Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Intellectual ...

Attitudes Towards Changes and Organisational Learning:
China and Turkey
Ruth Alas 1 , Maaja Vadi 2 , Halil Demirer 3 and Necdet Bilgin 3
1
Estonian Business School, Tallinn, Estonia
2
University <strong>of</strong> Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
3
Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey
ruth.alas@ebs.ee
Abstract: Changes have become a normal part <strong>of</strong> life in organisations. Employees’ attitudes are considered an
indicator <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> future success <strong>of</strong> an organisation (Hurst 1995). This paper studies <strong>the</strong> connections between
attitudes towards changes and organisational learning in Chinese and Turkish organisations. The paper starts
with a <strong>the</strong>oretical framework for <strong>the</strong> study, including literature about attitudes towards changes and organisational
learning. Special attention has been paid to institutional development in China and Turkey. This is followed by an
empirical study <strong>of</strong> Chinese and Turkish organisations. The empirical study <strong>of</strong> Chinese organisations and <strong>the</strong>
Turkish hotel industry indicated <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> attitudes toward changes for organisational learning. The
scales for <strong>the</strong> measurement <strong>of</strong> organisational learning and attitudes towards changes were designed according to
<strong>the</strong> factor analysis. Attitudes towards change fall into two broad categories, which reflect <strong>the</strong> employees’ feelings
and dispositions with regard to interest in changes and <strong>the</strong>ir trust in change. Attitudes towards changes included
trust in change and an interest in changes. These attitudes toge<strong>the</strong>r predict almost half <strong>of</strong> organisational learning.
The impact <strong>of</strong> socio-demographic characteristics was tested. Although socio-demographic characteristics
differentiate in various respects, <strong>the</strong>se do not play an important role in <strong>the</strong> prediction <strong>of</strong> organisational learning.
When performing <strong>the</strong> regression analysis (dependent variable organisational learning) <strong>the</strong> Adjusted R Squares
were .54 for <strong>the</strong> both samples, while after entering <strong>the</strong> socio-demographic characteristics it decreased in both <strong>the</strong>
Turkish and Chinese samples. At <strong>the</strong> same time, generic characteristics (gender and age) and additionally, <strong>the</strong>
education and type <strong>of</strong> contract do not predict organisational learning in this study. Significant differences
emerged between <strong>the</strong> two countries. Attitudes towards changes are <strong>the</strong> main predictors <strong>of</strong> organisational learning
in Turkey, and <strong>the</strong>se predict a higher assessment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organisational learning scale. In China, attitudes also
predict organisational learning, but contrary to Turkey, <strong>the</strong>se predict a lower level <strong>of</strong> assessment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
corresponding scale.
Keywords: China, Turkey, attitudes towards change, organisational change, organisational learning
1. Introduction
Eagly and Chaiken (1993) define attitudes as “a psychological tendency that is expressed by
evaluating a particular entity with some degree <strong>of</strong> favour or disfavour”. Attitudes serve as schemas
that are needed to enable people to represent and organise <strong>the</strong> information <strong>the</strong>y encounter. Katz
(1960) named this as “knowledge function” <strong>of</strong> attitudes that is very important for an individual in
making decisions in a rapidly changing work environment.
Change requires learning new skills and adapting to new situations. The universal challenge <strong>of</strong>
change is to learn how organisations and employees can change faster than business conditions
change in order to become more competitive (Beatty and Ulrich 1993). In literature, an organisation’s
ability to adapt to change is enhanced through <strong>the</strong> learning organisation, <strong>the</strong> anti<strong>the</strong>sis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
traditional bureaucratic organisation (Driver 2002).
The aim <strong>of</strong> this paper is to study <strong>the</strong> connections between attitudes towards changes and
organisational learning in Chinese and Turkish organisations.
2. Theoretical framework
2.1 Attitudes towards organisational changes
Attitude towards change is defined as “a person’s cognition <strong>of</strong> change, affective reactions to change,
and behavioural tendency towards change (Dunham et al. 1995). Understanding how individuals
perceive <strong>the</strong> possible outcomes <strong>of</strong> a change in <strong>the</strong> organisation may help managers to make better
intervention designs to manage <strong>the</strong> resistance to <strong>the</strong> change. An individual’s attitude towards change
and its impacts are examined as employee involvement, employee participation or support in <strong>the</strong>
context <strong>of</strong> organisational change, which includes restructuring, downsizing, self-empowered teams,
automation and some o<strong>the</strong>r changes in organisations. Mullan and Gorman (1972) define openness
towards change as support for and a positive effect on <strong>the</strong> potential consequences <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> change.
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