• Identify how individuals react to change
• Appreciate the impact of change on individuals
• Identify what can be done to reduce opposition to change
• Identify and manage key stakeholders in the change process

• To understand why people react to change the way they do, leaders and managers need to view the change from other people’s perspectives to understand the concerns people have about change.
• Responses to change will vary depending on the nature and impact the change has on individuals.
• Attitudes to change range from positive acceptance to scepticism and cynicism to outright opposition. Many individuals do respond positively to change.
• Trust is a condition for successful change. Employees’ trust in leaders and managers, as well as in the organization, is an expression of confidence in their reliability and honesty in times of change and uncertainty. Organizational change initiatives can significantly erode trust both in the organization and in its management.
• Gaining commitment and involving people in the change can build trust and positive attitudes towards the change. Participation in the change process is important for helping to reduce negative responses to change by reducing anxiety, creating a stronger sense of ownership and enabling individuals to actively contribute to the shaping of change. 

• Start by asking the class to think about a change which they were responsible for initiating or implementing and write down some words which describe that change process for then. Secondly, ask them to think about a change which was presented to them by either their superiors or through some form of decision making process within the broader organization. Again ask them to write down some words that describe their perception of change. Next ask write the words they have identified on a flipchart and compare and contrast the words for the first part of the exercise with those from the second. You may find that the words which describe the first part of the exercise are negative compared with more positive words. Discuss why this is the case.
• This is a useful session to encourage students to discuss how change makes them feel and to be aware of how others feel about it and that the two perspectives may be different. Using the hill top model is a good way to emphasize this, as well as the fact that people may have different perspectives of change.

• Apart from outright resistance, in what other ways might employees react to change? Give examples of these alternatives from your own experience, or from media reports, or create some hypothetical situations.
• Identify some examples of individual, team and organization-level interventions designed to shape employees’ reactions to change. (Refer to Chapter 8 of Hodges & Gill (2014) Sustaining Change in Organizations for some examples.)
• Read the following article: Isabella, L.A. (1990) ‘Evolving interpretations as a change unfolds: how managers construe key organizational events’, Academy of Management Journal, 33(1): 7–41. Write down your thoughts on what strategies would help with each of the phases identified by Isabella in the table below

• Read the following article: Reichers, A.E., Wanous, J.P. and Austin J.T. (1997) ‘Understanding and managing cynicism about organizational change’, Academy of Management Executive, 11(1): 48–59. Then using Reichers and colleagues 10-point checklist of techniques for managing and minimizing cynicism identify which of the 10 they think would be most successful in overcoming cynicism. Complete the table below.

• Critically discuss why people oppose change and how managers can address the opposition. Use a case study of an organization with which you are familiar to illustrate your answer.

Organizational Change by Woody Allen – a great example of the impact of organizational change made by Woody Allen in the movie The Curse of the Jade Scorpion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg8KNE_NVJM

The Big Bang Theory – Sheldon hates change (Season 7) – a short but funny clip about how people might react to change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExN0YU0THWM

Embracing Change, Jason Clarke – This TedxTalk presentation explores how we get past the wall of opposition. Clarke looks at how it can be made simpler:

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxPerth-Jason-Clarke-Embracin

Be the change you want to see in your company, Gib Bulloch – in this TedxTalk Gib Bulloch steals a famous quote from Ghandi to prove that it is not only for NGOs to be addressing the world's big issues. His call to action is that the private sector with its extensive reach can and should be a key player and enabler. He shares his personal story of how he became the Founder and Executive Director of Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP), a ring-fenced not-for-profit consulting group within Accenture, whose clients include many of the major international NGOs and development agencies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KYWJdU9Ltw

Lead and be the change, Mark Mueller-Eberstein – in this TedxTalk, Mark explores the dynamic between the human and technical factors that positively impact business operations and how businesses can leverage key technology trends:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv-QiSvuLLM

A brief introduction to change management, Paul Brown (Stanford Business series) – delivers a concise and very accessible intro to change management. The message is simple: ‘Change is pervasive in our society and a fact of life in organizations. Change management is about modifying or transforming organizations in order to maintain or improve their effectiveness.’ Quoting a myriad of change pioneers, Darwin, a hint of popular philosophy and many ground-breaking theories, Brown succeeds in putting the change management concept across in a succinct and somehow entertaining way, and as result, sets the bar high for forthcoming works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jk6clmMycI

• Critically discuss resistance change in organizations and what leaders can do to reduce resistance to change.
• Critically discuss why people oppose change and how managers can address the opposition.