Evaluation of this study with implications for future research and practice

Evaluation

There are a few limitations concerning the empirical part of the thesis, which need to be addressed.

This study presents a case study investigating professional identity construction during a

company’s strategic change situation. However, some limitations are recognized related to the generalizability of these results. This thesis presents a single case study and the results are relevant to the case company. However, this qualitative research was conducted with small sample (three managers and five followers). Hence, the research results are therefore not generalizable to a large extent. Collecting personal narrative offers truth about a phenomenon only from the participant’s point of view. However, other research projects may have similar experiences and the results may be similar.

People might experience different meanings in differing ways. Hence, the thesis offers multiple samples of the transcribed interview, so that the results are presented transparently. However, as people look at the word through certain lenses, they can interpret written text in differing ways, than it was originally meant. This must be considered when assessing the validity of any qualitative data. (Polkinghorne, 2007.) Furthermore, the validity of the study was increased when both managers and followers were interviewed. This abled to explore the research topic in a more diverse manner.

The used language is another aspect to be considered. As the semi-structured interview were conducted in Finnish and afterwards translated into English, some meaning could be lost even though the translation was made carefully. Yet, the interviews were conducted in the participants' native language to gain richer answers.

The research topic is sensitive and required many considerations in regards to the data collection and presenting the results. Collecting personal experiences about professional identity development, emotions and revealing possible change resistance is a delicate issue. The anonymity of the participants was highlighted and the interviews were confidential. The interviewees participated voluntarily to the research and as a researcher, I did not reveal to the case company, which team members participated to the study. However, research has responsibility towards the research subjects. In addition, the results are presented in a way that conceal which participant is in question. All details that could expose the identity of the interviewee is left out from the narratives. (Eriksson & Kovalainen 2008, 70.)

Implications for future research and practice

The findings of this study have several important implications for future practice. Firstly, sometimes the managers that act as change initiators are in a situation where it must accept that some professionals will not co-operate in the change. However, as this thesis shows, when offered time, support and training, reactions that oppose the change can be avoided and attitudes towards change can become more positive. Secondly, the current thesis demonstrated change resistance and that the followers voiced how they were not evolved in the change planning processes. Hence, a conclusion can be drawn, which supports previous research, that involving the team to plan and discuss the changes will reduce change resistance. Thirdly, when organizational change occurs, professionals’ identity is under a threat. Furthermore, there are multiple ways which affect on the identity development. Managers should pay attention to the factors and courage the employees in the change process.

Finally, a few proposals for future research is presented. I encourage future researches to engage in a study that would investigate how do the new team members who have been recruited during major organizational change adjust to the changing organization and how does it affect their employer image and professional identity development. Also, it would be interesting to compare experiences from individuals within the same organization to those with more experience in the organization. Furthermore, a reasonable approach to tackle organizational change situations and professional identity construction study could be to connect the study with workplace communication research. There is, therefore, multiple new perspectives that could be studied in similar research context.

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