Type author

Myers, Hulks,names
and Wiggins
here

Organizational Change:
Perspectives on Theory and
Practice
Chapter 4: Emotions of Change

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 Emotions of change

Fancy what a game at chess would

be if all the chessmen had
passions…
(George Eliot)

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 Where we are:

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 Fancy what a game at chess would be if all the
chessmen had passions and intellects . . . if your
knight could shuffle himself on to a new square by
the sly; if your bishop, in disgust at your castling,
could wheedle your pawns out of their places; and
if your pawns, hating you because they are pawns,
could make away from their appointed posts that
you might get checkmate on a sudden . . . you
might be beaten by your own pawns. You would be
especially likely to be beaten, if you . . . regarded
your passionate pieces with contempt.
George Eliot

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Myers, Hulks, and Wiggins: Organizational Change
 A lot to handle…

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 Emotions of change matter
because
• Employee wellbeing
• Impact on behaviour and thinking
– Despair or fear v. compassion or enthusiasm
– Envy, anxiety or loneliness v. hope, curiosity or
excitement
• Everybody, leaders of change included…
• Emotional contagion (e.g. Barsade, 2002)

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 Three perspectives on emotions…

• Social constructionist perspective: emotions, and

ways they are expressed, formed and shaped by
societal culture
– Highlights emotional reactions to change may vary
internationally and depending on the organization
– Emotions may be inhibited to conform with norms
• Appraisal theory perspective: emotions as internal
state triggered by particular interpretation of situation,
then emotions trigger behaviour
– Highlights how employee interpretations of transitions
influence emotions

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 Three perspectives on emotions cont.

• ‘Situated’ perspective (Griffiths and Scarantino,

2009): emotions as distinctive ways to engage with
situations (esp. social situations) and alter them –
though they seem involuntary (losing your temper,
falling in love)
– Draws attention to emotions as form of engagement with
transition, not just reaction to it
– Highlights how emotions influence interpretations and
communication during transitions

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 Emotional labour

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 Emotional labour cont.

• “I couldn’t give a shit about the company before change … but

then management dangled a carrot in front of me and offered
me a better job and higher pay. But I reckon that was only
because I kept my mouth shut when the changes were taking
place and for that I was a more worthy employee to have …
only after that time did I even contemplate feeling any sort of
ties to the place” (George)
• “While my manager continues to promote me I’ll continue to say
how good organizational change was and how great the place is
to work for. It’s as simple as that!” (Jessica)
(Bryant and Wolfram Cox, 2004)

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 Achieving emotional displays

• Surface acting
– Simply pretending to feel
• Deep acting (Hochschild, 1983)

– Convincing oneself or imagining

in order to feel
• Display, over time, may lead to
genuine feeling (Parkinson,
1995)

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 Displays v. real feeling

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 Your experience 1

• Consider a recent experience of yours of

organizational change:
– Which emotions did you go through? Make some
notes, recalling as many as possible
– Select a couple of these. What were
circumstances in the change process in which you
felt them?
– During the organizational change were these
emotions expressed or hidden? Why? How did
this affect the situation?

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 Emotions of change

Stages of dealing with loss (Kübler-Ross, 1969; Stuart,

1995):
1. Shock  Denial - carrying on as if nothing is wrong,
minimising
2. Anger - rage, frustration, resentment, indignation
3. Bargaining - acknowledging but attempting to put off or
renegotiate
4. Depression - mourning for things already lost + lost
prospects
5. Acceptance - preparation to move forward, hope, relief
6. Moving on - curiosity, confidence, hope, excitement,
enthusiasm

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 ‘Change curve’

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 Validity of ‘stage models’?

• Stage models – not necessarily ‘true’:

– Disentangling simultaneous change processes
– Discrepancies between models
– Individual differences
– Obscuring detail
– Distinctive change agent and ‘survivor’
experiences

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 Usefulness of ‘stage models’?

• Reassuring employees that it is normal to experience

emotional responses to change
• Let people know emotions acceptable
• May nudge people who are ready out of denial
• Communicate that it’s understood people may be
feeling and reacting quite differently later on in transition
from way they are feeling/ reacting currently
• Conveys that different employees may be experiencing
different emotional reactions (esp. helpful for managers
to recognise – they may know about impending change
in advance of staff and had time to adapt while staff still
struggling with this)

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 Your experience 2

• Can you position your own emotions of

change on a change curve diagram?

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 Supporting people through loss

• Clear communication and involvement mitigate shock

and denial
• Anticipating people’s losses (Bridges, 2003)
• Treating past with respect
• Response of survivors depends on perceptions of
fairness to dismissed staff – important not only that
people are treated fairly, but that that is
communicated effectively to those who remain
(Brockner et al., 1987).

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 ‘Toxic’ emotions

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 ‘Emotional Intelligence’

• ‘ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings

and emotions, to discriminate among them and to
use this information to guide one’s thinking and
actions’ (Salovey and Mayer, 1990: p189)
– Accurately perceiving emotion
– Using emotions to facilitate thought
– Understanding emotion
– Managing emotions in oneself and others
(Mayer et al., 2008)
• Goleman (1995) claims E.I. is significant factor in
advancement and effective leadership

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 ‘Emotional balancing’

• According to Huy (2002), for radical

change to be successfully achieved:
– Some middle managers develop and display
emotions reflecting commitment to change –
enthusiasm, excitement, hope, frustration with
obstacles, etc
– While other middle managers attend to the need
for emotional support of staff

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 Key points

• Emotional responses to change/ emotional

enablers for change
• Emotional labour
• Change curve – theory and practice
• Capabilities: Support, toxin handling,
emotional intelligence, emotional balancing

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