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Chapter 16
Change: A Constant in an Inconstant World
FOCUS
The purpose of this chapter is to explain why organizations need to change and how change is
accomplished. An understanding of these matters and of the reasons that people resist change will
help students become more comfortable with the change process. Resources for coping with
change are also presented.
Answers to Jump Start Questions
Answers will vary. For Question 1, Johnson suggests America Online, CraigsList, TiVo, and
NetFlix as additional examples.1 Allowing both questions to be answered through class discussion
will help emphasize the collaborative nature of this type of innovation.
CHAPTER PREVIEW
OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
16.1 Identify who usually recommends and implements organizational changes.
16.2 Describe significant forces that are driving change in today’s workplace.
16.3 Explain several effective methods of planning and implementing change.
16.4 Understand common reasons for resistance to change.
16.5 Describe the leader’s role in the change process.
16.6 Cite methods of helping employees cope with change.
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
(Supplementary Exercise 16.1)
I. The Imperative for Change
A. Basic concepts about organizational change
B. Technology Connection
C. Who plans and initiates change
D. Ask Yourself
II. Forces Prompting Change
A. Economy
B. In the News
C. Globalization
D. Science and Technology
E. Transportation
F. Workforce
G. Work Itself
(Supplementary Exercise 16.2)
H. Ask Yourself
III.How Change Is Planned
A. Strategic Planning
B. Organizational Development (OD)
C. Job Redesign
D. Reengineering
E. Force Field Analysis
F. Ask Yourself
Chapter 16 Change: A Constant in an Inconstant World 1
IV. Resistance to Change
A. Why people resist change
B. How resistance to change can benefit organizations
C. The employee’s role in evaluating change
D. Suggestions for dealing with change
(Supplementary Exercise 16.3 with TM 16.1)
(Supplementary Exercise 16.4)
E. Ask Yourself
V. The Leader’s Role
A. Steps in the change process
B. Creating a climate conducive to change
C. Open communication
D. Guidelines for facilitating change
E. Stages in accepting change
F. Ask Yourself
VI. Helping Employees with Change
A. Coaching
B. Counseling
C. Employee Assistance Programs
D. Ask Yourself
TEACHING-LEARNING SUGGESTIONS
Supplementary Exercise 16.1
Bring in a recent newspaper article about a change in your community that will be familiar to
students and that may in some way have affected them or will affect them. Emphasize that change
is a constant and that everyone must learn to adapt to change. You may want to ask students to
bring in their own news items to share. Emphasize how often change occurs and what areas are
being affected by the changes.
16.1 The Imperative for Change
The chapter opens with basic concepts regarding organizational change. Go over them. Ask
students for additional examples of external and internal forces and types of change. List the
people who plan change and those who carry it out. Ask whether it’s valuable to include front-line
employees in planning change and why, or why not. Outline the three methods of carrying out
change described in the text.
Answers to Technology Connection
1. Students should be able to derive from the feature that benefits include innovating more
2. Remind students of what they learned about organizational cultures in Chapter 13. For
2 Human Relations—Instructor’s Resource CD
Answers to Ask Yourself
1. Answers will vary, though some of the external forces are likely to be similar or the same.
2. Answers will vary. Ask volunteers to share their answers. For unsuccessful methods, ask the
16.2 Forces Prompting Change
This section describes several external and internal forces that are strongly impacting
organizations and employees and prompting change: the economy, globalization, science and
technology, transportation, the workforce, and work itself. Go over each. Update with any new
information, and allow students to do so as well.
Answers to In the News
1. Instead of trying only not to lose ground or retrenching during the recession, both companies
2. Answers will vary. Students will probably mention opportunities for trying out new
Supplementary Exercise 16.2
Ask students to consider what they learned in Section 16.2 about the economy, globalization, and
science and technology and to answer this question: Why have modular and virtual organizations
(described in Chapter 13) have become so popular?
Answers to Ask Yourself
1. Answers will vary, though some are likely to be similar or the same. Students may have lost
2. Answers will vary, though many are likely to be similar. Ask volunteers to share their
16.3 How Change Is Planned
This section describes the most common methods for bringing about change: strategic planning,
organizational development (including total quality management and benchmarking), common
methods of job redesign, and force field analysis. The need to plan well in advance for change is
emphasized, as well as the need to predict and understand the consequences of changes.
Go over each method, emphasizing or asking students for differences and similarities. Charting
these differences and similarities on the board or an overhead might be useful. Discuss the role of
the change agent.
Chapter 16 Change: A Constant in an Inconstant World 3
Answers to Ask Yourself
1. Answers will vary. Invite students to share examples of times they have acted as an agent for
2. Answers may vary. Ask volunteers to share their answers. Ask the rest of the class to identify
16.4 Resistance to Change
This section will familiarize students with four common reasons for resistance to change: fear of
the unknown, fear of power loss, fear of economic loss, and conflict of interest. Explore each
reason in detail. Provide and ask for examples. The section also explains how resistance to
change can cue employers that a change may not be needed or (more often) has been inadequately
planned. Students should be able to recall examples from their own experience of how changes
were, or were not, carefully planned and communicated and the effect that this had on resistance.
The section offers suggestions for dealing with change. Do students have any others?
Supplementary Exercise 16.3
Ask students to think of a change that needs to be made in their workplace and to develop a plan
for implementing that change. Students should describe the reasons that the recommended change
might meet resistance and what steps they would take to reduce or overcome that resistance. Use
Teaching Master 16.1, “Bringing about Change,” to give students some guidance in the thought
process and to provide consistency in the steps taken. The results can be discussed in class or can
be used as a homework assignment.
