Edinburgh Napier University

  The aim of the study is to develop an instrument that can be used to gauge readiness
for change on the individual level of civil servants and non-civil servants in the German
public sector, exemplified by Deutsche Bahn Aktiengesellschaft. The instrument is
based on existing readiness for change models and is extended by the concepts of
Person-Organisation, Person-Job fit and need for security. Also, for the first time the
relevance of the concept of Public Service Motivation in a German context is tested
and its implication on the new instrument explored.
The underlying philosophical stance is that of a positivist. With the help of a monomethod
approach, a web-based questionnaire is used to gather the quantitative data
from 524 civil servants and non-civil servants at the Deutsche Bahn Aktiengesellschaft.
The findings are obtained through descriptive statistics and statistical techniques.
A new instrument to measure readiness for change in the German public sector is
presented. In addition, the results yield the antecedents - Person-Organisation fit,
Person-Job fit and need for security - on readiness for change. For the first time, the
existence of Public Service Motivation in Germany is proved while an impact on
readiness for change is denied.
The study advocates a better theoretical and practical understanding of the
measurement of readiness for change in the German public sector. The findings
confirm differences between civil servants and non-civil servants concerning their
readiness for change level. It also reveals the existence of different subcultures within
one company. The findings offer practical relevance for the human resource
management, motivation factors and incentive systems with influences on the company
culture and change behaviour and points out the necessity of an individual-oriented
human resource function at the Deutsche Bahn Aktiengesellschaft.