Organizational change is a fact of work life, and recently, we’ve certainly seen very public examples of this change. Regardless of the specific type of change taking place, employees respond at an affective, cognitive, and behavioral level.
Ideally, you’d like to have employees support the proposed change on all three levels. In other words, you’d like employees to feel that the change is good or at least a positive step in the right direction, to think that the change will benefit the company and perhaps even themselves, and to act in a manner that supports the change.
Unfortunately, like many things in life, the ideal is just that: ideal. It’s more likely that employees will experience incongruence among their feelings, thoughts, and actions toward change which can create some very interesting and challenging employees. Below are some employees you may know.
Positive Feelings – Negative Thoughts – Supportive Behaviors
This employee experiences positive feelings about an upcoming change not because he feels the specific change itself is positive, but rather he feels that any change is better than the status quo. This employee may think that the change being implemented is the wrong type of change, that the proposed change won’t fix the present problem, that it’s the wrong time for change, or that the team leading the change is ill-equipped to create successful change. However, the positive feelings that something is finally being done allows this employee to act in support of the change.
Positive Feelings – Negative Thoughts – Resistant Behaviors
This employee is similar to the employee presented above. However, this employee’s negative thoughts about the change are stronger than her positive feelings about the change that’s taking place. Thus, she resists the change. Interestingly, this employee can often articulate why the change is a bad idea which suggests that there are specific criteria that need to be met before she can support any change. Once those criteria are met, however, she may become one of the strongest supporters of the change.
Negative Feelings – Positive Thoughts – Supportive Behaviors
The employee who experiences negative feelings, positive thoughts, and supportive behaviors toward change is likely to be an employee who experiences anxiety and stress in response to most of the changes that occur in his life. This employee, however, understands the need for change and thinks the change is positive. Thus, this employee can become a full supporter of the change once he has had time to achieve a certain level of emotional comfort with the change and to work through his anxiety and stress. This is the perfect example of an employee who needs to test the waters before fully committing to the new way of doing business.
Negative Feelings – Positive Thoughts – Resistant Behaviors
This employee is similar to the previous employee. The primary difference, though, is that this employee is likely to have more deeply rooted negative feelings about the change, and she cannot – despite her best efforts – overcome the negative feelings (e.g., stress, anxiety, dread, fear, doom) associated with the proposed change. Thus, the negative feelings push this employee to resist the change.
Positive Feelings – Positive Thoughts – Resistant Behaviors
This employee experiences both positive feelings and thoughts about the proposed change, yet he resists the change. The resistance may come from many sources. For example, this employee may be getting pressure from his peer group to resist the change, or he may belong to a union that is exerting pressure to resist the change. This employee may also dislike the person or group of people leading the change, and thus, he chooses to resist the change even though he thinks it would benefit the organization. This employee’s resistance may also be the result of having experienced too many failed change initiatives in the past. To help this person become supportive of the change, you must first identify the specific factors that have pushed him to resist the change. In some cases, you may find that this person resists publically but privately supports the change.
Negative Feelings – Negative Thoughts – Supportive Behaviors
The employee who has negative feelings and thoughts about the proposed change yet acts in support of the change is likely supporting the change because of a perceived obligation to do so or because of the perceived negative consequences associated with not supporting the change. Interestingly, management employees often find themselves in this type of situation.
A Word About the Employee with Negative Feelings – Negative Thoughts – Resistant Behaviors
Not everyone is going to get on board with organizational change efforts, and that’ okay. Focus your energy on supporting and encouraging other employees to embrace the change. In the meantime, the truly resistant employee will see that others are moving forward with the new way of doing business and will decide to either join everyone else or leave the organization.
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Failure to address the human element of change is one of the primary reasons why organizational change fails. Thus, it seems that ignoring how people respond to uncertainty and change is simply not an option. Instead leaders need to invest time and resources in learning more about how employees not only behave in response to the change but also how they feel and think about the change.