Episodic" Change, and Under What Circumstances Does Essay

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episodic" change, and under what circumstances does it occur?

Episodic change is when there is a single, discrete change event. This may occur with something like a merger, the creation of a product or service, or a shift in organizational procedures (such as the introduction of a new computer system). Change is occurring all of the time in the modern business environment, of course, but continuous change processes tend to be more subtle and less apt to promote active resistance to change vs. episodic change, which forces people to change ingrained habits very quickly.

What are some of the individual and/or group tactics used when resisting organizational change?

Some negative forms of resisting change include justifying 'digging in one's heels' via protecting one's turf (hiding personal resistance under the cover it is for the 'good of the organization); justifying resistance as protecting group rather than individual interests in a selfless fashion; shutting one's self off from the main entity by shifting alliances away from the larger organization; and by demanding new leadership (i.e. blaming the old leadership). All of these are forms of conflict avoidance rather than dealing with the true need or roots of change.

Individual Responses to Organization Change

Individual's reactions to significant change in organizations, change that directly affects them, has been likened to the psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's (1969) description of the five stages that most people go through when they are faced with a terminal illness.

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The struggle begins with 1) shock and denial, 2) moves to anger, 3) to bargaining, or attempts to postpone the inevitable, on to 4) depression, and finally to 5) acceptance. Not everyone moves through all these stages; some never move beyond denial. And so it is with organizational behavior. Some organizational members fight the change to "to the death," constantly denying that the change is necessary. Others embrace the change readily and move with it. Most people are somewhere in between and move through all stages.

Levinson (1976) has argued that whether change is resisted or embraced, all change is nevertheless a loss experience, particularly a loss of familiar routines. And the more psychologically important the loss, the more likely one's behavior will take the form of resistance. Levinson further argued that all loss needs to be mourned (a bachelor party on the eve of a groom's wedding, most often a joyful change, could be thought of as a mourning ritual) and that people should have an opportunity to discuss and deal with their feelings if they are again going to be able to perform effectively on the job.

The phenomenon of resistance….....

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