Page 259 - Managing Change in Organizations
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                   Chapter 13  ■ Managing major changes
                                  period and performance will not decline immediately. One way of handling the
                                  stage is to minimize the immediate impact of the change. This allows people
                                  time to face up to a new reality.


                                  Stage 2: Defence
                                  Reality obtrudes, however. The early discussion of changes leads to concrete
                                  plans and programmes of change. Now the realities of change become clearer and
                                  people must begin to face new tasks, working for a new boss or with a different
                                  group of people, perhaps in a different department or a new location. Thus they
                                  become aware that they must come to terms with the way in which they work,
                                  and perhaps with more general changes in life (if, for example, relocation involv-
                                  ing a house move is required). This can lead to feelings of depression and frus-
                                  tration because it can be difficult to decide how to deal with these changes. This
                                  stage is often characterized by defensive behaviour. People may attempt to
                                  defend their own job, their own territory. Often this will be articulated as ritual-
                                  istic behaviour. I can remember the introduction of computer-aided learning in
                                  business schools many years ago. Many embraced these ideas enthusiastically;
                                  many simply rejected them: ‘My subject is unsuitable.’ One colleague provided
                                  an impressive show of activity on the computer, finally concluding that after
                                  much effort he had failed to make computer-aided learning work for that subject.
                                  Years later, computer-aided learning in that subject is commonplace. Was this a
                                  ritual? Again, this defensive behaviour seems to have the effect of creating time
                                  and ‘space’ to allow people to come to terms with the changes.


                                  Stage 3: Discarding
                                  There now emerges a process of discarding. The preceding stages have focused
                                  powerfully on the past. Now people begin to let go of the past and look forward
                                  to the future. We do not know how this happens. We know that support can be
                                  helpful, as can providing people with the opportunity to experiment with new
                                  systems without the pressure of formal training programmes and so on. Now it

                                  is possible for optimistic feelings to emerge. It may well be that the discarding
                                  process is impelled by an awakening sense that the present anxieties are just too
                                  much to bear, or that perhaps the future is not as forbidding as it first seemed.
                                  Now we may observe behaviour which appears to identify the individual with
                                  the changes involved, who will start to talk openly and constructively about the
                                  new system, who will ask questions about it, who in a sense will say: ‘Well here
                                  it is – we are committed to it – here’s how I see it.’ People may begin to solve
                                  problems, take the initiative and even demonstrate some leadership. Thus it is
                                  that self-esteem improves.
                                    Discarding is initially a process of perception. People come to see that the
                                  change is both inevitable and/or necessary. It becomes apparent to them.
                                  Adaptation starts with recognition. Here we see human courage amidst difficult
                                  circumstances as the individual accepts new ‘realities’. This can be exciting for
                                  individuals and groups. Taking the risks of publicly facing a new reality, there is
                                  a sense in which they re-establish their own identity, the identity which may

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