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By Oliver Recklies
If you ask employees what
they think about change, you will normally find that most people have negative attitudes
and perceptions towards change. They have fears of losing their job, their
status or their social security, or they are afraid of a higher workload.
In many cases, first effects
of change on employees, leaders, and on performance levels are negative. These
effects include fears, stress, frustration and denial of change. Most employees
tend to react with resistance to change rather than seeing change as a chance
to initiate improvements. They are afraid of losing something, because they
have incomplete information on how the change processes will effect their
personal situation in terms of tasks, workload, or responsibilities.
If chance processes lead to
redundancies, those who “survived job cuts” still have a negative attitude
towards change. One reason may be that they now face additional tasks and
responsibilities. Some people may feel guilty for still having their job while
others became unemployed. Such emotional reactions may cause additional stress
in the changing organization.
Managers need to keep in mind
those negative side-effects of change initiatives in order to achieve the
expected positive results. The success of change projects depends on the
organization’s ability to make all their employees participate in the change
process in one way or the other.
Change management means to
plan, initiate, realize, control, and finally stabilize change processes on
both, corporate and personal level. Change may cover such diverse problems as
for example strategic direction or personal development programs for staff.
Change is the continuous
adoption of corporate strategies and structures to changing external
conditions. Today, change is not the exception but a steady ongoing process. On
contrast ‘business as usual’ will become the exception from phases of
turbulence. Change management comprises both, revolutionary one-off projects
and evolutionary transformations.
Hence, there are two types of
changes:
In order to successfully
manage change processes, it is necessary to analyze the phases of this process.
Managers need to know in which phase they have to expect what types of
situations and problems. Most successful organizations are those that are able
to adjust themselves to new conditions quickly. This requires planned learning
processes that lead to improved organizational effectiveness. Ideally,
employees are able to reflect their own behavior in relation to the
organizational context (e.g. processes, products, resources, customers).
Normally, people perceive change
processes in seven typical stages.
The seven phases of change
can be described as follows:
Phase |
Description |
Shock and
Surprise |
Confrontation
with unexpected situations. This can happen ‘by accident’ (e.g. losses in
particular business units) or planned events (e.g. workshops for personal
development and team performance improvement). These situations make people
realize that their own patterns of doing things are not suitable for new
conditions any more. Thus, their perceived own competence decreases. |
Denial and
Refusal |
People
activate values as support for their conviction that change is not necessary.
Hence, they believe there is no need for change; their perceived competency
increases again. |
Rational
Understanding |
People
realize the need for change. According to this insight, their perceived
competence decreases again. People focus on finding short term solutions,
thus they only cure symptoms. There is no willingness to change own patterns
of behavior. |
Emotional
Acceptance |
This
phase, which is also called ‘crisis’ is the most important one. Only if
management succeeds to create a willingness for changing values, beliefs, and
behaviors, the organization will be able to exploit their real potentials. In
the worst case, however, change processes will be stopped or slowed down
here. |
Exercising
and Learning |
The new
acceptance of change creates a new willingness for learning. People start to
try new behaviors and processes. They will experience success and failure
during this phase. It is the change managers task to create some early wins
(e.g. by starting with easier projects). This will lead to an increase in
peoples perceived own competence. |
Realization. |
People
gather more information by learning and exercising. This knowledge has a
feedback-effect. People understand which behavior is effective in which
situation. This, in turn, opens up their minds for new experiences. These
extended patterns of behavior increase organizational flexibility. Perceived
competency has reached a higher level than prior to change. |
Integration |
People
totally integrate their newly acquired patterns of thinking and acting. The
new behaviors become routine. |
Only if change managers
understand these phases of change, and only if they act accordingly, they will be
able to successfully manage change processes without destroying peoples
motivation and commitment.
Our description of the seven
phases of change is adapted from:
Colin Carnall: Managing Change in Organizations. and
Claudia Kostka & Annette Moench: Change Mangement – Sieben Methoden für die Gestaltung von Veränderungsprozessen.
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