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Chapter 18 - Managing Change and Stress
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(g) A negative evaluation means one of two things: (1) either the initial
diagnosis was wrong or (2) the intervention was not effectively
implemented.
(3) OD Research and Practical Implications See Slide 18-25
(a) Planned organizational change works, but multifaceted interventions
are advised.
(b) Change programs are more successful when they are geared toward
meeting both short-term and long-term results.
(c) Organizational change is more likely to succeed when top
management is truly committed to the change process and its goals.
(d) The effectiveness of OD interventions is affected by cross-cultural
considerations.
III. Understanding and Managing Resistance to Change
i) Resistance to Change Overview
(1) No matter how technically or administratively perfect a proposed change
may be, people make or break it because organizational change
represents a form of influence.
(2) Although resistance to change may be the result of an irrational and
dysfunctional response of change recipients, recent research indicates
that it is equally likely that resistance is caused by two other key factors:
(1) the change agent’s characteristics, actions, inactions, and (2)
Chapter 18 - Managing Change and Stress
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perceptions and the quality of the relationship between change agents and
change recipients.
(3) Resistance is a natural form of employee feedback and it can serve a
useful purpose.
ii) Causes of Resistance to Change
(1) Causes of Resistance to Change Overview
(a) Resistance to change: emotional/behavioral response to real or
imagined threats to an established work routine. See Slide 18-27
(b) Resistance can be as subtle as passive resignation and as overt as
deliberate sabotage.
(c) Figure 18-5: A Dynamic Model of Resistance to Change illustrates
the relationship among the three key causes of resistance to change.
See Slide 18-26
(2) Recipient Characteristics See Slide 18-28
(a) An individual’s predisposition toward change.
(i) One’s predisposition toward change in a particular situation is a
function of both personal traits and change agent behaviors.
(ii) Resilience to change: a composite characteristic reflecting high
self-esteem, optimism, and an internal locus of control, was
positively associated with recipients’ willingness to accommodate or
accept a specific organizational change. See Slide 18-30
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(b) Surprise and fear of the unknown.
(i) When innovative or radically different changes are introduced
without warning, affected employees become fearful of the
implications.
(c) Fear of failure.
(i) Intimidating changes on the job can cause employees to doubt their
capabilities.
(d) Loss of status and/or job security.
(i) Changes that threaten to alter power bases or eliminate jobs
generally trigger strong resistance.
(e) Peer pressure.
(i) Someone who is not directly affected by a change may actively
resist it to protect the interest of his or her friends and coworkers.
(f) Past success.
(i) Success can breed complacency and foster a stubbornness to
change.
(3) Change Agent Characteristics See Slide 18-31
(a) Decisions that disrupt cultural traditions or group relationships.
(i) Change can cause cultural and group dynamics to be thrown into
disequilibrium.
(b) Personality conflicts.
Chapter 18 - Managing Change and Stress
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(i) The personalities of change agents can breed resistance.
(c) Lack of tact and/or poor timing.
(i) Undue resistance can occur because changes are introduced in an
insensitive manner or at an awkward time.
(d) Leadership style.
(i) People are less likely to resist change when the change agent uses
transformational leadership.
(e) Failing to legitimize change.
(i) Change must be internalized by recipients before it will be truly
accepted.
(4) Change Agent-Recipient Relationship
(a) Resistance is reduced when change agents and recipients have a
positive, trusting relationship.
(b) Managers who trust their employees make the change process an
open, honest, and participative affair.
(c) Employees who trust management are more willing to expend extra
effort and take chances with something different.
iii) Alternative Strategies for Overcoming Resistance to Change
(1) Resistance is a form of feedback and managers need to understand why it
is occurring before trying to overcome it.
(2) If employees perceive that the personal costs of change overshadow the
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benefits, managers are advised to: See Slide 18-32
(a) Provide as much information as possible to employees about the
change.
(b) Inform employees about the reasons/rationale for the change.
(c) Conduct meetings to address employees’ questions regarding the
change.
(d) Provide employees the opportunity to discuss how the proposed
change might affect them.
(3) The Real World/Real People: Hospitals Work to Overcome Docs’
Resistance to Using PCs illustrates how hospital administrators are
using these recommendations.
(4) Managers should not assume that people are consciously resisting
change and they should obtain employee feedback about any obstacles
that may be affecting employees’ ability or willingness to accept change.
(5) Change agents should not be afraid to modify the targeted elements of
change or their approach toward change if people are resisting for valid
reasons.
(6) Although employee participation in the change process is an approach for
reducing resistance, it is not cure-all for resistance to change.
