The master's thesis explores the relationship between organizational changes and organizational climate in the Slovenian public administration. The starting point is the awareness that changes are inevitable even in the public administration, but they often cause uncertainty among employees. The main objective of the thesis was to examine how employees experience changes, how these changes affect their perception of the organizational climate, and how they behaviorally respond to them. The main purpose of the thesis is to encourage more inclusive and strategically oriented approaches to managing change in public administration, based on an understanding of how employees experience organizational changes, thereby contributing to a more positive organizational climate.
The research is based on a quantitative method. A total of 1,070 valid responses were collected through an online survey among civil servants from various public administration bodies. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics.
The results show that different types of changes (structural, staffing, digital, legislative/political) have varying impacts on the organizational climate. Structural changes were negatively associated with the perception of organizational climate (β = –0.29, p < 0.001), while well-planned changes contributed to more positive behavioral responses from employees (β = 0.41, p < 0.001). The most common responses to structural changes were loyalty (M = 3.85) and cooperation (M = 3.67), while resistance was the least common (M = 2.12). Leadership support played an important role in how employees perceived structural changes, contributing to a more positive climate (β = 0.38, p < 0.001) and reducing negative employee responses.
The master thesis offers a valuable contribution to public administration, leadership, and HR departments, as it provides a basis for developing more inclusive and thoughtful approaches to change management and for reducing negative employee reactions.
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