Page 214 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

From Resistance to Renewal 199

■ The purchase of personal computers for the staff
■ A reorganization along product lines
■ Naming of new product leaders
Launched with great enthusiasm, by the third month the effort had barely
gotten off the ground. Committees no longer met, and Morgan’s periodic
attempts to raise the issues were met with uncomfortable silence. His organi-
zation simply had an inadequate mass of people and resources to do every-
thing they wanted to do at once. They had spread themselves too thin and
were overwhelmed. They should have focused their energies on a few needs
at a time.

7. Organizational homeostasis. Like living organisms, individuals, groups,
and organizations tend to level off at a steady state, or revert to earlier norms.
This tendency to fall back is called organizational homeostasis, and it is com-
mon in all change efforts. Homeostasis manifests itself in several ways. One is
the tendency for organizations that have improved their standard of quality
to fall back from that standard. A group that has adopted a six sigma defects
standard suddenly begins to find exceptions to the standard or to argue that
zero defects is an unreasonably high standard that makes the product too
expensive and that the customers will accept a slightly lower standard with-
out complaint.
Homeostasis can also affect how the work is done. Many companies, hav-
ing spent considerably on new IT hardware, software, and training, are
stunned to find employees more comfortable with their old ways—including
some programs that they have successfully used for over 10 years. In one sales
group of eight, only two members were using the expensive new sales track-
ing system, and two of the eight had not even bothered to try it. Without con-
sistent reinforcement and encouragement from leadership and revised work
procedures to support the new, organizations tend to revert to former stan-
dards, procedures, and methods.

8. Illusion of impotence. People tend to attribute much greater power to
others than they do to themselves. They often see themselves as isolated and
unable to effect change. Individuals often see others as much more able to take
action and to overcome barriers. Ironically, people will frequently identify each
other as having much more power or influence than they see themselves hav-