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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Lecture Notes
Chapter 15: Leading Change and Stress Management
Learning Objectives
15.1: Describe the forces driving organizational change.
15.2: Explain why planned organizational change is necessary.
15.3: Discuss the reasons why people resist organizational change.
Chapter Summary
Chapter summary here.
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Leading Change in a VUCA World
A. VUCA framework for responding to organizational change:
i. Acronym borrowed from U.S. Army:
a. Volatility: unexpected or unstable and of unknown duration; the
nature and speed of change
ii. One of the greatest challenges facing leaders in this century.
a. The “new normal” is life-threatening events such as natural
disasters, terrorism, and pandemic diseases.
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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
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b. Leaders will need to help employees cope with the stress of rapid
change.
II. Forces Driving Organizational Change
A. Workforce diversity: Differences in gender, race/ethnicity, and generations at
work
i. Changes in the workforce and cultural differences will continue to be a
force for organizational change.
B. Economy is a significant source of change:
i. Economic recessions result in major changes such as downsizing and
restructuring.
C. See Table 15.1 Forces Driving Organizational Change
D. Technology will continue to create organizations that grow exponentially and
outpace their peers.
i. Artificial intelligence, robotics, and virtual reality will unleash the
workforce from traditional constraints on time and space.
a. Agile organizations will successfully mix technology such as
robotics with human talents.
b. Organizations will need to be nimble, and smaller organizations will
be better able to leverage technology.
ii. Lifelong learning will be necessary to keep pace with change, and people
III. Planned Organizational Change
A. Proactive: Idea of approaching change in an initiative and predictive manner to
keep ahead of changes
B. Reactive: Idea of approaching change as a forced reaction or “putting out fires”
i. Most organizations are in this “reactive mode” with regards to change.
C. Targets of planned organizational change:
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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
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i. Structure
ii. Technology
iii. Processes
iv. Teams
v. People
D. Incremental versus radical change:
E. See Figure 15.2 Types of Planned Organizational Change
F. Organizational Subsystems Involved in Planned Change
i. Four organizational subsystems:
a. Formal organization. Provides coordination and control for
organized activity
b. Social factors. Includes individual differences, team interactions,
and organizational culture
c. Technology. How raw materials and inputs transform into outputs
d. Physical setting. Characteristics of physical space and its
arrangement
H. Examples of Organizational Development Interventions
i. Survey feedback: A method in which data are collected from employees
regarding their attitudes toward work, and their confidentiality is assured
a. Commonly employed OD technique
b. Data are analyzed and reported back to the organization as group
averages.
ii. Workout: A method for employees to get new ideas heard by top
management without having to go through hierarchical levels of
bureaucracy
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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
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a. Pioneered at General Electric (GE) and adopted by other
organizations since
iv. Process consultation: The hiring of a consultant with OD expertise to
assist with an organizational issue as an outside point of view
a. Example foci include interpersonal relationships and
communication.
b. Consultant guides and coaches leader to find a solution, rather than
offering their own solution.
v. Team building: OD intervention that employs group activities that
involve a great deal of interaction among team members to increase trust
a. Has emerged as important because of an increasing reliance on
teams to work on complex tasks and generate new ideas
b. Research has shown OD interventions do affect satisfaction and
attitudes, with team building being one of the more effective
interventions.
c. However, research has not shown strong relationships between
team-building and team performance; seems to affect attitude more
than performance.
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IV. Resistance to Change
A. Employee reactions range from resistance to compliance to commitment:
i. Resistance indicates that the employees fight the change and may try to
undermine it.
a. The most difficult reaction to address
ii. In compliance, they simply go along with the change but secretly hope that
it is a program that will come to an end soon.
iii. Commitment to change: The most desirable reaction to organizational
change in which the employees support change and help the organization
implement it.
B. Increasing employee participation can reduce resistance to change.
i. Lack of participation and input is a central motivator in resisting change.
