MCom I Semester Organizational Change Stress Management Study Material Notes

MCom I Semester Organizational Change Stress Management Study Material Notes: Forces for Change Resistance to Change Managing planned to Change Approaches to managing organizational change Lewin three-step mode action research organizational development stimulating innovation contemporary change issues for today managers stimulating innovation creating learning organization :

BCom 2nd Year Advance Payment Tax Study Material Notes in Hindi

Organizational Change Stress Management 

This chapter is about change and stress. We describe environmental forces that are requiring managers to implement comprehensive change programs. We also consider why people and organizations often resist change and how this resistance can be overcome. We review various processes for managing organizational change. We also discuss contemporary change issues for today’s managers. Then we move to the topic of stress. We elaborate on the sources and consequences of stress. Finally, we conclude this chapter with a discussion of what individuals and organizations can do to better manage stress levels.

Organizational Change Stress Management

Forces for Change

The Indian Music Industry (IMI’s) losses have skyrocketed to Rs 1800 crores over the last three years. owing to two major external factors, piracy and improper taxation. The IMI’s turnover has further plummeted from Rs 1000 crores in 1996-97 to Rs 450 crores in 2003-2004. The mounting losses highten the IMI’s fears of loss of employment of half a million music artists, music company employees authors, composers, and singers another two million employed at radio stations, television stations, other content providers. Today CD’s have become a major context carrier for the IT, films, and music industries. Unfortunately, CD production capacity in most countries far exceeds their legeti mate demand. For example, the CD production capacity in India is 800 million and legitimate demand is only 160 million!! Pirates are chanelling this excess supply to fire the rampant piracy.

More and more organizations today face a dynamic and changing environment. This, in turn, is requiring these organizations to adapt. “Change or del is the rallying cry among today’s managers worldwide. Exhibit 18-1 summarizes six specific forces that are acting as stimulants for change.

In a number of places in this book, we’ve discussed the changing nature of the workforce. For instance, almost every organization is having to adjust to a multicultural environment. Human resource policies and practices have to change to reflect the needs of the increasing number of women. And many companies are having to spend large amounts of money on training to upgrade reading, math, computer, and other skills of employees.

Technology is changing jobs and organizations. For instance, computers are now commonplace in almost every organization, and cell phones and hand-held PDAs are increasingly being perceived as necessities by a large segment of the population Computer networks are also reshaping entire industries. The music business, as a case in point, is now struggling to cope with the economic consequences of widespread online music sharing. For the longer term, recent breakthroughs in deciphering the human genetic code offers the potential for pharmaceutical companies to produce drugs designed for specific individuals and creates serious ethical dilemmas for insurance companies as to who is insurable and who isn’t.

Organizational Change Stress Management

We live in an “age of discontinuity.” In the 1950s and 1960s, the past was a pretty good prologue to the future. Tomorrow was essentially an extended trend line from yesterday. That’s no longer true. Beginning in the early 1970s, with the overnight quadrupling of world oil prices, economic shocks have continued to impose changes on organizations. In recent years, for instance, new dot.com businesses have been created, turned tens of thousands of investors into overnight millionaires, and then crashed. Stock markets are on an all-time high. And record low-interest rates have stimulated a rapid rise in real estate and infrastructure, helped sustain consumer spending, and proven a spur to home! builders and remodelers, furniture retailers, mortgage bankers, and other home-related businesses.

Competition is changing. The global economy means that competitors are as likely to come from across the ocean as from across town. The heightened competition also makes it necessary for established organizations to defend themselves against both traditional competitors who develop new products and services and small, entrepreneurial firms with innovative offerings. Successful organizations will be the ones that can change in response to the competition. They’ll be fast on their feet, capable of developing new products rapidly and getting them to market quickly. They’ll rely on short production runs, short product cycles, and an ongoing stream of new products. In other Il be flexible. They will require an equally flexible and responsive workforce that can adapt to rapidly and even radically changing conditions tends don’t remain static. For instance, in contrast to just 15 years ago, people are meeting and sharing information in Internet chat rooms, the number of women in the workforce has consumers are increasingly shopping at discount warehouses and “big box” retailers like Shoppers Stop. Home Depot and Circuit City

