Chapter 15 Flashcards
force field analysis
Kurt Lewin’s model of systemwide change that helps change agents diagnose the forces that drive and restrain proposed organizational change
unfreezing
the first part of the change process, in which the change agent produces disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces
refreezing
The latter part of the change process, in which systems and structures are introduced that reinforce and maintain the desired behaviors
Rather than resisting change employees in succesful companies need to….
embrace these ongoing changes as an integral part of organizational life
Psychologist Kurt Lewin developed a model, what does this model do?
a model to describe the process of interplay between forces on individuals, team and work units. He used this model to describe this process using the metaphor of a force field
force field analysis
Kurt Lewin’s model of systemwide change that helps change agents diagnose the forces that drive and restrain proposed organizational change
In the model there are two main forces - what are these?
- driving forces: push organizations toward a new state of affairs. (new technolohy, evolving client expectations, environmental changes)
- Restraining forces: maintain the status quo. They appear to block the change process.
unfreezing
the first part of the change process, in which the change agent produces disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces
refreezing
the latter part of the change process, in which systems and structures are introduced that reinforce and maintain the desired behaviors
Kurt lewin describes how systems have transitions between periods of stability and instability. Eventhough he never labeled those, how do refer to these transitions now?
Unfreezing and refreezing
resistance to change
Change resistance takes many forms, ranging from overt work stoppages to subtle attempts to continue the old ways.
What happened when the employees complied with the planned agents
They still showed resistance by performing the new task while letting customers know that they dissapproved of these changes forced on them
You can perceive resistance as a relationship conflict, and change agents attack the competence of those who resist the change in this case.
What is a more productive approach to view resistance?
To view it as a task conflict.
Because they might lack confidence to change or believe the change will make them worse off than the current situation
Resistance is also a form of…
Voice. An opportunity to discuss their concers.
And motivated behavior (engages employees to think more carefully about the change strategy and process)
- Potentially improves procedural justice
- Potentially improve the quality of decision making about the change.
An employee’s readiness for change depends on what model?
Can depend on ALL four elements of the mars model
6 most commonly cited reasons why people resist change:
- negative valence of change
- Fear of the unknown
- Not-invented-here syndrome
- Breaking routines
- Incongruent team dynamics
- Incongruent organizational systems and structures
Negative valence of change
When they believe that the post-change situation will have more negative than positive outcomes.
They apply the rational choice decision making model (almost imperfectly)
Does the person see the change as a personal loss? → Negative Valence of Change
Fear of the unknown
Change has always some degree of uncertainty. People tend to assume the worst when they are unsure whether the change will have good or bad outcomes.
- uncertainty is also associated with lack of personal control.
So the uncertainty is less desirable than the relative certainty of the status quo
Are they unsure about the change and assuming the worst? → Fear of the Unknown
Not-invented-here syndrome
is the tendency of individuals or groups to reject ideas, innovations, or solutions that originate from outside their own team, department, or organization.
🔹Resistance to External Ideas – Employees dismiss changes suggested by other teams, even if they are beneficial.
🔹 Self-Worth Protection – People resist acknowledging that another group may have better expertise in their domain.
🔹 Exaggeration of Problems – Some employees may overstate issues with external ideas to discredit them.
🔹 Common in Knowledge-Based Roles – Especially seen in teams responsible for specialized knowledge, like IT, R&D, or engineering.
Breaking routines
Are they struggling because they have to unlearn old habits?
People are creatures of habit, and breaking routines can be challenging. Employees often resist change because it requires them to step out of their comfort zones, adopt new behaviors, and develop new skills.
🔹 Comfort & Familiarity – Routines provide a sense of stability and predictability.
🔹 Cognitive Load – Learning new processes requires extra mental effort.
🔹 Fear of Failure – Employees may worry about struggling with new tasks.
🔹 Lack of Reinforcement – If new behaviors aren’t supported, employees revert to old habits.
Incongruent Team Dynamics
Is their team pressuring them to resist? → Incongruent Team Dynamics
Teams create and enforce norms that shape employee behavior. However, these norms can become barriers to organizational change when they conflict with new initiatives.
🔹Group Conformity – Employees follow established norms to maintain team cohesion.
🔹 Peer Pressure – Even if individuals support change, social pressure may prevent them from acting on it.
🔹 Norms vs. Organizational Goals – Some team norms contradict company-wide improvements.