C. Personal reasons to resist change:
i. Habit
ii. Security
iii. Fear of the unknown
E. How to Overcome Resistance to Change
i. Guidelines to overcome resistance to change:
a. Educate followers
b. Participation matters
c. Building support and commitment reduces resistance by providing
employee support.
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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
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f. Selection of people who are open to change in the hiring process
reduces overall resistance.
ii. Last resort tactics for overcoming change resistance:
a. Manipulation and co-optation tactics, or underhanded techniques
and buying support from others
b. Coercion should be used rarely, if at all.
V. Leading Change
A. Three steps in Kurt Lewin’s change process:
i. Unfreezing: Challenges the status quo by shaking up assumptions
a. When people and systems are in the frozen stage, you cannot change
them without “heating things up.”
ii. Changing: Movement toward a new desired state
iii. Refreezing: Reinforcing and restructuring to make changes permanent.
a. Employees tend toward status quo or equilibrium, thus requiring
constant attention to refreezing new system after implementation.
B. Force Field Analysis
i. Force field analysis: A strategy that analyzes the forces for and against an
organizational change
ii. Steps of force field analysis:
a. Define the problem (current state) and the target situation (target
state)
b. List forces working for and against desired changes
C. Kotter’s Eight-Step Model
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i. Elaborates on the Lewin model and provides specific guidelines for
changing organizations
ii. See Figure 15.4 Kotter’s Eight-Step Model for Leading Change.
iii. Establish a sense of urgency
a. Leaders communicate the threat of losing ground in some way to
others.
iv. Form a powerful guiding coalition.
a. Core of 3-5 believers with some power should be assembled to
begin convincing others change is needed.
v. Create a vision.
a. A succinct but compelling “picture” of the future must be created to
motivate and unify people.
D. Effective Change Implementation
i. Top management support: Executive leadership whose commitment is
important during organizational change
ii. One key attitude is commitment to change.
iii. Restructuring and downsizing: The most challenging type of
organizational change, a radical measure to preserve the organization which
often results in morale-damaging layoffs
iv. Innovation: A process of creating new ideas
a. Communication and fostering innovation may offset morale losses
incurred in restructuring and downsizing
VI. Stress in the Context of Organizational Change
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A. Change is more likely to lead to stress when the change has consequences that
threaten employees’ sense of identity.
i. Change uncertainty: Uncertain negative cognitive outcomes of a high
level of perceived change excessiveness among employees
a. Created by strategic, structural, and job-related factors
ii. Change increases uncertainty and disrupts employees’ regular work
routines.
B. Unhappiness with organizational processes occurs when employees:
C. The intensification of work (fast pace and constant change) over the past 30 years
has also resulted in strained relationships with customers, coworkers, and
supervisors.
i. Change creates job insecurity, which leads to emotional exhaustion during
change
a. May result in resistance to change efforts
ii. Both organizations and individuals can take actions to alleviate the stress
due to change.
a. Organizations can manage the frequency of change and the planning
involved in change.
b. Employees also need to develop coping mechanisms to deal with
the stress of organizational change.
D. See Table 15.2 Coping with Stress During Organizational Change.
VII. What is Stress?
A. Organizational stress: A state of stress while on the job which seriously impacts
employee well-being and health
i. Caused by psychological job strain, which is a combination of greater
psychological job demands and lower job control.
a. Job control: The perception of agency within one’s position.
ii. Over half of all workers experience moderate to severe stress on the job.
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b. Cynicism
c. Detachment from work
d. Feelings of ineffectiveness or failure
e. Decreased motivation and job performance
E. Stress and Organizational Performance
i. Financial concerns and job anxieties are among the top stressors in
people’s lives.
a. More women are stressed by finances than men.
b. Financial matters were always the top reason for stress, regardless
of demographic.
c. This stress impacts productivity and attendance at work.
ii. The COVID-19 crisis of 2020 brought further economic woes and job
insecurity.
a. The economy was reported as a significant source of stress for 70%
of the respondents.
b. Similar proportions of respondents said that work was a significant
source of stress in their lives.