Throughout this book we have argued strongly for the importance of seeing OB in a global con text Business schools have been preaching a global perspective since the early 1980s, but no onenot even the strongest proponents of globalization-could have imagined how world politics would change in recent years. We’ve seen the breakup of the Soviet Union, the opening up of South Africa and China; almost daily suicide bombings in the Middle East and, of course, the rise of Muslim fundamentalism. The unilateral invasion of Iraq by the United States has led to an expensive post-war rebuilding and an increase in anti-American attitudes in much of the world. The attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent war on terrorism, has led to changes in business practices related to the creation of backup systems, employee security, employee stereotyping and profiling, and post-terrorist attack anxiety

Organizational Change Stress Management

Managing Planned Change

A group of housekeeping employees who work for a small hotel confronted the owner: “It’s very hard for most of us to maintain rigid 7-to-4 work hours,” said their spokeswoman, “Each of us has significant family and personal responsibilities. And rigid hours don’t work for us. We’re going to begin looking for someplace else to work if you don’t set up flexible work hours.” The owner listened thoughtfully to the group’s ultimatum and agreed to its request. The next day the owner introduced a flextime plan for these employees.

A major automobile manufacturer spent several billion dollars to install state-of-the-art robotics. One area that would receive the new equipment was quality control Sophisticated computer-controlled equipment would be put in significantly improve the company’s ability to find and correct defects. Because the new equipment would dramatically change the jobs of the people working in the quality control area, and because management anticipated considerable employee resistance to the new equipment, executives were developing a program to help people become familiar with the equipment and to deal with any anxieties they might be feeling

Both of the previous scenarios are examples of change. That is, both are concerned with making things different. However, only the second scenario describes a planned change. Many changes in organizations are like the one that occurred at the hotel they just happen. Some organizations treat all change as an accidental occurrence. We’re concerned with change activities that are proactive and purposeful. In this chapter, we address change as an intentional goal-oriented Toyota Motor Corporation is taking activity. a proactive and purposeful stance to What are the goals of planned change? Essentially there are two. First, it seeks to change by developing “partner advantaged because they usually have an inadequate understanding of the organization’s history, culture, operating procedures, and personnel. Outside consultants also may be prone to dating more drastic changes which can be a benefit or a disadvantage because they don’t have to live with the repercussions after the change is implemented. In contrast, internal staff specialists or managers, when acting as change agents, maybe more thoughtful (and possibly more cautious) because they have to live with the consequences of their actions.

Organizational Change Stress Management

Resistance to Change

One of the most well-documented findings from studies of individual and organizational behavior is that organizations and their members resist change. In a sense, this is positive. It provides a degree of stability and predictability to behavior. If there weren’t some resistance, organizational behavior would take on the characteristics of chaotic randomness. Resistance to change can also be a source of functional conflict. For example, resistance to a reorganization plan or a change in a product line can stimulate a healthy debate over the merits of the idea and result in a better decision. But there is a definite downside to resistance to change. It hinders adaptation and progress.

Resistance to change doesn’t necessarily surface in standardized ways. Resistance can be overt. implicit, immediate, or deferred. It’s easiest for management to deal with resistance when it is overt and immediate. For instance, a change is proposed and employees quickly respond by voicing complaints, engaging in a work slowdown, threatening to go on strike, or the like. The greater challenge is managing resistance that is implicit or deterred. Implicit resistance efforts are more subtle-loss of loyalty to the organization, loss of motivation to work, increased errors or mistakes, increased absenteeism due to “sickness”-and hence are more difficult to recognize. Similarly, deferred actions cloud the link between the source of the resistance and the reaction to it. A change may produce what appears to be only a minimal reaction at the time it is initiated, but then resistance surfaces weeks, months, or even years later. Or a single change that in and of itself might have little impact becomes the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Reactions to change can build up and then explode in some response that seems totally out of proportion to the change action it follows. The resistance, of course, has merely been deferred and stockpiled. What surfaces is a response to an accumulation of previous changes. .

Exhibit 18-2 summarizes major forces for resistance to change, categorized by individual and organizational sources. Individual sources of resistance reside in basic human characteristics such as entions, personalities, and needs. Organizational sources reside in the structural makeup of organizations themselves.

Organizational Change Stress Management

Overcoming Resistance to Change

Education and Communication Resistance can be reduced through communicating with employees to help them see the logic of a change. This tactic basically assumes that the source of resistance lies in misinformation or poor communication: If employees receive the full facts and get any mi understandings cleared up, resistance will subside. Communication can be achieved through one-on-one discussion, memos, group presentations, or reports. Does it work? It does, provided that the source of resistance is inadequate communication and that management-employee relations are characterized by mutual trust and credibility. If these conditions don’t exist, the change is unlikely to succeed.

