Lou Sheehan
ITPM 560-01 Organizational Leadership
Individual Case 1
Source: Managing Transitions 3rd Edition by William Bridges, PhD.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this paper is to discuss – in a non-technical way – the psychological journey via a generalized pattern or sequence a typical employee undergoes when he/she encounters change at the workplace. Additionally, suggestions for overcoming the less functional, i.e., negative, human reactions which can accompany change are mentioned.
In our hypothetical fact pattern we have posited a very effective upgrade in technology coupled with a decrease in productivity.
“Under no circumstances are you to cross into the Neutral Zone without my direct orders.” Captain James T. Kirk, TOS Episode 9, Balance of Terror.
Absent a starkly militarized incursion into the Romulan-Federation Neutral Zone, Bridges proposes a generalized model of a sequence of change consisting of three broad experiences:
(i) Ending, Losing, Letting Go;
(ii) The Neutral Zone, and
(iii) The New Beginning.
Ending, Losing, Letting Go
In Bridges’ model, people do not inherently resist change, per se, but rather they resist the losses to their power, ego, etc., that they experience and fear as a result of the transition following the ending.
To minimize the negative effects and, further, to encourage positive and successful change, Bridges advocates that Leaders adopt a number of practices. First, the Leader should do his or her best to identify and subjectively empathize with and acknowledge the employees’ losses. Further, the Leader should accept that the employees will naturally undergo a grieving process and he/she should be willing to express his/her own genuine (if any) sense of loss.
Additionally, the Leader should respect the employees and express that respect by keeping the employees fully informed of the entire process in the context of respecting past successes achieved by doing things the old way and by delineating what will and what won’t change. More, reality should be acknowledged and explanations given as to why the changes will more likely ensure the continuity of the organization with such survival’s accompanying benefits to employees. As much as possible, employees should be compensated for their losses.
Given the positive effects of symbolic ceremony for most people, the Leader should consider actively celebrating the past and the future by way of an/several organized event(s) and provide momentos as part of that process.
The Neutral Zone
This stage represents that very stressful period of time when the employees are in limbo between the old organization and the conjectured new organization. In this Zone, the Leader should be savvy enough to set realistic output standards given the significant flux employees experience on a very regular basis. The Leader should encourage and tolerate risk taking and the expression of new ideas even as he/she recognizes the sometimes-debilitating pressures with which the employees wrestle. Significantly, the Leader must be on guard against favoritism practiced to benefit any single or subset of employees so as to not undermine the group’s team spirit.
New Beginning
Inevitably, new standards are established in the reincarnated organization. It is important that the Leader walk the new walk so as to avoid fueling employees’ cynicism … or worse. Additionally, Bridges argues that in this stage, leaders should be sensitive to the four P’s: (i) purpose, (ii) picture, (iii) plan and (iv) the part to play. That is, the Leader should:
(i) unambiguously express the motivations for (the ideas behind) the change,
(ii) try to create a picture of what employees will experience in the newly re-created organization,
(iii) reassure the employees that they will be prepped to successfully exploit the changes, and
(iv) make it very clear that employees are encouraged – even better, expected – to contribute input, suggestions and the like to further the success of the organization.
Finally, the leader should formally celebrate the new beginning and use symbols to express the merger of the old and new and indicate that the Leader, the employees, etc., are all a part of the (new) team.
CONCLUSION
Fundamentally, in my opinion Bridges’ makes the point that for a Leader to enable his/her employees to be as productive as is reasonably possible, the Leader must operate in a context of understanding human/employee psychology. Such understanding cannot be limited to simple cash incentives and a disregarding of human emotions, but rather, must consist of an appreciation of human imperfection and what environmental ingredients are most likely to facilitate successful individual – and organizational – change.
Saved at: Individualcase1.b.docx
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The Father and His Sons 772.the.0002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The Charcoal-Burner and the Fuller
A Charcoal-Burner carried on his trade in his own house. One day he met a friend, a Fuller, and entreated him to come and live with him, saying that they should be far better neighbors and that their housekeeping expenses would be lessened. The Fuller replied, "The arrangement is impossible as far as I am concerned, for whatever I should whiten, you would immediately blacken again with your charcoal."
Like will draw like.
The Father and His Sons
A father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had done so, he placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it. He next opened the faggot, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons' hands, upon which they broke them easily. He then addressed them in these words: "My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks."
A Charcoal-Burner carried on his trade in his own house. One day he met a friend, a Fuller, and entreated him to come and live with him, saying that they should be far better neighbors and that their housekeeping expenses would be lessened. The Fuller replied, "The arrangement is impossible as far as I am concerned, for whatever I should whiten, you would immediately blacken again with your charcoal."
Like will draw like.
The Father and His Sons
A father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had done so, he placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it. He next opened the faggot, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons' hands, upon which they broke them easily. He then addressed them in these words: "My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks."
