Timing of change and the resistance to change
Tasks # 4

Tuesday, February 5 through Thursday, February 7

1.  For Tuesday, read John P. Kotter's book Leading Change, chapter 3.  In this chapter, Kotter provides a comprehensive analysis  to the problem of complacency.  Be prepared with the answers that Kotter provides to the following questions: 

• When is the best time to introduce change?
• What are Kotter's nine sources of complacency?
• According to Kotter, what is at the core of these nine sources of complacency?
• According to Kotter, what steps should a manager take to overcome such complacency?
• According to Kotter, why do senior executives and managers who have been with the company for a long time have such difficulty with initiating change?
• According to Kotter, where does the responsibility rest for raising urgency levels?
• How do Boards of Directors get executives to take on this responsibility?

Reflect upon Kotter's analysis.  Then ask yourself the following questions:

• What parts of his analysis do you strongly agree?  Why?
• What parts of his analysis do you have questions?  Why?

2.  In the second half of this class, we will examine resistance to change from a more detailed psychological perspective.  I will draw my remarks from William Bridges' book Managing Transitions.  Prepare for this part of the discussion by reflecting upon changes that have occurred in organizations where you have worked. 

• What were your first reactions to the announced change?
• Were your reactions negative, neutral, or positive?  Why?
• Did your reactions change over time? 
  • If they changed, what factors were influential?
  • What steps did you go through in arriving at your final position?
• If they didn't change, explain why?

3.  Thursday, February 7th - Meet with your team members

Tasks to be completed:

• completion of an initial survey of the literature on your corporation.
• identification of the major pieces of your corporation's history that are relevant for your report.
• preparation of an annotated bibliography that identifies the critical pieces of information that you will use from each major information resource.
• development of a crude outline that identifies the major topics of your report. 
• determination of who will write up each section of the proposed report.
• decision on the editing process - who will write the first draft of each section, who will edit the draft, who will pull all of the sections together, and who will edit the entire document.

4.  Supplemental not required reading:

• Reger et. al., "Creating earthquakes to change organizational mindsets," Academy of Management Executive, v 8, n 4 1994, pp. 31-46 (on electronic reserve).
• William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, Perseus Books, 1991.
• Randall Dunham's web site on Overcoming resistance to change, http://instruction.bus.wisc.edu/obweb/lectures/change.web/index.htm .See his video clips that illustrate different types of resistance to change.

created by dhostet@siue.edu
last revised 1/21/2002