Participation It’s difficult for individuals to resist a change decision in which they participated Prior to making a change, those opposed can be brought into the decision process. Assuming that the participants have the expertise to make a meaningful contribution, their involvement can reduce resistance, obtain commitment, and increase the quality of the change decision. However, against these advantages are the negatives: potential for a poor solution and great time consumption.

Organizational Change Stress Management

Facilitation and Support Change agents can offer a range of supportive efforts to reduce resistance. When employees’ fear and anxiety are high, employee counseling and therapy, new skills training, or a short paid leave of absence may facilitate the adjustment. The drawback of this tactic is that, as with the others, it is time-consuming. In addition, it’s expensive, and its implementation offers no assurance of success.

Negotiation Another way for the change agent to deal with potential resistance to change is to exchange something of value for a lessening of the resistance. For instance, if the resistance is centered in a few powerful individuals, a specific reward package can be negotiated that will meet their individual needs. Negotiation as a tactic may be necessary when resistance comes from a powerful source. Yet one cannot ignore its potentially high costs. In addition, there is the risk that change agent negotiates with one party to avoid resistance, he or she is open to the possibility of being blackmailed by other individuals in positions of power.

Manipulation refers to covert influence attempts. Twisting and distorting facts to make them appear more attractive, withholding undesirable information, and creating false rumors to get employees to accept a change are all examples of manipulation. If corporate management threatens to close down a particular manufacturing plant if that plant’s employees fail to accept an across-the-board pay cut, and if the threat is actually untrue, management is using manipulation. Cooptation, on the other hand, is a form of both manipulation and participation. It seeks to “buy off the leaders of a resistance group by giving them a key role in the change decision. The leaders advice is sought not to seek a better decision, but to get their endorsement. Both manipulation and cooptation are relatively inexpensive and easy ways to gain the support of adversaries, but the tactics can backfire if the targets become aware that they are being tricked or used. Once discovered, the change agent’s credibility may drop to zero.

Organizational Change Stress Management

Coercion Last on the list of tactics is coercion; that is, the application of direct threats or force on the resisters. If the corporate management mentioned in the previous discussion really is determined to close a manufacturing plant if employees don’t acquiesce to a pay cut, then coercion would De the label attached to its change tactic. Other examples of coercion are threats of transfer, loss of promotions, negative performance evaluations, and a poor letter of recommendation. The advantages and drawbacks of coercion are approximately the same as those mentioned for manipulation and cooptation.

Politics suggests that the impetus for change is more likely to come from outside change agents, employees who are new to the organization (and have less invested in the status quo), or from managers slightly removed from the main power structure. Managers who have spent their entire careers with a single organization and eventually achieve a senior position in the hierarchy are often major impediments to change. Change itself is a very real threat to their status and position. Yet they may be expected to implement changes to demonstrate that they’re not merely caretakers. By acting as change agents, they can symbolically convey to various constituencies-stockholders, suppliers, employees, customers–that they are on top of problems and adapting to a dynamic environment. Of course, as you might guess, when forced to introduce change, these long-time power holders tend to implement incremental changes. Radical change is too threatening.

Power struggles within the organization will determine, to a large degree, the speed and quantity of change. You should expect that long-time career executives will be sources of resistance. This incidentally, explains why boards of directors that recognize the imperative for the rapid introduction of radical change in their organizations frequently turn to outside candidates for new leadership.

Organizational Change Stress Management

Lewin’s Three-Step Model

Kurt Lewin argued that successful change in organizations should follow three steps: unfreezing the status quo, moving to a new state, and refreezing the new change to make it permanent. (See Exhibit 18-3.) The value of this model can be seen in the following example when the management of a large oil company decided to reorganize its marketing function in the western United States.

The oil company had three divisional offices in the West, located in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The decision was made to consolidate the divisions into a single regional office to be located in San Francisco. The reorganization meant transferring over 150 employees, eliminating some duplicate managerial positions, and instituting a new hierarchy of command. As you might guess, a move of this magnitude was difficult to keep secret. The rumor of its occurrence preceded the announcement by several months. The decision itself was made unilaterally. It came from the executive offices in New York. The people affected had no say whatsoever in the choice. For those in Seattle or Los Angeles, who may have disliked the decision and its consequences–the problems inherent in transferring to another city, pulling youngsters out of school, making new friends, having the reassignment of responsibilities-their only recourse was to quit. In actuality, less than 10 percent did.