Sunday, August 22, 2010
legion 662.leg.004 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Nor was Suetonius silent at such a crisis. Though he confided in the valour of his men, he yet mingled encouragements and entreaties to disdain the clamours and empty threats of the barbarians. "There," he said, "you see more women than warriors. Unwarlike, unarmed, they will give way the moment they have recognised that sword and that courage of their conquerors, which have so often routed them. Even among many legions, it is a few who really decide the battle, and it will enhance their glory that a small force should earn the renown of an entire army. Only close up the ranks, and having discharged your javelins, then with shields and swords continue the work of bloodshed and destruction, without a thought of plunder. When once the victory has been won, everything will be in your power."
Such was the enthusiasm which followed the general's address, and so promptly did the veteran soldiery, with their long experience of battles, prepare for the hurling of the javelins, that it was with confidence in the result that Suetonius gave the signal of battle.
At first, the legion kept its position, clinging to the narrow defile as a defence; when they had exhausted their missiles, which they discharged with unerring aim on the closely approaching foe, they rushed out in a wedge-like column. Similar was the onset of the auxiliaries, while the cavalry with extended lances broke through all who offered a strong resistance. The rest turned their back in flight, and flight proved difficult, because the surrounding waggons had blocked retreat. Our soldiers spared not to slay even the women, while the very beasts of burden, transfixed by the missiles, swelled the piles of bodies. Great glory, equal to that of our old victories, was won on that day. Some indeed say that there fell little less than eighty thousand of the Britons, with a loss to our soldiers of about four hundred, and only as many wounded. Boudicea put an end to her life by poison. Poenius Postumus too, camp-prefect of the second legion, when he knew of the success of the men of the fourteenth and twentieth, feeling that he had cheated his legion out of like glory, and had contrary to all military usage disregarded the general's orders, threw himself on his sword.
Such was the enthusiasm which followed the general's address, and so promptly did the veteran soldiery, with their long experience of battles, prepare for the hurling of the javelins, that it was with confidence in the result that Suetonius gave the signal of battle.
At first, the legion kept its position, clinging to the narrow defile as a defence; when they had exhausted their missiles, which they discharged with unerring aim on the closely approaching foe, they rushed out in a wedge-like column. Similar was the onset of the auxiliaries, while the cavalry with extended lances broke through all who offered a strong resistance. The rest turned their back in flight, and flight proved difficult, because the surrounding waggons had blocked retreat. Our soldiers spared not to slay even the women, while the very beasts of burden, transfixed by the missiles, swelled the piles of bodies. Great glory, equal to that of our old victories, was won on that day. Some indeed say that there fell little less than eighty thousand of the Britons, with a loss to our soldiers of about four hundred, and only as many wounded. Boudicea put an end to her life by poison. Poenius Postumus too, camp-prefect of the second legion, when he knew of the success of the men of the fourteenth and twentieth, feeling that he had cheated his legion out of like glory, and had contrary to all military usage disregarded the general's orders, threw himself on his sword.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
moral 299.mor.991 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Among the Sacrd Books of the New Testament, it is especially the four Gospels and the four great Epistles of St. Paul that are of the highest importance for the construction of the life of Jesus. The four great Pauline Epistles (Romans, Galatians, and First and Second Corinthinas) can hardly be overestimated by the student of Christ's life; they have at times been called the "fifth gospel"; their authenticity has never been assailed by serious critics; their testimony is also earlier than that of the Gospels, at least most of the Gospels; it is the more valuable because it is incidental and undesigned; it is the testimony of a highly intellectual and cultured writer, who had been the greatest enemy of Jesus, who writes within twenty five years of the events which he relates. At the same time, these four great Epistles bear witness to all the most important facts in the life of Christ: His Davidic dscent, His poverty, His Messiahship, His moral teaching, His preaching of the kingdom of God, His calling of the apostles, His miraculous power, His claims to be God, His betrayal, His institution of the Holy Eucharist, His passion, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, His repeated appearances (Rom., i, 3, 4; v, 11; viii, 2, 3, 32; ix, 5; xv, 8; Gal., ii, 17; iii, 13; iv, 4; v, 21; I Cor., vi, 9; vii, 10; xi, 25; xv, passim; II Cor., iii, 17; iv, 4; xii, 12; xiii, 4; etc.). However important the four great Epistles may be, the gospels are still more so. Not that any one of them offers a complete biography of Jesus, but they account for the origin of Christianity by the life of its Founder. Questions like the authenticity of the Gospels, the relation between the Synoptic Gospels, and the Fourth, the Synoptic problem, must be studied in the articles referring to these respective subjects.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
hotels 339.2 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Such hotels became almost as impossible to visit for the average Soviet citizen as actual foreign countries. Without the appropriate documents, no one was allowed in.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
prior 400.pri.002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
[SHOW POWERPOINT 10: EXODUS 13:17]
Moses and the Habiru camped next to the “Sea of Reeds” (“Sea of Reeds” is the accurate translation; the “Red Sea” is an inaccurate translation). The “Sea of Reeds” was a swamp/marsh estimated to be several hundred yards wide and subject to tides.
