Managing business transformation at different stages of the recession

Background: The recession caused by the Global Financial Crisis (December 2007 - June 2009) led to austerity until 2017. During this period, organisations made significant internal changes to stay profitable, resulting in job cuts and limited reemployment. Data for this study was collected in 2015 from a major multinational shipping and logistics firm during a change project that led to redundancies, relocations, higher performance standards, and demotions, profoundly altering the company's strategies, operations, and work environments. This case study examined the impact of organisational change during economic downturns, especially during austerity, on affected individuals, focusing on how such changes might foster workplace bullying. The study compared experiences before, during, and after the 2008 crisis, considering workplace bullying as a personal construct based on employee’s perceptions. It analysed the impact of austerity-driven change projects on workplace bullying and the correlation between such changes, stress levels, and instances of bullying.

The Research Aims and Objectives to address this were as follows:
1. To explore the role of stress during a change project in an uncertain economic climate on well-being and interpersonal relationships, and to uncover the interpersonal relationship patterns that gave rise to workplace bullying.
2. To examine employee views of what constitutes workplace bullying, if they had experienced or witnessed it, whether they felt it had occurred due to/or had increased because of the change project, and whether the uncertain economic climate due to austerity affected this. To discover the occurrence and nature of workplace bullying according to HR, line managers, and employees.
3. To explore, among those who had experienced or witnessed bullying, how it was dealt with and if they felt it was managed effectively by line managers or HR. To explore the existence, knowledge, and perceived efficacy of policy documentation or written guidance regarding workplace bullying according to HR, line managers and employees, and assess their views on whether these are sufficient to address the unique challenges of change programmes and workplace bullying.

The overall objective was to examine the role of change projects during austerity on employee experiences of workplace bullying and to explore the relationship between change projects, stress, and workplace bullying.

To do this, the Research Questions were as follows:
1. How does organisational change during an uncertain economic climate lead to workplace bullying?
2. How are stress and interpersonal relationships impacted in this process?

Research Design and Methodology: This research used an organisational case study design approach with constructivism and interpretative epistemology. The qualitative research methods included policy document analysis; semi-structured interviews with 20 employees directly and indirectly impacted by the project and thematic analysis to analyse the data.

Findings and Conclusions -Three main themes were identified,
In Theme 1, conducting a change project during the economic downturn negatively impacted employee's job security, decreased employee well-being, and increased anxiety and stress levels. What followed was the deterioration of workplace relationships that led to workplace bullying.
In Theme 2, workplace bullying was carried out by those in positions of power within the organisation, including managers and peers from the old teams. This bullying targeted the new teams, who had been assigned the tasks, and in some cases, the roles of the older teams were affected by the project changes.

In Theme 3, the management of bullying incidents was considered ineffective. The existing policies and procedures were not fully utilised, and the responses from management and HR in handling bullying cases were viewed as inadequate.
Outcomes of the Research: The product and outcome of this research are stakeholder recommendations on a way forward for managing bullying when conducting a change project in periods of economic turbulence. These consider the changing landscape of the nature of the work environment in the context of major external socioeconomic influences.