The status quo can be considered to be an equilibrium state. To move from this equilibrium–to overcome the pressures of both individual resistance and group conformity unfreezing is necessary. It can be achieved in one of three ways. (See Exhibit 18-4.) The driving forces, which direct behavior away from the status quo, can be increased. The restraining forces, which hinder movement from the existing equilibrium, can be decreased. A third alternative is to combine the first two approaches.

The oil company’s management could expect employee resistance to the consolidation. To deal with that resistance, management could use positive incentives to encourage employees to accept the change. For instance, increases in pay can be offered to those who accept the transfer. Very liberal moving expenses can be paid by the company. Management might offer low-cost mortgage funds to allow employees to buy new homes in San Francisco. Of course, management might also

How could the oil company’s management refreeze its consolidation change? By systematically replacing temporary forces with permanent ones. For instance, management might impose a permanent upward adjustment of salaries. The formal rules and regulations governing behavior of those arected by the change should also be revised to reinforce the new situation. Over time, of course, the work group’s own norms will evolve to sustain the new equilibrium. But until that point is reached, management will have to rely on more formal mechanisms.

Organizational Change Stress Management

Kotter’s Eight-Step Plan for Implementing Change

John Kotter of the Harvard Business School built on Lewin’s three-step model to create a more detailed approach for implementing change.

Kotter began by listing common failures that occur when managers try to initiate change. These included the inability to create a sense of urgency about the need for change; failure to create a coalition for managing the change process: the absence of a vision for change and to effectively communicate that vision; not removing obstacles that could impede the achievement of the vision; failure to provide short-term and achievable goals: the tendency to declare victory too soon; and not anchoring the changes into the organization’s culture.

Kotter then established eight sequential steps to overcome these problems. They’re listed in Exhibit 18-5.

Notice how Exhibit 18-5 builds on Lewin’s model. Kotter’s first four steps essentially extrapolate on the “unfreezing stage. Steps 5 through 7 represent “movement.” And the final step works on “refreezing.” So Kotter’s contribution lies in providing managers and change agents with a more detailed guide for successfully implementing change.

Organizational Change Stress Management

Action Research

Action research refers to a change process based on the systematic collection of data and then selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicate. Their importance lies in providing a scientific method for managing planned change.

The process of action research consists of five steps: diagnosis, analysis, feedback, action, and evaluation. You’ll note that these steps closely parallel the scientific method.

The change agent, often an outside consultant in action research, begins by gathering information about problems, concerns, and needed changes from members of the organization. This diagnosis is analogous to the physician’s search to find specifically what ails a patient. In action research, the change agent asks questions, interviews employees, reviews records, and listen to the concerns of employees.

Diagnosis is followed by analysis. What problems do people key in on? What patterns do these problems seem to take? The change agent synthesizes this information into primary concerns problem areas, and possible actions.

Action research includes extensive involvement of the change targets. That is, the people who will be involved in any change program must be actively involved in determining what problem 15 and participating in creating the solution. So the third step feedback requires sharing with employees what has been found from steps one and two. The employees, with the help of the change agent, develop action plans for bringing about any needed change.

Now the action part of action research is set in motion. The employees and the change agent carry out specific actions to correct the problems that have been identified.

The final step, consistent with the scientific underpinnings of action research, is the evaluation of the action plan’s effectiveness. Using the initial data gathered as a benchmark, any subsequent changes can be compared and evaluated.

Action research provides at least two specific benefits for an organization. First, it’s problem-focused. The change agent objectively looks for problems and the type of problem determines the type of change action. While this may seem intuitively obvious, a lot of change activities aren’t done this way. Rather, they’re solution-centered. The change agent has a favorite solution–for example, implementing flextime, teams, or a process reengineering program-and then seeks out problems that his or her solution fits. Second, because action research so heavily involves employees in the process, resistance to change is reduced. In fact, once employees have actively participated in the feedback stage, the change process typically takes on a momentum of its own. The employees and groups that have been involved become an internal source of sustained pressure to bring about the change.

