Session 6 - The Individual and Change Flashcards
What are the three different forms of change at individual level and who proposed them?
1) Incremental changes
2) Growth changes
3) Loss changes
Maury (1974) cited in Hughes (2006)
Define what incremental changes are
Alternative means of meeting familiar needs - routine and retain continuity
- improve what we’re doing e.g. route to work
Define what growth changes are
Growth and maturity - although these changes may be profound, for the individual continuity is still unbroken
- happening all the time but we aren’t aware (can see them retrospectively though)
Define what loss changes are
Including death or the discrediting of familiar assumptions - disrupts our ability to find meaning in experience…grief represents the struggles to retrieve the sense of meaning
- not always bad, can be positive (they change our way of thinking)
- e.g. a promotion, you lose and gain because changes in roles has positive and negative effects
Individuals experience a personal transition when they adjust to organisational changes that:
- are lasting in their effects (don’t slip back)
- take place over a relatively short period of time
- affect large areas of their assumptive world (what they know)
Draw Bridge’s (2003) model of transition and explain the different stages
Look at lecture notes for diagram
FIRST STAGE:
- recognise the need for change
- have to let go of old situation in order to change
- often associated with resistance and emotional upheaval
SECOND STAGE:
- self-doubt, anxiety and uncertainty
- we know we need change but are still uncertain of the future
THIRD STAGE:
- re-orientated
- acceptance of the situation
- know what we need to do and we make necessary changes
Bridge (2003) argues that all 3 do overlap in some respect - not always totally clear cut
Draw Hayes and Hyde’s (1996) model of the stages of psychological reaction and explain
Look at lecture notes for the diagram
Change = an event Transition = process which follows during which individuals or organisations get used to, make sense of, and start to live with the change
The curve depicts a number of different stages which an individual experiences when he or she encounters significant change in their professional, social or domestic life.
1) SHOCK
- individual encounters the trigger for change
- not sure what to do
- overwhelmed, anxiety, panic & can’t process new information
- can feel paralysed/immobilised
- can be positive or negative
2) DENIAL
- focus on small things they can control = psychological safety
- refusing change but deep down know it is there
- clinging onto the past
3) DEPRESSION
- anger, sadness, withdrawal and confusion
- can’t handle capacity to change
- individual acknowledges that they cannot continue as they are
4) LETTING GO/ACCEPTANCE OF REALITY
- recognising that change is inevitable & has to happen
- process of mourning
5) TESTING
- creative, active, positive
- trying new ways of behaving
- can be anger if new behaviour not successful
6) CONSOLIDATION
- behaviour has changed/ new norms adopted
- progresses in parallel with testing
- develop a constructive manner
7) INTERNALISATION, REFLECTION & LEARNING
- should reflect on learnings through changeskaj
What did the Kubler-Ross model look at?
How people cope with death/bereavement
What does the Kubler-Ross model show?
- sometimes we don’t go through such a strong emotional change
- we can move through stages in a different order (forwards or backwards)
Experience of transition will depend upon what factors?
- gain or loss (positive or negative)
- intensity of impact (quick/slow)
- existence of other simultaneous transitions
- personal resilience (some people are more resilient than others, e.g. through previous experience of a similar change or more self-confidence)
- amount of perceived control (if we are driving change = more positive experience)
How can the features of Hayes and Hyde’s (1996) graph vary?
- wave can be shallower or deeper and overall shape may be skewed one way or another
- time taken to pass through all the phrases can vary greatly (intensity of changes means there’s no standard amount of time spent in each stage)
- although presented as linear, people may regress and slip back to an earlier stage in the process
- people can get stuck at any phase and not complete the cycle
What are the implications of transitions for individuals?
- it takes time for people to make the adjustments required in transitions
- it can help them to know that their own experience is normal, that it will involve ups and down and will eventually end
- it can be managed (although may be turbulent)
What are the implications of transitions for change managers?
- time lag
- different parts of the organisation will progress through the cycle at different times
- need to be aware of getting out of phase with staff
- cycle cannot be avoided but can be facilitated
What actions could a change manager take at each stage to facilitate movement through the stages of the model?
