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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