Employees' perceptions of organizational restructuring: the role of social support

Organizational change impacting negatively on the psychological well-being of employees. This pragmatic studs investigates the role of social support and dispositional affect as moderators of role stress post-restructuring for employees in a public utility company. A total of 176 employees, including 37 managers, 60 graded staff and 78 industrial staff completed a self-report questionnaire, approximately 1 year post-restructuring, retrospectively assessing role conflict, ambiguity, overload and positive and negative feedback pre- and post-restructuring. Results suggested that overall role stress increased for managers/ senior officer, and graded staff, but not for industrial staff. Social support was linked with lower role stress, more positive feedback and less negative feedback at pot-restructuring. For certain role stressors this impact was moderated by dispositional affect, but the effect was not consistent across occupational groups. Positive affect enhanced the effect of manager support in reducing role conflict for graded staff, and the effect of co-worker support in increasing positive feedback and reducing negative feedback for industrial staff. Findings suggest that managers should pay particular attention to support and feedback Cor employees during periods of chronic occupational stress following organizational restructuring.