Supplementary Exercise 16.4
Singly or in small groups, have students develop a list of five practical suggestions for dealing
with change, based on their own experiences or knowledge. The suggestions should be different
from those provided in the text.
Answers to Ask Yourself
1. Answers will vary. Encourage students to share examples from their workplace experiences.
2. Answers will vary. Some examples follow. There are many positive things about change
situations if you view them in a positive way.
16.5 The Leader’s Role
Leaders often function as change agents to bring about change. This section opens with a seven-
step process for effecting change. Use Teaching Master 16.2, “Seven Steps in the Change
Process,” which lists the seven steps. Spend time on each step to develop fully the associated
activities. Ask students how well this process fits the participative and delegated methods of
carrying out change.
4 Human Relations—Instructor’s Resource CD
The text emphasizes the importance of open communication and creating a climate conducive
to change. Have volunteers recall the discussion of organizational climates in Chapter 13. Ask
students how much climate contributes to the success of a change. Do they have other
suggestions on how to create a conducive climate?
Suggestions for facilitating change are presented next. These suggestions should also be fully
discussed and developed. The section concludes with four stages in the acceptance of change.
Answers to Ask Yourself
1. Answers will vary. Ask a few volunteers to share their changes and lists with the class. You
2. Answers will vary. Poll the class to see how many students think habits are easy to break and
16.6 Helping Employees with Change
Coaching is a method of employee development that closely resembles on-the-job training. An
experienced and skilled employee is assigned or chooses to train or develop a junior employee.
Mentoring is a popular form of coaching. Reverse mentoring has become increasingly popular in
recent years as a means of helping senior employees upgrade their technology skills and bridging
generational divides.
Counseling is a technique used to assist employees with problems affecting performance on
the job. The problems may be personal or job-related but in either case may be costly for both the
individual and the company. Three basic types of counseling methods are explained. Benefits to
the company for promoting and providing counseling are also presented.
Employee assistance programs (EAPs) are formal programs designed to aid employees with
personal and professional problems. Use of these programs increased during the recent recession.
Employees are guaranteed confidentiality when entering an EAP. Often, people need help coping
with the effects of change in organizations or in personal life.
Planned change in an organization should give attention to the emotional dimensions as well
as the practical and informational aspects of the change process. Employee problems tend to
affect the work group if left unresolved.
Answers to Ask Yourself
1. Answers will vary but will probably include technology skills.
2. Answers will vary, and students should be encouraged to discuss this topic openly. What are
KEY TERMS DEFINITIONS
Planned change A method of helping people develop appropriate behaviors for adapting to new
methods while remaining effective and creative.
Unilateral method A method of implementing organizational change that allows supervisors to
dictate change with little or no input from employees.
Participative method A method of implementing organizational change that uses employee
groups in the problem-solving and decision-making processes before the change.
Delegated method A method of implementing organizational change that gives employees the
responsibility and authority to effect change.
Chapter 16 Change: A Constant in an Inconstant World 5
Strategic planning The systematic setting of organizational goals, defining strategies and
policies to achieve them, and developing detailed plans to ensure that the strategies are
implemented.
SUGGESTED RESPONSES TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Recommendations for organizational changes originate from a variety of sources. They
include professional planners, outside consultants, special task forces or teams of
representatives from within the organization, CEOs, and other top-level managers. A growing
6 Human Relations—Instructor’s Resource CD
2. Sample answers are provided: The most significant force impacting the workplace today is
3. Strategic planning is a process for setting organizational goals, defining strategies and
4. Four common reasons for resisting change are fear of the unknown, fear of power loss, fear
5. The seven steps in the change process are conducting a present state assessment, conducting a
6. Coaching (including mentoring and reverse mentoring) is used to address employee training
SUGGESTED RESPONSES TO CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS
1. External and internal forces provide an imperative for change. To survive and thrive,
2. Answers will vary. They must cover a topic other than those presented in Section 16.2 (the
3. Answers will vary. Students should compare and contrast two methods.
4. Answers will vary, but students should provide an example, which can be real or imagined,
for each reason.
Chapter 16 Change: A Constant in an Inconstant World 7
6. Answers will vary. Communication should begin before the change and continue during and
after it. Employees need to know why the change is needed, what to expect during the change
process, and what their position will be as a result of the change. This last information should
7. Answers will vary. Students should recollect the discussion of organizational climate in
8. Answers will vary, but students should provide one example each of situations in which
SUGGESTED RESPONSES TO CASE STUDIES
Case Study 1 Questions (Change at the College)
1. Marc made several fundamental errors. He did not plan the change carefully. He did not
2. Answers will vary. You may wish to ask students to share their suggestions with the class.
Case Study 2 Questions (Kobe’s Fitness Center)
1. Answers will vary. Students are likely to adapt the seven-step process for managing change
Case Study 3 Questions (Culture Shock)
1. Three of the four common reasons for resistance to change are likely. Judges, secretaries, and
attorneys will be susceptible to fear of the unknown. A few of the attorneys are competitive;
2. Students might suggest open communication throughout the change process, creating a
climate conducive to change, accenting the positives, refraining from downgrading past
8 Human Relations—Instructor’s Resource CD
3. Answers will vary. The court administrator might, for example, arrange training for the
HUMAN RELATIONS IN ACTION
1. Students’ presentations should accurately update either the Economy or the Science and
2. As students present their case studies, ask the class to apply what they have learned in the
3. Students should exchange or present their descriptions. Their writing should be specific about
Notes
1. Johnson, Steven. “How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live.” Time 173(23), June 15, 2009,
37.
Chapter 16 Change: A Constant in an Inconstant World 9
