D.B.A.  Baker College (Michigan), 2018.
Specialization:  Management; Business administration; Occupational psychology

Generational differences and the correlation between reactions to strategic planned change and level of employee loyalty
128 pages. UMI #: 13425400
Citation, Abstract & Full text in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database

Leaders within organizations have recognized for some time that loyal employees provide an organization with ample benefits. These benefits include increased profits, increased productivity, and enhanced customer loyalty. The research conducted through this dissertation connects an employee’s reaction to a planned organizational change and the employee’s specific generational membership to the employee’s perceptions of loyalty. Leaders can apply these findings to the design of change processes within organizations that might improve employee loyalty or actually enhance employee loyalty through change initiatives. Four research questions were used to guide this study. The research questions were as follows: What effect did the organization's planned change have on the employees' perceptions of the organization; how did each generation's response to the planned change correspond to the specific characteristics of the given generation; what influence did organizational leaderships' method of communicating the planned change have on each generation’s response to the change; and what relationship exists between each generation's response to the planned change and an employee’s loyalty to the organization? This study engaged members from across a professional organization that self-identified as having experienced a planned organizational change within the last 10 years. The method consisted of qualitative interviews with members of each generation currently in the workforce. The information gathered from the interviews was analyzed, coded, and developed into themes that are identified in this dissertation. The resulting data will be shared with the participating individuals as well as with academia.

• Helen Bojarczyk, Ph.D., Chair
• Susan Cathcart, Ph.D.
• Mary Dereshiwsky, Ph.D.