[SHOW POWERPOINT 11: SEA OF REEDS]
Using subterfuge with lights, Moses and the Habiru crossed the Sea of Reeds at Night at low tide. The next day, the Egyptians, realizing that the Habiru’s camp fires had been left burning through the night to fool the Egyptians and that the Habiru had crossed the marsh at night, gave chase in their chariots and tried to cross the Sea of Reeds at high tide and were bogged down. The immobilized Egyptian Charioteers were then slaughtered by the Habiru.
[TRANSITION] Now I would like to turn to a brief discussion of the endgame.
BODY: PART III AFTERMATH
Subsequently the Habiru went to the south of the Sinai where there were copper mines (copper and tin = bronze) to be able to fashion more weapons. At this point the Habiru – the group included women and children -- were grumbling about not having gone straight to Canaan but, instead, having to deal with attacks, the desert, sand, mountains, etc.
It was here that Moses descended from the mountain with the Commandments and announced that he alone had the straight phone line to God and he tasked HIS newly created bodyguard – the Levites (who later became the Israeli tribe that were the priests) to slaughter the dissenting cow-worshipping Habiru.
The journey continued with battles along the way – with, for example, the Amalekites – including a stop at Midian where the Habiru were exposed to the Midian stories of their God named “Yahoo.” Subsequently, the Habiru knew their God’s name (and correct ‘names’ were an important aspect of Egyptian religion) to be “Yahweh.”
[SHOW POWERPOINT 12: MOSES MUST DIE FOR HAVING STRUCK A ROCK IN FRUSTRATION THAT GOD TOLD HIM NOT TO TOUCH.]
Just prior to reaching Canaan, Moses was killed by his own people. The Habiru were tired of his leadership: his massacres of his own and other peoples, their sufferings in the desert, etc..
The Habiru, in time, became known as the Hebrews. Their struggle for and escape to freedom has since become the classic motivational story about the oppressed’s efforts to become free.
Moses and the Habiru camped next to the “Sea of Reeds” (“Sea of Reeds” is the accurate translation; the “Red Sea” is an inaccurate translation). The “Sea of Reeds” was a swamp/marsh estimated to be several hundred yards wide and subject to tides.
[SHOW POWERPOINT 11: SEA OF REEDS]
Using subterfuge with lights, Moses and the Habiru crossed the Sea of Reeds at Night at low tide. The next day, the Egyptians, realizing that the Habiru’s camp fires had been left burning through the night to fool the Egyptians and that the Habiru had crossed the marsh at night, gave chase in their chariots and tried to cross the Sea of Reeds at high tide and were bogged down. The immobilized Egyptian Charioteers were then slaughtered by the Habiru.
[TRANSITION] Now I would like to turn to a brief discussion of the endgame.
BODY: PART III AFTERMATH
Subsequently the Habiru went to the south of the Sinai where there were copper mines (copper and tin = bronze) to be able to fashion more weapons. At this point the Habiru – the group included women and children -- were grumbling about not having gone straight to Canaan but, instead, having to deal with attacks, the desert, sand, mountains, etc.
It was here that Moses descended from the mountain with the Commandments and announced that he alone had the straight phone line to God and he tasked HIS newly created bodyguard – the Levites (who later became the Israeli tribe that were the priests) to slaughter the dissenting cow-worshipping Habiru.
The journey continued with battles along the way – with, for example, the Amalekites – including a stop at Midian where the Habiru were exposed to the Midian stories of their God named “Yahoo.” Subsequently, the Habiru knew their God’s name (and correct ‘names’ were an important aspect of Egyptian religion) to be “Yahweh.”
[SHOW POWERPOINT 12: MOSES MUST DIE FOR HAVING STRUCK A ROCK IN FRUSTRATION THAT GOD TOLD HIM NOT TO TOUCH.]
Just prior to reaching Canaan, Moses was killed by his own people. The Habiru were tired of his leadership: his massacres of his own and other peoples, their sufferings in the desert, etc..
The Habiru, in time, became known as the Hebrews. Their struggle for and escape to freedom has since become the classic motivational story about the oppressed’s efforts to become free.
Friday, May 14, 2010
institute 339.ins.02 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
As a young salvationist Eva Burrows had sensed a compelling call to work in Africa, and on her commissioning she was appointed as an officer teacher to the Howard Institute, a large mission station in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). At this centre there was a varied expression of service through schools and a teachers' college, a hospital and a theological training college for Salvation Army officers.
During fourteen years at Howard Institute, Eva Burrows became particularly concerned with the training of black teachers for the network of Salvation Army schools throughout Zimbabwe. During her first homeland leave she undertook a course at Sydney University for the degree of Master of Education, and presented her thesis on the training of African teachers from Zimbabwe. She subsequently became a consultant to the educational department on the development of school curricula.
During fourteen years at Howard Institute, Eva Burrows became particularly concerned with the training of black teachers for the network of Salvation Army schools throughout Zimbabwe. During her first homeland leave she undertook a course at Sydney University for the degree of Master of Education, and presented her thesis on the training of African teachers from Zimbabwe. She subsequently became a consultant to the educational department on the development of school curricula.
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