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c. Reduces turnover and withdrawal
iv. Hindrance-related stress: Stress which constrains or interferes with
work performance
a. Related in the workplace to reduced loyalty and greater turnover
intentions
G. Role Stress
i. Role ambiguity: A type of stress that occurs where there is a lack of
specificity or predictability about what a person’s role is.
a. Failure to understand expectations for performance.
ii. Role conflict: A type of stress that occurs when there are incompatible
demands regarding a person’s role.
iii. Role overload: Stress caused by too much work, time pressure, and
deadlines that a person feels unable to meet.
a. Quantitative (number of demands) or qualitative (insufficient
employee qualifications)
iv. Reducing all three forms of role stress (role ambiguity, role conflict, and
role overload) and having social support play a crucial role in increasing
job satisfaction.
a. Also reduces acting out at work, which includes interpersonal and
organizational deviance
v. Work-life balance: The reconciliation of conflicts between work and
family roles.
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a. Research has indicated that conflicts between work and family roles
negatively affect employee well-being.
vi. Crossover stress effect: Tendency of employees to carry stress home
with them from the workplace
vii. Employers may benefit from the performance gains and positive
attitudinal shifts that stem from experiences of facilitation between roles.
viii. A study of graduates in the early years of their career concluded that
although graduates seek work–life balance, their concern for career success
draws them into a situation where they work increasingly long hours and
experience an increasingly unsatisfactory relationship between home and
work.
a. Underscores the importance of organizational policy and practice to
help employees manage the relationship between work and family
H. Stress is a Global Concern
i. The prevalence of work stress has been documented in numerous countries
and regions.
ii. Self-efficacy has a universally negative association with burnout across all
regions.
a. Also reduces impact of role conflict or role ambiguity on burnout in
eight of the nine cultures studied (the relationship did not hold for
role ambiguity in the United States)
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failure, lack of training, difficulties with teamwork, and lack of
structure.
I. Coping
i. Coping is defined as “constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts
to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as
taxing or exceeding the resources of the person.”
a. Behavioral methods: Problem-solving coping behaviors
b. Cognitive methods: Coping behaviors which manage thoughts and
emotions
J. Social Support
i. Social support: Assistance from other individuals when experiencing
stressful job demands
a. Support during a stress episode is beneficial.
b. Comes from others—family, friends, coworkers, and supervisors
ii. Buffering effect: Effect where help from others serves as a buffer from
stress and strain
K. Preventive Stress Management in Organizations
i. Given the rising costs of workplace stress, organizations have been
addressing stress through a variety of policy changes and interventions.
a. Preventive stress management: A set of methods that promote
health at the workplace and avoid distress
b. Wellness programs: Organization-sponsored workshops on time
management, weight loss, alcohol or drug abuse, smoking
cessation, and exercise
L. Employee Assistance Programs
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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
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i. Employee assistance program (EAP): An employer-sponsored internal
support program to restore work function for reactions that affect
performance and coworker relationships
a. Referrals for counseling are made through these programs.
VIII. Leadership Implications: Helping Employees Cope
A. Most organizations today are undergoing changes that create stress for employees.
i. Organizational changes are stressful for everyone.
B. “The challenge for leaders is to create organizational cultures and work
environments in which people may produce, serve, grow, and be valued.
i. Leaders must develop their own stress coping plans so they can support
their followers.
C. Ensuring the well-being of employees is essential, based on current thinking on
positive organizational behavior (POB).
i. Compassionate leadership: A leader’s ethically-based actions that
empower, engage, and enable associates to become the best versions of
themselves as those individuals create long-term value, deliver great
service to customers, and benefit society
a. Compassion from a leader is noticing, feeling, and understanding
the suffering of a follower.
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Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
b. Based upon this understanding, the leader takes action to alleviate
the person’s suffering.
c. A leader should view followers as “whole people” who bring their
emotions with them to the workplace, and assist with work–life
balance concerns.