Incongruent Organizational Systems
Are company policies or structures working against the change? → Incongruent Organizational Systems
Organizational systems—such as rewards, authority structures, career paths, and selection criteria—can either support or hinder change. When these systems are not aligned with the new direction, they create resistance by reinforcing old behaviors.
🔹 Contradictory Incentives – Employees follow what is rewarded, so if old behaviors are still incentivized, change efforts fail.
🔹 Structural Barriers – Rigid hierarchies, outdated policies, or slow decision-making processes make change difficult.
🔹 Lack of Support Mechanisms – Without updated training, tools, or resources, employees struggle to adapt.
🔹 Disillusionment – Even enthusiastic employees lose motivation when they hit systemic roadblocks.
What is the preferred option for making change?
Increasing the driving forces as well as reducing or removing the restraining forces
Creating an Urgency for Change Without External Forces
- Urgency for change is harder to create when the company is successful.
- Market leaders may become complacent and resistant to change.
- Persuasive influence helps employees visualize future threats and shifts.
- Avoid manipulative tactics that create cynicism and distrust.
- A compelling vision of a better future can be a strong motivator.
- Aligning the vision with employee values and needs makes change more appealing.
6 of the main strategies for minimizing resistance to change
Communication, learning, employee involvement, and stress management should be the first priorities for change management.
However, negotiation and coercion may be necessary for some people who will clearly lose something from the change and in cases where the speed of change is critical
Communication
What?
Customer complaint letters are shown to employees.
When?
When employees don’t feel an
urgency for change, don’t know how
the change will affect them, or resist
change due to a fear of the unknown.
Problems?
Time-consuming and potentially costly.
Learning
What?
Employees learn how to work
in teams as company adopts
a team-based structure.
When?
When employees need to break old
routines and adopt new role
patterns.
Problems?
Time-consuming, potentially costly,
and some employees might not be
able to learn the new skills.
Employee involvement
What?
Company forms a task force
to recommend new customer
service practices.
When?
When the change effort needs more employee commitment, some
employees need to protect their self
worth, and/or employee ideas would improve decisions about the change strategy.
Problems?
Very time-consuming. Might lead to conflict and poor decisions if employees’ interests are incompatible with organizational
needs.
Stress management
What?
Employees attend sessions to
discuss their worries about
the change.
When?
When communication, training, and
involvement do not sufficiently ease
employee worries.
Problems?
Time-consuming and potentially
expensive. Some methods may not
reduce stress for all employees.
Negotiation
What?
Employees agree to replace
strict job categories with mul
tiskilled job clusters in return
for increased job security.
When?
When employees will clearly lose
something of value from the change
and would not otherwise support the new conditions. Also necessary when the company must change quickly.
Problems?
May be expensive, particularly if
other employees want to negotiate
their support. Also tends to
produce compliance but not
commitment to the change.
Coercion
What?
Company president tells
managers to “get on board”
the change or leave.
When?
When other strategies are ineffective and the company needs to change quickly.
Problems?
Can lead to subtler forms of resistance, as well as long-term antagonism with the change agent.
What is the highest priority and first strategy required for any organizational change?
Communication
Learning also increases….
change self efficacy
optimism about working succesfully in the new situation
Employee involvement leads to..
- more personal responsibility for successful implementation of the change
- this minimizes the fear of the unknown
- minimizes the not-invented-here syndrome
Applying stress management leads to…
potentially increading motivation to support the change process because of less stress
What is the last thing you would try to reduce resistance?
Coercion
Refreezing to Sustain Change
Lasting change requires refreezing, aligning systems, rewards, and feedback to support new behaviors and prevent a return to old habits.
The model of Kurt Lewin overlooks four ingredients of effective change processes:
- leadership
- coalitions
- social networks
- pilot projects
Transformational Leadership & Change
Transformational leaders drive change by developing and communicating a strategic vision that aligns with employees’ values. This vision reduces fear of the unknown and provides clear direction. Leaders must act consistently with the vision and encourage employees to experiment with new ways to achieve it.
Coalitions & Change
Change agents need support from a guiding coalition—a diverse group of influential employees committed to change. These members can be selected from different levels of the organization and trained in new work practices to serve as role models and trainers in their teams.
Social Networks & Viral Change
Social networks help spread and reinforce organizational change through trust and peer influence. Viral change occurs when key individuals adopt new behaviors, inspiring others to follow. Informal networks often have more persuasive power than formal communication channels.
Strategies for Diffusing Change
from a Pilot Project
guided by the mars model
Motivation:
Motivation
* Widely communicate and celebrate the pilot project’s success.
