theme of “experiencing changes in the public service”. Though the study had similar findings to the initial conceptualised framework for change, there were with some additional findings. First, public servants have ambivalent responses to organisational changes. They are

126 hopeful and excited as well as fearful of organisational changes. Thus, the study shows that contrary to the literature (Piderit, 2000) there can be ambivalence across the sole dimension of emotions during organisational changes. Second, the study shows that public servants are anxious and stressed throughout organisational changes and that readiness for change can fluctuate as a result throughout changes. Readiness for change is mentioned to be a state at the beginning of the change in the reviewed literature and readiness for change is posited to be either there or not in the reviewed literature. Third, public servants suffer from procedural justice and interactional justice during organisational changes and they believe that changes breach their psychological contract with the organisation. Fourth, public servants experience different types of uncertainty leading to stress and anxiety during organisational changes. Public servants subsequently do not have the coping resources and their self-esteem and self-efficacy decline. Fifth, due to the pace and number of organisational changes, public servants experience change fatigue and are exhausted and burnt-out. Sixth, public servants feel frustrated with the lack of control of their work environment during organisational changes. They also feel powerlessness and helplessness and some come to hate their jobs or become cynical about organisational changes. The hating the job factor is not present in the reviewed literature about readiness for change. Seventh, some public servants paradoxically alienate themselves from the organisation and their peers to function and survive throughout the organisational change. Eighth, participants tend to think that if they are offered to participate in the change, they will control the change better. Ninth, contrary to the reviewed literature, the study findings suggest that the powerlessness stages are not linear and sequential but that employees can move from one stage to another and then back again in an iterative way. Tenth, public servants who have lost their jobs previously due to organisational changes live changes as an act of bullying and aggression perpetrated against them. As a result, some have physical and mental health issues. Eleventh, public servants do not believe in changes contrary to their core values.

127 They lose faith in the system and some leave the organisation. Finally, the study show that public servants are not against organisational changes if these changes are not detrimental to them and to their core values.

This concludes this chapter and the second theme of “leadership of change in the public service is presented” in the next chapter (Chapter 5).

128