Change management: what happens to earlier promises?
A reorganisation can alter career prospects, autonomy or working conditions that employees had taken for granted. The managerial question is specific: how should earlier commitments be handled when a change makes their continuation uncertain?
What the literature establishes
Sandra L. Robinson and Denise M. Rousseau (1994, Journal of Organizational Behavior) studied perceived breaches of the psychological contract: the obligations employees believe their employer owes them. Their study links these perceived breaches to lower trust and satisfaction. For change management, this suggests examining not only the new arrangements but also the earlier commitments against which they will be assessed.
From an unfulfilled promise to a sense of betrayal
Elizabeth Wolfe Morrison and Sandra L. Robinson (1997, Academy of Management Review) distinguish the perception of an unfulfilled commitment from the emotional response of violation. Their theoretical model explains that a discrepancy can arise from an unfulfilled promise, but also from divergent interpretations of reciprocal obligations. Management and a team may therefore attach different meanings to the same assurance about future autonomy.
The premature conclusion
One might conclude that every expressed expectation must be honoured, or that managers should stop making promises altogether. These studies justify neither prescription: a preference is not necessarily a perceived promise, and a perceived promise is not necessarily a mutually recognised commitment. The task is to make these differences open to discussion, without presenting a late clarification as erasing what had previously been understood. (our executive and employee training programmes)
What the evidence cannot guarantee
The empirical study is not a controlled trial of a change management method, and the second article presents a theoretical model. These sources therefore do not demonstrate that an inventory of promises restores trust or has the same effects in every setting. The psychological contract must also be distinguished from legal obligations, which require a separate assessment.
A practical check in Lugano
As part of SHR's change management programme, a proposed exercise in Lugano is to compile an Italian-language register of commitments reported by teams before a reorganisation, distinguishing documented promises, reported promises and expectations. In a bank, fashion business, trading company or Italian-speaking family SME, the register might cover mobility, autonomy or working hours, without assuming that the same commitments exist everywhere. For each entry, record management's position — maintained commitment, proposed renegotiation or disagreement about the commitment — together with the team's response and a review date. On that date, calculate the proportion of entries that have received a documented discussion and separately count unresolved disagreements: these measures verify whether commitments have been addressed, not whether trust has been restored. To go further: explore the Change Leadership training in Lugano in the canton of Ticino, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
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