65 Emotions towards Change ‘‘A case of Northern Greek ICT Industry” Christos Nicolaidis University of Macedonia Kleanthis Katsaros University of Macedonia “Some people change when they see the light; others when they feel the heat.” (Anonymous) Abstract Change is an inherent process in nature and life that ‘enacts’ physical, social and human effects. Relatively, in the field of social sciences, organizational change consists of complex experiences, which ‘reflect’ the crucial role of psychological characteristics and emotions that organizational members possess. The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the nature of CEOs’ emotions towards strategic change. In this respect, it uses the well- known Dimensions of Emotions (PAD) questionnaire of Havlena and Holbrook (1986). This questionnaire captures three main dimensions of emotions, namely pleasure, arousal and dominance. The paper, with the use of principal component factor analysis, verifies the existence of the three dimensions that may influence the performance of CEOs. The research sample consists of 59 CEOs’ replies from ICT firms operating in the area of Thessaloniki, Greece. Concluding, the paper discusses the importance of the three dimensions of emotions in CEOs’ strategic management of change. It also proposes a number of implication tactics regarding the effective management of the environmental and organizational changes that CEOs face. Introduction Nowadays change is an ongoing process rather than a disruption to business equilibrium. Change appears to be constant in organizations (Mossholder et al., 2000); it engulfs more complexity than ever before and occurs more rapidly and in greater volume. Consequently, steadiness is only a temporary state in business environment. Firms and organizations undergo a major change approximately once every three years, and smaller changes are occurring continually. Hence, they have to enhance their adaptation to environmental evolutions and their ability to deal with change in order to remain competitive (Skinner, Saunders and Thornhill, 2002). Literature also suggests the need of a more person-centered approach of organizational change (Armenakis and Bedeian, 1999). The authors note that “as open systems, organizations depend on human direction to succeed” (p. 307). Accordingly, personal emotions represent critical factors in employee behavior towards change. Emotions are intense feelings that are positively or negatively directed at someone or something (Frijda, 1993). They are also key components of organizational learning (Vince, 2002). Overall, organizational change is an emotional experience, which stresses the crucial role that the emotions and the psychological characteristics of the organizational members play to the effective transition process. The main aim of this paper is to examine the emotional behavior of CEOs in front of the rapid changes and the inadequate information that they face in their complex business environment. The first part of the paper provides a brief reference to the Greek ICT industry. The second part refers to the organizational change theory and the research in the emotions. The third part, with the use of principal component factor analysis, examines the dimensions of the CEOs’ emotions towards the changes that they face in their business environment (political-social-technological- economical and competitive). Finally, the last part discusses the statistical results and suggests a number of possible implications for ICT CEOs and their business. Greek Ict Industry The Information Communication Technology sector in Greece is still in its infancy compared to other E.E. countries since half of its firms (49%) have been shaped after 2005, and another 26,6% after 1990. IT services represent 47% of the total Greek ICT industry. Respectively, IT sales represent 20%, telecommunications 16%, software development 12% and hardware development 5% (1). Greek ICT industry economic environment is characterized by high growth rates. Despite the last two years complexities due to difficulties in strategies implementation and intense competition in terms of pricing, the macroeconomic environment remains positive. Most importantly, the Greek Government identifies the ICT sector as a priority and plans to invest €3 billion in the development of its infrastructure over the next years. The ICT sector’s turnover in 2004 reached 19 billion € (6,7% increase). Respectively, IT sector’s turnover represents 45%, telecommunications 36% and mobile carriers 19%. Generally, the financial trends were satisfactory (2002-2004): Small firms (11-49 employees) stimulated the whole sector development, and large firms doubled turnover’s growth rate in 2004; micro firms (< 10 employees) and medium firms (50-249 employees) appeared net losses. The Greek ICT sector strengths rely on the training and education of the human capital, the experience from large scaled projects implementation and the research cores at the universities. In contrast, the main weaknesses are associated with the a) excessive number of small enterprises, b) lack of specialization and market segmentation, c) limited R&D investments, d) low level of extroversion and e) intense price competition and no differentiation. By summing up, Greek economy is rapidly and steadily growing. Thus, a favourable macroeconomic environment is developed for the domestic ICT sector. Evidence for the reinforcement of demand, programmed investments (private and public) and Greece’s proximity to the International Journal of Business & Economics Volume 10, Number 1, Fall 2010