managing change & conflict

Managing Change and Conflict

Chapter 14 Ready Notes

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Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Lecture Outline and Line Art Presentation, 14–2

Chapter Objectives

1. Identify and describe four types of organizational change according to the Nadler-Tushman model.

2. Explain how people tend to respond differently to changes they like and those they dislike.

3. List a least six reasons why employees resist changes and discuss what management can do about resistance to change.

4. Describe how the unfreezing-change-refreezing analogy applies to organization development (OD).


Chapter Objectives (cont’d)

5. Describe tempered radicals and identify the 5Ps in the checklist for grassroots change agents.

6. Contrast competitive and cooperative conflict styles, and identify five conflict resolution techniques.


Change: Organizational and Individual Perspectives

• Types of Organizational Change– Anticipatory changes: planned changes based on

expected situations.

– Reactive changes: changes made in response to unexpected situations.

– Incremental changes: subsystem adjustments required to keep the organization on course.

– Strategic changes: altering the overall shape or direction of the organization.


Change: Organizational and Individual Perspectives (cont’d)

• Tuning– The most common, least intense, and least risky type

of change.

– Also known as preventive maintenance and kaizen (continuous improvement).

– Key is to actively anticipate and avoid problems rather than waiting for something to go wrong.

• Adaptation– Incremental changes that are in reaction to external

problems, events, or pressures.


• Re-Orientation– Change that is anticipatory and strategic in scope and

causes the organization to be significantly redirected.

– Also called “frame bending” (Nadler and Tushman).

• Re-Creation– Intense and risky decisive change that reinvents the

organization.

– Also called “frame breaking” (Nadler and Tushman).

Change: Organizational and Individual Perspectives (cont’d)


Individual Reactions to Change

• How People Respond to Changes They Like– Three-stage process

– Unrealistic optimism

– Reality shock

– Constructive direction


Individual Reactions to Change (cont’d)

• How People Respond to Changes They Fear and Dislike– Stages

– Getting off on the wrong track

– Laughing it off

– Growing self-doubt

– Buying in

– Constructive direction


Why Do Employees Resist Change?

• Surprise– Unannounced significant changes threaten

employees’ sense of balance in the workplace.

• Inertia– Employees have a desire to maintain a safe, secure,

and predictable status quo.

• Misunderstanding and lack of skills– Without introductory or remedial training, change may

be perceived negatively.


Why Do Employees Resist Change? (cont’d)

• Emotional Side Effects– Forced acceptance of change can create a sense of

powerlessness, anger, and passive resistance to change.

• Lack of Trust– Promises of improvement mean nothing if employees

do not trust management.

• Fear of Failure– Employees are intimidated by change and doubt their

abilities to meet new challenges.


• Personality Conflicts– Managers who are disliked by their managers are

poor conduits for change.

• Poor Timing– Other events can conspire to create resentment about

a particular change.

• Lack of Tact– No showing sensitivity to feelings can create

resistance to change.



• Threat to Job Status/Security– Employees worry that any change may threaten their

job or security.

• Breakup of Work Group– Changes can tear apart established on-the-job social

relationships.

• Competing Commitments– Change can disrupt employees in their pursuit of

other goals.



Overcoming Resistance to Change

• Strategies for Overcoming Resistance to Change– Education and communication

– Participation and involvement

– Facilitation and support

– Negotiation and agreement

– Manipulation and co-optation

– Explicit and implicit coercion


Making Change Happen

• Two Approaches to Organization Change– Organization Development (OD)

– Formal top-down approach

– Grassroots Change

– An unofficial and informal bottom-up approach

• Change Agent Characteristics– Foresight

– Responsiveness

– Flexibility

– Adaptability


Planned Change Through Organization Development (OD)

• Organization development (OD) – Planned change programs intended to help people

and organizations function more effectively.

– Applying behavioral science principles, methods, and theories to create and cope with change.

– OD creates fundamental change in the organization, as opposed to fixing a problem or improving a procedure.

– OD programs generally are facilitated by hired consultants,


Planned Change Through Organization Development (OD) (cont’d)

• Objectives of OD– Deepen the sense of organizational purpose.

– Strengthen interpersonal trust.

– Encourage problem solving rather than avoidance.

– Develop a satisfying work experience.

– Supplement formal authority with knowledge and skill-based authority.

– Increase personal responsibility for planning and implementing.

– Encourage willingness to change.


Planned Change Through Organization Development (OD) (cont’d)

• The OD Process (Kurt Lewin)– Unfreezing, changing, and refreezing social systems

– Unfreezing: neutralizing resistance by preparing people for change.

– Changing: implementing the planned change

– Refreezing: systematically following a change program for lasting results.


Unofficial and Informal Grassroots Change

• Grassroots Change– Change that is spontaneous, informal, experimental,

and driven from within.

• Tempered Radicals– People who quietly try to change the dominant

organizational culture in line with their convictions.

– Guidelines for tempered radicals– Think small for big results.

– Be authentic.

– Translate.

– Don’t go it alone.


Managing Conflict

• Conflict– Incompatible behaviors that make another person

less effective

• Dealing with the Two Faces of Conflict– Competitive conflict: parties are pursuing directly

opposite (win-lose) goals.

– Cooperative conflict: a mutually reinforcing experience (win-win) that serves the best interests of both parties.


Managing Conflict (cont’d)

• Conflict Triggers– Conflict trigger: any factor that increases the chances

of conflict.

– Types of triggers – Ambiguous or overlapping jurisdictions.

– Competition for scarce resources.

– Communication breakdowns.

– Time pressure.

– Unreasonable standards, rule, policies, or procedures.

– Personality clashes.

– Status differentials.

– Unrealized expectations.


Managing Conflict (cont’d)

• Resolving Conflict: Conflict Resolution Techniques– Problem solving

– Superordinate goals

– Compromise

– Forcing

– Smoothing


Career Advancement Behaviors

• Best Behaviors– Perspective taking

– Creating solutions

– Expressing emotions

– Reaching out

• Worst Behaviors– Avoidance

– Winning at all costs

– Displaying anger

– Demeaning others

– Retaliating

managing change & conflict

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employees

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managing conflict

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people respond

overcoming

planned change

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