* Reward and recognize pilot project employees as well as those who work at transferring that change
to other parts of the organization.
* Ensure that managers support and reinforce the desired behaviors related to the pilot project’s
success.
* Identify and address potential sources of resistance to change.
Strategies for Diffusing Change
from a Pilot Project
Ability (MARS)
- Give employees the opportunity to interact with and learn from pilot project team members.
- Reassign or temporarily transfer some pilot project employees to other work units, where they can
coach and serve as role models.
Strategies for Diffusing Change
from a Pilot Project
Role perceptions (MARS)
- Communicate and teach employees how the pilot project practices are relevant for their own
functional areas. - Ensure that the pilot project is described in a way that is neither too specific nor too general.
Strategies for Diffusing Change
from a Pilot Project
Situational factors (MARS)
- Give staff sufficient time and resources to learn and implement the pilot project practices in their
work units.
action research
a problem-focused change process that combines action orientation (changing attitudes and behavior) and research orientation (testing theory through data collection and
analysis)
The action research process
- form client-consultant relationship
- diagnose need for change
- Introduce intervention
- Evaluate and stabilize change
- Disengange consultant’s services
And explain the steps of the action research process
- Form Client-Consultant Relationship – Establish trust, assess readiness for change, and ensure participants are open and capable.
- Diagnose the Need for Change – Gather and analyze data (interviews, surveys) to identify issues and determine the best change strategy.
- Introduce Intervention – Implement change (e.g., new structures, team improvements). Change may be incremental (gradual) or rapid (decisive).
- Evaluate & Stabilize Change – Assess effectiveness, adjust as needed, and refreeze changes using rewards, norms, and systems.
appreciative inquiry
an organizational change
strategy that directs the group’s
attention away from its own
problems and focuses
participants on the group’s
potential and positive elements
positive organizational behavior
a perspective of organizational
behavior that focuses on building
positive qualities and traits within
individuals or institutions as
opposed to focusing on what is
wrong with them
When is appreciative inquiry useful?
When participants are aware of their problems or already suffer from negativity in their relationship
Five principles of Appreciative Inquiry
- Positive principle: Focusing on positive events and potential produces more positive, effective, and enduring change.
- Constructionist principle: How we perceive and understand the change process depends on the questions we ask and
language we use throughout that process. - Simultaneity principle: Inquiry and change are simultaneous, not sequential.
- Poetic principle: Organizations are open books, so we have choices in how they may be perceived, framed, and described.
- Anticipatory principle: People are motivated and guided by the vision they see and believe in for the future.
The four-D model of appreciative inquiry
- Discovery
Identifying the best of “what is.” - Dreaming
Enivisioning “what might be” - Designing
Engaging in dialogue about “what should be” - Delivering
Developing objectives about “what will be”
Limitations of Appreciative Inquiry
- Not Always the Best Strategy: May not work in all situations and has had mixed results.
- Requires Letting Go of Problem-Focused Mindset: Participants must move away from blaming and focus on strengths, which can be difficult.
- Leaders’ Acceptance of Flexibility: Leaders must be comfortable with a less structured approach.
- Unclear Contingencies: Research hasn’t yet determined when appreciative inquiry is most effective or less effective for organizational change.
parallel learning structure
a highly participative social
structure developed alongside
the formal hierarchy and
composed of people across
organizational levels who
apply the action research
model to produce meaningful
organizational change
Large Group Intervention Approach
A whole-systems perspective that involves all stakeholders in the change process.
Future Search Conferences – Multi-day meetings where participants collaborate to create a shared vision.
CHANGE AGENT
An individual who facilitates and promotes change within an organisation.
Key Responsibilities:
Possessing expertise in change management.
Guiding employees through the transition.
Ensuring alignment between change initiatives and organisational goals.
Discuss two cross-cultural and three ethical issues in organizational change.
One significant concern is that organizational change theories
developed with a Western cultural orientation potentially conflict with cultural values in some other countries. Also, organizational change practices can raise one or more ethical concerns, including increasing management’s power over employees, threatening individual privacy rights, and undermining individual self-esteem
Who said, “Take away my people, but leave my factories, and soon grass will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories, but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and better factory”? What does this quote tell us about organizations?
Who: Andrew Carnegie
Meaning: Organizations are not just about buildings or machinery; they are driven by the people who make them function. People are the core of any organization, and with the right people, an organization can rebuild and grow, even from scratch.
