Resistance to Change: Formal Reorganization and the Effect on Informal Relationships

This paper considers how a formal reorganization affects organization members’ ability to maintain the relationships in their intraorganizational networks. We consider how the structural qualities of a relationship – the extent to which the relationship is embedded in the surrounding network and the relational dependence within the relationship – affect the maintenance of intraorganizational relationships following a formal change. We test the hypothesized relationships on sample of 884 internal relationships of 96 partners in a global professional services firm following a change in the product-market focus of the firm. Our findings suggest that maintenance of those relationships that are more embedded in the firm’s social structure is likely to become easier following a formal reorganization. In contrast, maintenance of those relationships that have high relational embeddedness is likely to be unaffected following a formal organizational change. We argue that relational embeddedness may even work to counter the normative pressures of structural embeddedness and in effect allow organization members to resist a formal change. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.