The findings we have presented have implications for change managers, as they
will need to adjust their change management approach depending employees level and
type of change experience. Particularly in organizations with a long track record of
change, management should be wary of relying on traditional techniques for mapping
and reducing resistance, as reactions will likely be more passive than active. While the
literature has emphasized the importance of analyzing change content in order to
inform about process and understand reactions, the change capabilities we have
uncovered seem to be tied to changes in general and not to any particular kind of
change initiative. As suggested by Chreim (2006) it appears that process capabilities
can be applied across a variety of changes. Future studies are needed in order to test
the extent to which these capabilities can be applied across a wide set of change
initiatives and across various organizational and cultural contexts.