1) Shock
- create climate of receptivity to change by providing timely information and opportunities to be involved with relevant decision making
- think about possible ways to announce the change (e.g. Timing, method, content, who makes the announcement, etc)
2) Denial
- gently/supportively confronting what is being denied
- repeating the message again
- arrange demonstrations of what change will involve
- taking early action (the longer between announcements and change actually happening, the easier it is for individuals to deny changes)
3) Depression
- providing support, listening and being accepting/ non-critical to expressions of feelings
- provide opportunities to vent or grieve
- identifying opportunities to move on
4) Letting go
- explain the need for change in terms of benefits rather than problems associated with best practice
- draw attention to deadlines
- eliminate symbols of the past in the workplace (e.g. Changing logos on stationary)
5) Testing
- create the space, time and resources required to test
- promote creative thinking
- act as a mentor
- encourage risk taking and experimentation
- praise and support successes
6) Consolidation
- reviewing performance and learning
- recognise and reward achievements
- help individuals to build on their successes and broadcasting them
7) Reflecting, learning and internalising
- help them to review the change experience
- conduct formal, post-implementation reviews
- get them to share experiences and stories
List Kotler and Schlesinger’s four reasons for resistane
EMOTIONAL REASON
1) Parochial self interest
- Lose status/money
- going to affect change
EMOTIONAL REASON
2) Misunderstanding
- Badly communicated
- lack of trust
3) Low tolerance for change
- people able to deal with change better than others
RATIONAL REASON
4) Different assessments of the situation
- We think a different approach should be taken
- assess the situation differently/have different information
Why do people resist change?
- don’t agree with the change
- increased workload
- scared/fearful/uncertain
- denial
- don’t believe in change
- bad previous experience
- misunderstanding
- disrupts habit/routine
- worried about losing status/self-interest
- going to lose out
- depressed
- content with current situation
What does Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory show?
People decide whether to act in a particular way dependent on outcomes
Expenditure of effort vs. outcomes
Draw Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory diagram and explain
Look at lecture notes
What does the extension of Vroom’s theory outline?
Looks at understanding and competence
- we look at others around us and their outcomes because we have to feel equal
- people have different values so it’s important to understand this theory for people to be motivated to change what’s expected of them
What factors are likely to make people respond positively to change?
- security
- money
- authority
- status/prestige
- responsibility
- better working conditions
- self satisfaction
- better personal contacts
- less time and effort
Name the five strategies used to overcome resistance to change and motivate people to change
Kotter and Schlesinger (1979)
1) Education (minimise fear) and persuasion (that change is necessary)
2) Participation and involvement
- prevention tool
- less likely to resist if they are involved
3) Facilitation and support
- counselling
- give people someone to talk to
4) Negotiation and agreement
- only relevant for those who have power/could impact change
5) Manipulation and cooperation
- dangerous strategy
- can create distrust and impact future culture
6) Direction and reliance on explicit or implicit coercion
- often more implicit coercion (fear of job loss)
Outline the assumptions surrounding managers as change resistors
Palmer et al. (20090
- assumption that managers are advocates of change
- danger of grouping managers together
- middle managers can be both implementers and targets
- resistance may be at conceptualisation of change
- ‘boiled frog syndome’ (boiling water vs gradual increase in temp.)
Define what sensemaking is
The process of coming to understand what is happening around you - interpreting situations that informs how you behave (Myers et al., 2012)
- sensemaking is a social process
- peoples own identity is intimately bound up with the process of sensemaking
How do people make sense of change?
Ambiguous situations interrupt habitual sensemaking
- individually or collectively people re-establish links between what they are doing and what they are thinking
2 ways of doing this:
- change what you do as a result of new thinking
- change what you think as a result of what you are doing
Define the psychological contract
The employee’s perception of the mutual obligations existing with their employer (Rousseau, 1990)
- informal relationship we have with the organisation
What is an internal change to the psychological contract?
contract drift: changes to the contract without any formal effort to change the terms
What is an external change to the psychological contract?
accommodation: mutually acceptable adjustments within the existing contract
transformation: redefinition and renegotiation of the contract
Explain what a breach of the psychological contract involves
The cognition that one’s organisation has failed to meet one or more obligations within one’s psychological contract
- may be a relatively short-term phenomenon
- may result in an individual returning to a relatively stable psychological contract state
- when change challenges the contract
Explain what a violation of the psychological contract involves
An emotional and affective state that may follow from the belief that one’s organisation has failed to adequately maintain the psychological contract
- violation response more intense than breach as respect and codes of conduct are called into question as a ‘promise’ has been broken and it is more personalised
Draw a diagram showing the responses to psychological contract violation
Look at lecture notes
Define what stress is
Any force that pushes a psychological or physical factor beyond its range of stability producing a strain within the individual
How do individuals try to limit stress?
- try to keep their thoughts, emotions and relationships with the world in a steady state
- each factor of a person’s emotional and physical state has a range of stability in which that person feels comfortable
- on the other hand, when forces disrupt one of these factors beyond the range of stability, the individual must act or cope to restore a feeling of comfort
- an individual’s behaviour aimed at maintaining a steady state makes up his or her adjustment process of coping strategies
What does Luthans (1993) identify as sources of stress?
- extra-organisational (outside the organisation)
- organisational
- work group
- individual -role
What does Arnold et al’s (1995) graph comparing performance and quality of life against pressure show?
Managers need to find a balance where employees are challenged but don’t feel excessive pressure
