This report presents a knowledge synthesis focused on research investigating what factors that are considered as important for creating a high level of organizational change capacity in workplaces. This knowledge synthesis has been carried out on behalf of the Swedish Agency for Work Environment Expertise, within the framework of a government assignment aiming to gain knowledge about the future working life. The purpose of the knowledge synthesis is to investigate which factors in empirical research are described as important for using, maintaining and increasing organizational change capacity. An important part of determining what is included in organizational change capacity is the organization’s ability to utilize existing competence and develop organizational change capacity through learning (individual, group and organizational learning).

The knowledge synthesis is based on a model developed by the Swedish Agency for Work Environment Expertise. As a first step, purpose and research questions were determined, and then criteria were formulated for which studies to be included or excluded in the literature search. Inclusion criteria included empirical studies of planned change in organizations/workplaces, studies of existing competence and ability to develop or use skills, studies of individual, group and organizational learning, studies of individual well-being in the workplace, studies of organizational productivity/efficiency. Further delineations were that the studies would consist of scientific articles in international research journals with peer review, published after 1990 and written in English, Swedish, Norwegian or Danish. The exclusion criteria included studies of emerging and gradual changes, studies of competence focusing on individuals, studies of resistance to change and studies focusing solely on ill health.

The searches were conducted in two databases; Scopus and Web of Science. The number of hits in Scopus was 1650 and in Web of Science 944 hits. After duplicates were removed, 1953 unique articles remained, which were screened on title and abstract. In total, there were 142 studies that were considered to require full text to determine whether the study met the inclusion criteria. Then the full texts were retrieved and relevance checked. In total, 42 studies met all relevance assessment points, and these studies underwent a quality assessment based on accepted protocols for quantitative and qualitative studies. Of the 42 quality audited studies, 27 studies were assessed to be of high or medium quality, 13 quantitative, two mixed methods and 12 qualitative studies. The included quantitative studies have been analyzed on the basis of a narrative analysis and the qualitative studies have been analyzed on the basis of a conventional content analysis.

In summary, the studies included in the knowledge synthesis show that the following factors and conditions are described as important for using, maintaining and developing organizational change capacity: management, managers and change agents; employees' attitudes to and past experiences of change; information, communication and participation before, during, after change processes; competence and opportunities for learning in change processes. 

The largest number of studies in the knowledge synthesis can be attributed to the first area, i.e. to management, managers and change agents. In other words, organizational change capacity in organizations seems to be strongly linked to the skills and actions of managers and change agents, rather than being seen as the organization’s overall ability to drive planned change. In line with this finding, it appears to be a corresponding deficit in studies in which employees' capacity to contribute is analyzed. In these cases, it seems to be a focus on employees' change resistance rather than on employees' change motivation and how it can be developed. Studies of information, communication and participation before/during/after organizational change processes and seen as part of organizational change capacity are highlighted in several studies. Information is important at all levels of the organization and how information is handled is a continuing important area of ​​research, not least based on what is termed organizational sensemaking. An important part of our determination of what is included in organizational change capacity is the organization’s ability to take advantage of existing competence and develop organizational change capacity through learning (individual, group and organizational learning). The knowledge synthesis shows that there are a limited number of studies in this area. Research on organizational change capacity does not constitute a unified research area, and the research is spread across a number of areas and disciplines, especially research on leadership and research on organizational change. The concept of organizational change capacity lacks a more definite and generally accepted significance in research.

Based on the knowledge synthesis, several knowledge gaps have been identified. Some of these gaps can be linked to the research methods used. In the case of quantitative studies, we see a lack of longitudinal studies following change over time. More than half of the studies are of cross-sectional design, which can describe relationships but not causal relationships. Another shortcoming is low response rates, especially in longitudinal studies. Furthermore, there are a limited number of studies that have studied organizational change capacity on several organizational levels. Regarding the studies conducted within both public organizations and private companies, the analysis of the organizational context and its importance can be carried further. The qualitative research reviewed here has also methodological limitations in several respects. In many cases, empirical data is limited, both in terms of the number of individuals and the number of organizations studied. The case descriptions exhibit weaknesses such as insufficient descriptions of the organizational context. Case studies using case control and replications of previous studies are not represented in the 27 studies reviewed. Multiple methods studies occur in only two of the studies. 

Finally, based on the knowledge synthesis, some general advice is presented. All organizations have a more or less comprehensive history of planned changes, of both successful and less successful changes. Learning from history can be seen as an important part of increasing the organizational change capacity. Leaders and change agents are, of course, important not only in the role of leading change, but also to support the use competencies spread among the organization - not least among employees. Concerning resistance to change, resistance may not only be seen as an obstacle but also as a legitimate reaction or as necessary friction in a poorly implemented or misguided process of change, and as an opportunity to create openness, opportunities to influence, utilize knowledge and experience that are disseminated in the organization and thus build organizational change capacity. Participation in planning and implementation can increase motivation and contribute to a more common understanding, as well as it can be put under pressure due to lack of time and other factors that cause constraints. An important question to ask is how, and in what respects, active participation in change processes can be expected to contribute to favourable results - and not least to support participation in change processes through a leadership that supports and enables employee participation. More effort is needed to develop methods and support implementation of planned changes, rather than producing plans and strategies. From this perspective, an important part of organizational change capacity can be seen as the ability to assess and evaluate organizational change, including the ability to adapt and modify plans and strategies, and the methods and approaches used when change is implemented.