The resilience audit and the psychological contract

Abstract

Warns that the psychological contract, an implicit agreement between the individual and organization, is at risk when the organization undergoes change. Reports a survey, the results of which indicate that, while companies recognize the importance of people in determining the success of change programmes, more than half the organizations surveyed do not assess people’s ability to adapt to change. Furthermore, reveals that the organizations which do measure capacity for change appear to be using inappropriate instruments. Describes how the concept of “resilience” can be used to facilitate the identification of the cultural factors within organizations which have a protective effect against the negative impact of organizational change, and outlines the development of an instrument to measure organizational resilience, the “resilience audit”.