Sharon M. Danes, Professor, Family
Social Science, University of Minnesota
Robert A. Milligan, Professor, Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
Biotechnology.. E-business…globalization…biosecurity…empowerment…changing attitudes…increasing business concentration…lifelong learning…
These changes and many more surround us everyday. You are a leader of a business that has succeeded and seeks to continue to be successful. In today’s world of change and intense competition, you must lead a business that seeks to thrive in an environment of change. The attitude of your business personnel towards change may be the most important component of your business culture. You have a profound influence on the view of culture in your business and of the response of your personnel to each change they face. In this article, we provide information on attitudes toward change, insight on how individuals react to change, and ideas to enable you to lead a business that thrives in an environment of change.
Reactive versus Proactive Response
to Change
When major change occurs, everyone has similar types of feelings. Fear, anxiety
and loss of control are often experienced. However, what differs is how people
react to that change. One can react in a reactive or proactive manner. Being
reactive means people let change happen and then they respond or adapt to it
(Figure 1). They are usually more inclined to view change as a loss or a threat
in this situation. Being proactive (Figure 2) means people recognize change
is normal and expected. Planning for change is natural to those with a proactive
approach. They are much more likely to see change as an opportunity in this
approach. They are at least open to reframing how they view the change.
|
|
Reactive or proactive responses to change are really not two separate responses to change but rather two ends of a continuum. Most people have an overall orientation toward change that means they most often respond in a certain way. Many factors, however, determine how that person reacts to each individual change. For instance, a person may usually respond to change in a fairly positive and proactive way. But, that same person could become very reactive if they felt threatened by the change. Similarly, a person with reactive tendencies could become very proactive when he or she was anticipating positive outcomes from the change. You are probably ahead of us already and see that impacting how employees view change is an opportunity area for managers.
Factors Affecting People’s Response
to Change
Whether one views a particular change as a loss or an opportunity depends on
a number of factors. Some of those factors are external to a person and others
depend on how the change is perceived. When there are many changes happening
at once or the changes are coming at a very fast pace or there are a number
of major changes occurring simultaneously, there is a greater chance that a
person will experience that change as a loss. The effect is additive. If any
combination of these factors occurs at the same time, it is more likely that
a person will experience the change as loss.
How you personally view a specific change has a great impact on how you respond to the change. The greater meaning a person places upon a change, the greater will be the sense of loss. Two people can experience the same set of circumstances, but view them differently. Let’s say that there are two family business owners who get hurt and can no longer work. Both have a son or daughter interested in continuing in the business. Both view their injury and its impact on their business as a loss. Both deny the impact of their injury at first because they are fearful about what it means and confused about how to proceed. Then both become angry and irritable about their situation. These are normal stages of grief over things that we perceive as losses. Both experience the “blues” after awhile, but here is where they begin to differ. One of the individuals views the injury as a loss of a way of life, becomes quite depressed, and can’t seem to move on. The other feels pretty low for awhile but gets some help to find meaning in the situation. He begins to explore options and to see the situation as an opportunity to get his son or daughter more involved in the business at an earlier stage in life. He also begins to concentrate on diversifying the operation by creating a value-added product in which he can be involved despite his injury.
How you view change influences how you communicate, make decisions, and solve problems as you deal with change. It also determines how quickly you progress through a normal series of adjustments like those just described. How much control you have had over the change can affect how you respond to it. When a person has had involvement in making a change, they often view the change as more positive. A very crucial factor in how you interact with a change is how you view the change. The more you value what is changing, the greater the sense of loss you will experience.
Decision Making When Change is Viewed as Loss
| Figure 3. |  |
When people view a change as loss, they go through a grieving process. There are several stages people go through in such a case (Figure 3). Decision making abilities are affected differently at the various stages. The first stage is shock and denial. Fear, confusion, and a general numbness characterize this stage. People often blame others in this stage for what is occurring. A need for decision- making is often not recognized at this stage because people are denying that there has been a change. Anxiety, irritation, frustration and shame characterize the next stage of the grief and loss cycle, usually identified as the anger stage. Decision-making is very difficult for people in this stage because their energies are so involved in the emotions of the situation.
The next stage (depression or detachment) is an overwhelming sense of the “blues” and a general lack of energy. This stage is often accompanied by a feeling of helplessness. People in this stage have difficulty finding the energy to make decisions on their own. They often need the help of others to do so. If a person becomes clinically depressed, he/she will need help from a professional to move out of this stage. People don’t go through these stages of grief in a neat step-by-step fashion. They may flip back into an earlier stage. How quickly ones goes through the grief and loss cycle depends on the intensity of meaning that a person has placed on the change. People become more open to alternatives when they enter the dialogue and bargaining stage. They have a desire to tell their story because they are struggling to find meaning for what has happened. As they enter the acceptance stage, they become more open to exploring options and developing a new plan of action. Entering the acceptance stage doesn’t mean that people like the change but they have begun to incorporate it into their lives. At the end of this last stage, people are again empowered to make decisions because they have meaning in their life again. However, things are not exactly the same as prior to the time of the change.
Change as Opportunity
| Figure 4. |  |
Even when people have decided to make a change and have been involved in making the decision and consider it a good or positive change, there is an adjustment process and often resistance to that change (Figure 4). Figure 4 indicates the phases people experience on dimensions of pessimism over time. People can tolerate just a certain level of pessimism and it varies across people. When people plan a change in their personal or work lives, they do some investigation into the alternatives. Despite this information seeking, they still enter a change process with “uninformed optimism”. This stage means that they don’t know exactly how it will affect their lives, even though they think they do. As people put the change in place, they move to “informed pessimism”. In this phase, they actually experience how the change will affect them and the consequences it will have on them. They begin to experience the actual costs of making the change. Then they begin to doubt the change decision and question whether this change is what they actually want to do.
At that point, a “checking out” period may occur and is a normal occurrence in the process. This period is a time to acknowledge the issues and questions that surround the change. The “checking out” can occur either privately or publicly. The latter is less hazardous because issues are discussed in the open and the problem solving process can proceed. In private checking out, people do not share with others their doubts and fears but may act them out, confusing others involved in making the change. If a discussion of doubts and actual impacts of the change occurs, needed adjustments can be made. Then, the group moves to the hopeful realism phase. There may still be doubts at this stage, but the group has reaffirmed that “just maybe” this change will work for them. The checking out phase doesn’t need to occur. If it never takes place or is done publicly and problems are managed, the concerns of informed pessimism begin to subside. As the change becomes more integrated, the group moves on to the “informed optimism” stage where more confidence is experienced about the successful incorporation of the change. The completion stage is characterized by an understanding that costs surrounding the change are worth while and a commitment is made to that change. In summary, coping with change means learning not only about technology, but also about people. Businesses that will thrive in the future are those that plan proactively around change by being open to new and/or multiple ways of doing things.
References
Conner, D. R. (1992). Managing at the speed of change. New York: Villard
Books.
Danes, S. M., & Rettig, K. D. (1993). The role of perception in the intention
to change the family financial situation. Journal of family and economic
issues, 14(4), 365-389.
Kuber-Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying. New York: Macmillian.
Theobald, R. (1992). Turning the century: Personal and organizational strategies
for your changed world. Indianapolis, IN: Knowledge Systems, Inc.
Wheatley, M. J. (1992). Leadership and the new science: Learning about organization
from an orderly universe. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.