Organizational Change Stress Management

Organizational Development

No discussion of managing change would be complete without including organizational development. Organizational development (OD) is not an easily defined single concept. Rather, it’s a term used to encompass a collection of planned-change interventions built on humanistic-democratic values that seek to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being. 11

The OD paradigm values human and organizational growth, collaborative and participative processes, and a spirit of inquiry. 12 The change agent may be directive in OD: however, there is a strong emphasis on collaboration. The following briefly identifies the underlying values in most OD efforts.

1 Respect for people. Individuals are perceived as being responsible, conscientious, and caring.They should be treated with dignity and respect.

2. Trust and support. An effective and healthy organization is characterized by trust, authenticity, openness, and a supportive climate.

3. Power equalization. Effective organizations deemphasize hierarchical authority and control.

4. Confrontation. Problems shouldn’t be swept under the rug. They should be openly confronted

5. Participation. The more that people patience. The more that people who will be affected by a change are involved in the dech surrounding that change, the more they will be committed to implementing those decesions.

If individuals lack awareness of how others perceive them, the successful T-group can affect more realistic self-perceptions, greater group cohesiveness, and a reduction in dysfunctional interpersonal conflicts. Furthermore, it will ideally result in better integration between the individual and the organization

Survey Feedback One tool for assessing attitudes held by organizational members, identifying discrepancies among member perceptions, and solving these differences is the survey feedback approach.14

Everyone in an organization can participate in survey feedback, but of key importance is the organizational family-the manager of any given unit and the employees who report directly to him or her. A questionnaire is usually completed by all members in the organization or unit. Organization members may be asked to suggest questions or may be interviewed to determine relevant issues. The questionnaire typically asks members for their perceptions and attitudes on a broad range of topics, including decision-making practices; communication effectiveness; coordination between units; and satisfaction with the organization, job, peers, and their immediate supervisor.

The data from this questionnaire are tabulated with data pertaining to an individual’s specific “family” and to the entire organization and distributed to employees. These data then become the springboard for identifying problems and clarifying issues that may be creating difficulties for people. Particular attention is given to the importance of encouraging discussion and ensuring that discussions focus on issues and ideas, and not on attacking individuals.

Finally, group discussion in the survey feedback approach should result in members identifying possible implications of the questionnaire’s findings. Are people listening? Are new ideas being generated? Can decision-making, interpersonal relations, or job assignments be improved? Answers to questions like these, it is hoped, will result in the group agreeing on commitments to various actions that will remedy the problems that are identified.

These might include workflow, informal relationships among unit members, and formal communication channels.

Process consultation (PC) is similar to sensitivity training in its assumption that organizational effectiveness can be improved by dealing with interpersonal problems and in its emphasis on involvement. But PC is more task-directed than is sensitivity training.

Consultants in PC are there to give the client ‘insight into what is going on around him, within him, and between him and other people. They do not solve the organization’s problems. Rather, a consultant is a guide or coach who advises on the process to help the client solve his or her own problems.

Organizational Change Stress Management

The consultant works with the client in jointly diagnosing what processes need improvement. The emphasis is on “jointly because the client develops a skill at analyzing processes within his or her unit that can be continually called on long after the consultant is gone. In addition, by having the client actively participate in both the diagnosis and the development of alternatives, there will be greater understanding of the process and the remedy and less resistance to the action plan chosen.

Importantly, the process consultant need not be an expert in solving the particular problem that is identified. The consultant’s expertise lies in diagnosis and in developing a helping relationship. If the specific problem uncovered requires technical knowledge outside the client’s and consultant’s expertise, the consultant helps the client to locate such an expert and then instructs the client in how to get the most out of this expert resource.

Team Building As we’ve noted in numerous places throughout this book, organizations are increasingly relying on teams to accomplish work tasks. Team building uses high-interaction group activities to increase trust and openness among team members.

Team building can be applied within groups or at the intergroup level, at which activities are interdependent. For our discussion, we emphasize the intragroup level and leave intergroup development to the next section. As a result, our interest concerns applications to organizational families (command groups), as well as to committees, project teams, self-managed teams, and task groups.

Team building is applicable where group activities are interdependent. The objective is to improve the coordinative efforts of members, which will result in increasing the team’s performance.

The activities considered in team-building typically include goal setting, development of inter-personal relations among team members, role analysis to clarily each member’s role and responsibilities, and team process analysis. Of course, team building may emphasize or exclude certain activities, depending on the purpose of the development effort and the specific problems with which the  team is confronted. Basically, however, team building attempts to use high interaction among members to increase trust and openness.