(7) Table 18-2: Six Strategies for Overcoming Resistance to Change
describes various strategies managers can use to address resistance to
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change. See Slide 18-33
(a) There is no universal strategy for overcoming resistance to change and
managers should use a contingency approach.
(b) Each of the strategies has its advantages and drawbacks, and no one
strategy overcomes all resistance to change.
(c) Managers need a complete repertoire of change strategies.
IV. Dynamics of Stress
i) Stress Overview
(1) Although stress is caused by many factors, it triggers one of two basic
reactions: active fighting or passive flight.
(2) Fight-or-flight response: to either confront stressors or try to avoid them.
(3) Stress results in hormonal changes that mobilize the body for
extraordinary demands.
ii) Defining Stress See Slide 18-35
(1) Stress: behavioral, physical, or psychological response to stressors.
See Slide 18-34
(2) There are interrelated dimensions of stress: (1) environmental demands,
referred to as stressors, that produce (2) an adaptive response that is
influenced by (3) individual differences.
(3) Eustress: stress that is good or produces a positive outcome. See
Slide 18-36
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(4) Efforts need to be directed at managing stress, not at somehow escaping
it altogether.
iii) A Model of Occupational Stress
(1) Model of Occupational Stress Overview
(a) Figure 18-6: A Model of Occupational Stress identifies potential
stressors, stress coping strategies, the outcomes of stress, and
moderator variables that impact the stress process. See Slide 18-
37
(b) A moderator is a variable that causes the relationship between two
variables to be stronger for some people and weaker for others.
(2) Stressors
(a) Stressors: environmental factors that produce stress.
(b) There are four major types of stressors: individual, group,
organizational, and extraorganizational.
(i) Individual-level stressors are those directly associated with a
person’s job duties and would include job demands, work overload,
monotony, role conflict, role ambiguity, and job security.
(ii) Group-level stressors are caused by group dynamics, managerial
behavior, and harassment.
(iii)Organizational stressors affect large numbers of employees and
would include culture, structure, technology and organizational
change.
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(iv)Extraorganizational stressors are those caused by factors outside
the organization and would include work-family conflict and
socioeconomic status.
(3) Cognitive Appraisal of Stressors
(a) Cognitive appraisal reflects an individual’s overall perception or
evaluation of a situation or stressor.
(b) Figure 18-6 shows that people make two types of appraisals when
evaluating the potential impact of stressors on their lives: primary and
secondary appraisals.
(c) Primary appraisal: determining whether a stressor is irrelevant,
positive, or stressful.
(d) Secondary appraisal: assessing what might and can be done to
reduce stress.
(e) The combination of an individual’s primary and secondary appraisal
influences the choice of coping strategies used to reduce stress.
(4) Coping Strategies
(a) Coping strategies are characterized by the specific behaviors and
cognitions used to cope with a situation.
(b) Coping strategies include control, escape and symptom management
strategies.
(c) Control strategy: coping strategy that directly confronts or solves
problems.
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(i) Psychological detachment is a very useful control-oriented strategy
that can be used by everyone.
(ii) Psychological detachment: not being involved in work-related
activities, thoughts, or feelings during nonwork time.
(iii)Psychological detachment is positively associated with life
satisfaction and psychological wellbeing, and negatively with
emotional exhaustion and psychosomatic complaints.
(d) Escape strategy: coping strategy that avoids or ignores stressors and
problems.
(e) Symptom management strategy: coping strategy that focuses on
reducing the symptoms of stress.
(5) Stress Outcomes
(a) Stress has psychological/attitudinal, behavioral, cognitive, and physical
health consequences or outcomes.
(b) Workplace stress is negatively related to job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior,
positive emotions, and performance, and positively related to
emotional exhaustion, burnout, absenteeism, and turnover.
(c) Stress negatively affects our physical and psychological health and is
associated with the frequency of drinking and taking illicit drugs.
iv) Moderators of Occupational Stress
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(1) Social Support See Slide 18-38
(a) Meaningful social relationships help people do a better job of handling
stress.
(b) Social support: amount of helpfulness derived from social
relationships.
(c) Social support is determined by both the quantity and quality of an
individual’s social relationships.
(d) We receive four types of social support from others:
(i) Esteem support: providing information that a person is accepted
and respected despite any problems or inadequacies.
(ii) Informational support: providing help in defining, understanding,
and coping with problems.
(iii)Social companionship: spending time with others in leisure and
recreational activities.
(iv)Instrumental support: providing financial aid, material resources,
or needed services.
(e) Social support research highlights two practical recommendations:
(i) Managers are advised to keep employees informed about external
and internal social support systems.
(ii) Participative management programs and company-sponsored
activities that make employees feel they are an important part of an
Chapter 18 - Managing Change and Stress
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extended family can be rich sources of social support.
