Dealing With Change and Stress
Forces for Change
External
Internal

Marketplace


Regulation



Technology
Economic
Forces



Long Range Plans
New Equipment
Work Force
Comp and Benefits
Employee Attitudes
1
External Forces
Environmental Dynamics
These changes include new government
regulations, changing social and
political trends, new tax laws, changes
in labor market conditions, or new
strategies taken by competitors.
2
External Forces
New Technologies
The introduction of new equipment,
tools, methods, automated machinery,
and computerization allows employees
and supervisors to do their jobs better
and faster.
3
External Forces
Environmental Dynamics
These changes include new
government regulations, changing
social and political trends, new tax
laws, changes in labor market
conditions, or new strategies taken
by competitors.
4
Internal Forces
Include changes in the organization’s
overall strategy, reorganizations,
changes in the composition of the
work force, introduction of new
equipment, and the need to modify
employee attitudes.
5
Change Agents


People who act as catalysts and
assume the responsibility for
overseeing the change process.
The change agent can be a
supervisor, a staff specialist, or an
outside consultant.
6
Two Views on the Change
Process


Traditional - allows for successful
change by requiring unfreezing of
the status quo (equilibrium state),
changing to a new state, and
refreezing the new change.
Contemporary - environments are
both uncertain and dynamic and
change is a “continuous” process.
7
Two Views on the Change
Process
In the contemporary setting the old
saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
no longer applies. It has been
replaced with “if it ain’t broke, you
haven’t looked hard enough. Fix it
anyway.”
8
Resistance to Change
Individual resistance to change is a
universal condition and it takes many
forms:

Habit - programmed responses.

Threats of job or income.

Fear of the unknown.

Selective perception.

Threat to expertise.

Threat to established power and
interpersonal relationships.
9
Reducing Resistance to Change




Build trust
Open channels of
communication
Involve employees
Provide incentives
10
Changing Employee Attitudes
Attitudes - evaluative statements
or judgements concerning objects,
people, or events.





ID the attitude you want to change
Determine what sustains the attitude
Unfreeze the attitude
Offer an alternative attitude
Refreeze the new attitude
11
Work-Related Stress
An adaptive response resulting
from any environmental action,
situation, or event that places
excessive psychological and/or
physical demands on a person.
12
Work-Related Stress
Two conditions are necessary for a
potentially stressful situation to
create actual stress for a person:


Uncertainty over the outcome
The outcome must be important
13
Sources of Work Stress
Organizational Factors
 Task demands
 Role demands
 Interpersonal
demands
 Organizational
structure
 Organizational
leadership
Individual Factors
 Family problems
 Economic
problems
 Personality
14
Work-Related Stress
Stress factors are additive
and individuals react to
stress differently.
15
Work-Related Stress
Four individual difference factors
have been found to be important:
•
Perception - Stress is not negative
to everyone
•
Experience
•
Social Support
•
Hostility - Type A vs Type B behavior
16
Symptoms of Stress
Headaches
High Blood Pressure
Heart Disease
Anxiety
Depression
Decreased Job Satisfaction
Change in Productivity
Change in Absenteeism
Increased Turnover
17
Stress Reduction
Be a good supervisor, apply all of the
concepts and principles outlined in this
text, and when that isn’t enough look for
help elsewhere:
*
EAP - programs designed to act as a
*
first stop for individuals seeking
psychiatric or substance-abuse help, with the
goal of getting productive employees back on
the job as swiftly as possible.
Wellness Programs - designed to keep
employees healthy, focusing on such things as
smoking cession, weight control, stress
management, physical fitness, etc.
18