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Research Questions: What effect does uncertainty caused by divestment have on resistance to organizational change? How does this type of change affect employee motivation?

Purpose: Change processes, such as divestments, are strongly related to employee motivation and engagement. Understanding how organizational divestment affects employee motivation is of great importance and would therefore help companies recognize the importance of minimizing uncertainty factors to increase employee motivation. This leads to the purpose of the thesis, which is to study the effects of divestment on employee motivation and draw links to the ongoing modular divestment at ABB Power Grids.

Method: The research questions and the purpose were answered by using a qualitative approach by conducting eight semi-structured in-depth interviews. When drawing conclusions to answer the research question, the arguments were strengthened by a qualitative foundation. With the usage of a case company, the study aims to provide a better understanding of the effects that an ongoing divestment phenomenon has on employee motivation.

Conclusion: A connection between uncertainty caused by divestment and a decrease in employee motivation was noticed in the conducted research. The uncertainty was mostly caused by the lack of communication regarding the divestment. The lack of communication also had other implications such as spread of rumors regarding the divestment and employees not feeling part of the organization which further demotivated them.