based on the following articles:
the first article:
Reviewed by Ira J Morrow, Associate Professor of Management, Lubin School of Business, New York, NY.
In this work, the author examines the phenomenon of resistance to change in organizational settings. To be fully understood and overcome, resistance must be viewed as a psychological phenomenon requiring sensitivity to multifaceted human needs and motivational drives. The author’s treatment of this ever timely and relevant topic rests largely on his experience as an organizational development consultant rather than on a review or critique of the extensive body of research on organizational change.
The book has a practical orientation and includes four nonstandardized Likert-style inventories (the Change Opinion Survey, the Psychological Need Fulfillment Inventory, the Megavalue Scale, and the Trust Scale) to help people develop self-insight. Seven exercises are also included (e.g., on understanding values and how you became who you are; on current and desired organizational beliefs, values, and behaviors; and on identifying and diagnosing sources of resistance) to help prepare individuals and teams for understanding and dealing with change. Several short cases are used to illustrate various issues and themes related to change with such catchy titles as “The Unassertive Employee,” “The Vindictive Employee,” and “If You’re a Manager, You’re Against Me.”
Incidentally, none of these inventories, exercises, or cases is listed in the table of contents, so readers have to search through the entire book to find what they are looking for. The bibliography is rather skimpy as well with more than a quarter of the citations to the author’s other works, mostly articles published in the Training and Development Journal.
The first section of the book, consisting of five chapters, establishes the conceptual framework for understanding human behavior and change, while the five chapters of the second, concluding section illustrate the processes of diagnosing and overcoming resistance to change. The content of the book is such that it should be of potential interest to present or prospective change agents, and internal or external OD consultants. Executives, managers, and administrators who are trying to get a better handle on how to go about dealing with resistance to change in their organizations, and faculty and students interested in OD and change management would also find the book of interest.
Hultman discusses four needs that, “In my experience. . . are. . . most responsible for people’s behavior in organizations,” including the need for mastery or personal competence, for a sense of meaning and purpose or social competence, for respect or personal integrity, and for acceptance or social integrity. These needs are viewed within the context of a broader motivational cycle in which needs are related to thinking, feeling, deciding, and doing. Thinking in turn consists largely of the process of forming descriptive, evaluative, and predictive beliefs about the self, about others, and about the organization, while deciding is dependent on our values pertaining to self, others, and the organization.
The material up to this point is presented in a neutral, value-free fashion, but the author’s own biases and values become obvious in a chapter dealing with changes in organizational reality. The author contrasts viable and unviable beliefs about the self, others, and the organization, as well as viable and unviable work values “in the present economic climate.” These concepts are presented in a simplistic, dichotomous, black and white manner with no discussion of gradations or the middle ground.
For example, the belief that managers should be bosses is cited as an unviable belief, while the belief that managers should be coaches is characterized as being viable. Coaching may be a popular OD concept, but it seems premature or unwarranted to totally dismiss the relevance or value of being a boss. Perhaps it is viable to act like a boss sometimes or with some employees, and like a coach at other times or with other employees.
Unviable work values are said to include productivity, predictability, control, individual contribution, following procedures, and management, while viable work values include quality, flexibility, empowerment, team contribution, responsiveness, leadership, and strategy. No data are provided to support the assertion that these values are either viable or unviable. Is productivity really an unviable work value? Most economists are still under the impression that productivity is the key to our economic well-being, international competitiveness, and standard of living. Can organizations function effectively without any predictability or control? Do we want to tell employees that their individual contributions no longer matter? Are teams always necessary to get things done in an organization? Is management never needed and leadership always needed?
An overly simplistic approach to potentially complex issues characterizes much of this work. The author contends, “People can be divided into two camps: those who show concern for others and those who are concerned only for themselves.” I would maintain that a third, unmentioned and very large camp probably includes most of us, namely those who sometimes show concern for others and sometimes for themselves, sometimes even at the same time. Later, talking is cited as an ineffective behavior, and listening is termed effective. Well, if no one talks, what will anyone listen to?
In the author’s Megavalue Scale, the procedural instructions state, “The higher your scores, the more viable your values in the current business climate,” as if the current climate is a unidimensional, easily grasped and described phenomenon. Can this really be so easily assessed in a 40-item, nonvalidated, nonstandardized instrument? Who were the current business climate subject matter experts who contributed to the construction of this instrument? Is the same instrument equally relevant in Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East? The author frequently imposes his own values without explicitly indicating to readers that he is doing so, and (with the best intentions) misleads readers by presenting his own biases as if they were universally accepted facts of life.
Although the author acknowledges in a few pages that change is not always good or necessary, there is an implicit bias throughout the book that change is good and desirable, and lack of change problematic. Hence, readers are told, “Having the courage to confront and change your thoughts, feelings, decisions, and behaviors will increase your chances of being successful, and it will give you the credibility required to lead others through change.” Where is the support for such a wide-ranging and all-encompassing assertion?
Later, when the author discusses people who are able but unwilling to change, he states, “This combination of factors is the one most clearly associated with resistance to change.” The author fails to indicate here that perhaps there is no need to change, or that change would be counterproductive. Is it informative or useful to describe this as resistance? Perhaps it is merely common sense. When discussing those who are willing but unable to change, the author states, “it’s important to find out specifically why the person can’t change. . . so that appropriate corrective measures can be taken.” Implied here is that change is somehow always correct and that lack of change is incorrect.
One of the other problematic features of this book is that change and resistance to change is discussed in an abstract vacuum without any meaningful discussion of the actual content of change in a specific context. This encourages the tendency to make sweeping, data-free generalizations about change and resistance. In-depth case studies of how resistance to desirable change in actual well-managed organizations has been handled would have enhanced the interest, practicality, and value of this work.
the second article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rodgerdeanduncan/2013/12/27/change-speed-and-the-all-important-people-stuff/2/
and the book (organization development, Donald R. Brown) chapter 6
Post five reasons (rank ordered) why you think employees resist change. Each post within your document should be at least 100 words. Use the information contained in your chapter and article readings (and any other research you would like to include).
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