It may be beneficial to begin by having members attempt to define the goals and priorities of the team. This will bring to the surface different per ceptions of what the team’s purpose may be. Following this, members can evaluate the team’s performance-how effective is the team in structuring

priorities and achieving its goals? This should identify potential problem areas. Thus self-critique discussion of means and ends can be done with members of the total team prefer O, when large size impinges on a free interchange of views, may initially take place in smaller groups followed by the sharing of their findings with the total team.

team building can also address itself to clarifying each member’s role on the team. Each role can be Identified and clarified. Previous ambiguities can be brought to the surface. For some individuals, it may offer one of the few opportunities they have had to think through thoroughly what their job is all about and what specific tasks they are expected to carry out if the team is to optimize its electiveness.

Still another team-building activity can be similar to that performed by the process consultant that is, to analyze key processes that go on within the team to identify the way work is performed and how these processes might be improved to make the team more effective.

Intergroup Development A major area of concern in OD is the dysfunctional conflict that exists between groups. As a result, this has been a subject to which change efforts have been directed

Intergroup development seeks to change the attitudes, stereotypes, and perceptions that groups have of each other. For example, in one company, the engineers saw the accounting department as composed of shy and conservative types, and the human resources department as having a bunch of “ultra-liberals who are more concerned that some protected group of employees might get their feelings hurt than with the company making a profit.” Such stereotypes can have an obvious negative impact on the coordination efforts between the departments.

Although there are several approaches for improving intergroup relations, 18 a popular method emphasizes problem-solving. In this method, each group meets independently to develop lists of its perception of itself, the other group, and how it believes the other group perceives it. The groups then share their lists, after which similarities and differences are discussed. Differences are clearly articulated, and the groups look for the causes of the disparities.

Are the groups’ goals at odds? Were perceptions distorted? On what basis were stereotypes formulated? Have some differences been caused by misunderstandings of intentions? Have words and concepts been defined differently by each group? Answers to questions like these clarify the exact nature of the conflict. Once the causes of the difficulty have been identified, the groups can move to the integration phase-working to develop solutions that will improve relations between the groups.

Subgroups, with members from each of the conflicting groups, can now be created for further diagnosis and to begin to formulate possible alternative actions that will improve relations.

Appreciative Inquiry Most OD approaches are problem-centered. They identify a problem or set of problems, then look for a solution. Appreciative inquiry accentuates the positive. 20 Rather than looking for problems to fix, this approach seeks to identify the unique qualities and special strengths of an organization, which can then be built on to improve performance. That is, it focuses on an organization’s successes rather than on its problems.

Advocates of appreciative inquiry (Al) argue that problem-solving approaches always ask people to look backward at yesterday’s failures, to focus on shortcomings, and rarely result in new visions Instead of creating a climate for positive change, action research and OD techniques such as survey feedback and process consultation end up placing blame and generating defensiveness. Al proper menus claim it makes more sense to refine and enhance what the organization is already doing well. This allows the organization to change by playing to its strengths and competitive advantages

The Al process essentially consists of four steps, often played out in a large group meeting over two or three-day time period, and overseen by a trained change agent. The first step is one of discovery. The idea is to find out what people think are the strengths of the organization. For instance, employees are asked to recount times they felt the organization worked best or when they specifically felt most satisfied with their jobs. The second step is dreaming. The information from the discovery phase is used to speculate on possible futures for the organization. For instance, people are asked to envision the organization in five years and to describe what’s different. The third step is designing. Based on the dream articulation, participants focus on finding a common vision of how the organization will look and agree on its unique qualities. The fourth stage seeks to define the organization’s destiny. In this final step, participants discuss how the organization is going to fulfill its dream. This typically includes the writing of action plans and the development of implementation strategies.

Al has proven to be an effective change strategy in organizations such as GTE, Roadway Express, and the U.S. Navy. For instance, during a recent three-day Al seminar with Roadway employees in North Carolina, workers were asked to recall ideal work experiences when they were treated with respect when trucks were loaded to capacity or arrived on time. Assembled into nine groups, the workers were then encouraged to devise money-saving ideas. A team of short-haul drivers came up with 12 cost-cutting and revenue-generating ideas; one alone that could generate $1 million in additional profits. 21

Organizational Change Stress Management