Re: Resistance to Change LO780

JOHN N. WARFIELD (jwarfiel@osf1.gmu.edu)
Fri, 14 Apr 1995 07:00:46 -0400 (EDT)

On Wed, 12 Apr 1995 Dmweston@aol.com wrote in LO753:

> Replying to LO738 --
>
> Stuart Umpleby's comment carries such a ring of truth: "I liked John
> Warfield's description of resistance to change. It describes quite well
> my feelings when I resist change -- I do not know how to act in the new
> situation."
>
> Even in settings I've seen where people are very eager for change and have
> been actively involved in the change design, I have seen the phenomenon
> Stuart describes come up. When implementation actually occurs, people do
> not know how to act. The people most desirous of "empowerment" (and
> capable of self-management) are suddenly asking to be told what to do!
> Seems like a fairly rational response to the unknown, but it's not too
> productive for the change initiative. Possibly some of you have developed
> some theories about this phenomenon that you could share.
>
> Perhaps some of our visioning work needs to be on imagining the new
> context on an individual and group level as well as on the strategic
> organizational level that we already do. I also think it may help with
> this problem to work with people in their own job context to facilitate
> the change, rather than taking them out of their workplace in a meeting or
> seminar or retreat.
>
> Diane Weston DMWeston@AOL.COM
>
>

It is truly possible for organizations to redesign themselves,
identifying a new roles system, correlating that with new functions,
etc., (not in that order, necessarily). If they do so, they will know
about as much as they need to know, such as Shakespeare knowing a lot
about Lady Macbeth, etc., more so than she knew about herself, and
moreover, they will then have platforms from which to do "continuous
change", which will be incremental departures from the new system.

JOHN WARFIELD
Jwarfiel@osf1.gmu.edu