(f) The Real World/Real People: Recommendations for Improving
Relationships with Others provides recommendations for improving
interactions with friends, family, and coworkers.
(2) Hardiness
(a) Hardiness: personality characteristic that neutralizes stress.
(b) Hardiness embraces the personality dimensions of commitment, locus
of control, and challenge.
(i) Commitment reflects the extent to which an individual is involved in
whatever he or she is doing.
(ii) Individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to
foresee stressful events and are more likely to use proactive coping
strategies.
(iii)Challenge is represented by the belief that change is a normal part
of life.
(c) Research supports the moderating influence of hardiness on the stress
process and that organizational training and development programs
can be used to strengthen the characteristics of commitment, personal
control, and challenge.
(3) Type A Behavior Pattern
(a) Type A behavior pattern: aggressively involved in a chronic,
determined struggle to accomplish more in less time.
Chapter 18 - Managing Change and Stress
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(b) Table 18-3: Type A Characteristics profiles the behaviors that are
likely to be displayed by Type A individuals.
(c) Type A behavior is measured on a continuum with the hurried,
competitive Type A behavior pattern at one end and the more relaxed
Type B behavior pattern at the other.
(d) Management can help Type A people by not overloading them with
work despite their apparent eagerness to take an ever-increasing
workload.
v) Stress-Reduction Techniques
(1) Stress-Reduction Techniques Overview
(a) Stress is costly to individuals, groups, and organizations as a whole.
(b) Frequently used stress-reduction techniques are muscle relaxation,
biofeedback, meditation, cognitive restructuring, and holistic wellness.
(c) Table 18-4: Stress-Reduction Techniques describes five categories
of stress-reduction techniques. See Slide 18-39
(d) Martin Seligman developed a five-step process of cognitive
restructuring referred to as ABCDEs that focuses on getting people to
stop thinking pessimistically about an event or problem.
(i) A—Name the event or problem.
(ii) B—List your beliefs about the event or problem.
(iii)C—Identify the consequences of your beliefs.
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(iv)D—Formulate a disputation of your beliefs.
(v) E—Describe how energized and empowered you feel at the
moment.
(e) Stress reduction techniques only relieve symptoms of stress rather
than eliminate stressors themselves and therefore some argue that
broader approaches toward stress reduction should be used.
(2) Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
(a) Employee assistance programs (EAPs): help employees to resolve
personal problems that affect their productivity.
(b) EAPs are often provided by employers as part of the employees’
benefit package and they are aimed at helping employees to deal with
personal problems such as substance abuse, health-related problems,
family and marital issues, and other problems.
(3) Holistic Wellness Approach
(a) Holistic wellness approach: advocates personal responsibility for
healthy living.
(b) The benefits of corporate wellness programs often far exceed the costs
and employee participation in wellness programs is positively
associated with job satisfaction and negatively with absenteeism.
(c) Five dimensions of a holistic wellness approach are as follows:
(i) Self-responsibility.
Chapter 18 - Managing Change and Stress
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(ii) Nutritional awareness.
(iii)Stress reduction and relaxation.
(iv)Physical fitness.
(v) Environmental sensitivity.
(d) The Real World/Real People: Ohio Health and IBM Use Incentives
to Encourage People to Participate in Wellness Programs profiles
one firm’s use of monetary incentives to promote wellness.
BACK TO THE CHAPTER-OPENING CASE
1. What external and internal forces for change were putting pressure on Nokia to
change?
a. External forces for change come from four external forces: demographic
characteristics, technological advancements, shareholder, customer and
market changes, and social and political pressures. Internal forces for
2. If you were Stephen Elop, which of the target elements of change would you use
to create change within Nokia? Explain your rationale.
a. As presented in Figure 18-3, target elements of change include
organizational arrangements, social factors, methods, and people.
Chapter 18 - Managing Change and Stress
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changing the organization’s culture or the leadership style of the firm’s top
managers. Others may emphasize the technology variable of methods.
3. How might Stephen Elop evaluate the success of organizational change at
Nokia? What measures would you use?
a. According to the systems model of change, outputs represent the desired
end results of a change. As discussed in Chapter 17, there are four
generic organizational-effectiveness criteria: goal accomplishment,
To gain further insight and knowledge about Nokia, visit its website:
http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/ and explore the content under the “Our
company” section.
OB IN ACTION CASE STUDY: HCL Technologies Transforms Itself to Compete
with the Big IT Services Firms
1. What were the external and internal forces for change at HCL?
a. External forces for change come from four external forces: demographic
characteristics, technological advancements, shareholder, customer, and
