change, resistance and leadership

National Science Foundation Workshop, 7 May 2001, Arlington, VA

Change, Resistance and Leadership

Jeff Froyd, Texas A&M University

Nick Pendergrass, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

Karan Watson, Texas A&M University

Why Worry?

“You think you understand the situation, but what you don’t

understand is that the situation just changed.”

-Putnam Investment Ad


Tenets of Learning

• Each learner needs learning goals• Each learner relates incoming information to his/her

existing cognitive network• Sharing insights with others and listening to their insights

help improve your understanding of workshop content• Effective workshops are partnerships between facilitators

and participants.– Effective workshops do not occur when participants expect the

facilitators to do all the cognitive work– Effective workshops do not occur when facilitators expect that

participants will be able to “just make sense” out of a large set of informative slides

• Each participant brings many mental models to learning and change experiences.


Mental Models – Ladder of Inference

Figure 1. Ladder of Inference

Observable data

Select the data

Use personal and cultural beliefs to

add meaning

Make assumptions using the added

meaning

Draw conclusions

Adopt personal beliefs to be used in

the future

Take action based on personal beliefs

John entered lab 30 minutes late

John knew when the lab started and was deliberately

late

John always comes in late

I can't count on John

Observable data Choice of action

1. Observable data

2. People select the data they will use and ignore the rest.

3. People use their personal and cultural beliefs to construct meaning for the data.

4. People make assumptions using the added meaning.

5. People draw conclusions from the assumptions and selected data.

6. People use the conclusions to adopt personal beliefs to use in the future.

7. Finally, people select an action based on their beliefs.


Team Formation

• Organize yourselves into teams of four• Organize teams to increase the breadth of NSF

units represented in each team• Introduce yourselves to the other members of

your team– Share one aspect of working together as a team that you

particularly enjoy– Share one aspect of working together as a team that you

find difficult or uncomfortable

• Appoint one team member to introduce your team to the rest of the workshop


Getting Started

Workshop Goals

Content Overview

Introduction


What are your goals for the workshop?

Think – Team – Share

• Individually: List at least four (4) goals that you have for the workshop

• As a team: Share your goals and develop four (4) goals as a team that reflect the goals of individual members

• Share: Each team will share one or more of its goals.


What are your goals for the workshop?

• ???


Workshop Objectives

• Define and create a change model

• Apply knowledge from each of the following areas to improve your change model– Individual change– Change and resistance– Dynamics of change– Culture– Non-traditional change models


Module Overview

• Six Modules

• Module–Lecturette – receive information (15

minutes)

–Participant task – apply and process information (20 minutes)


Engage Participant Resistance

• Learning is change; change is learning.

• Possible sources of participant resistance

– You are unsure about who we are and why we might be qualified.

– You are unsure about whether a change model will help you in your current situation.

– You are unsure about how the workshop material will be relevant to your work and the challenges you face.


Part 1: Change Models

Outline

• Lecturette

– Definition

– Examples

• Participant Task


What is a change model?

• Definition: A change model is a statement of the process through which you think an intended change will in an organization.

• Analogy: If you compare organizational change to engineering design, then a change model is analogous to an engineering design process.


Analogy: Design vs. Change

Engineering design informed through:

• Physical sciences• Mathematics• Life sciences• Economics• Social sciences• Humanities• etc.

Change models informed through:

• Individual change• Change and resistance• Change dynamics• Culture• Leadership• etc.


Change Models: Example

Espoused Curriculum Change Model

• Conceive a curricular change aimed at improvement

• Pilot a new curriculum to test the idea

• Assess and evaluate results

• Adopt if results from the pilot support change



Current Curriculum Change Model

• Recognize dissatisfaction with an element of their students' performance or participation levels

• Do an informal search for solutions• Choose and implement one or more curricular or pedagogical

changes to address the problem• Gather informal feedback on the success of the innovation,

e.g., observe student reactions, ask for student comments • Decide whether or not to continue using the innovation, and if

a decision is made to continue, reflect and act on revisions • If the implementation seems effective, possibly attempt to

disseminate this innovation through informal methods



Kotter – Leading Change Model• Establish need and energy for a curricular change• Gather a leadership team to design and promote curricular change• Define and agree upon new learning objectives and environment• Discuss the new objectives and environment with the college; revise

based on feedback• Implement new curriculum using a pilot, if necessary.• Conduct a formative evaluation of the program, investigating

strengths and weaknesses, and use indicators of short-term gains• Decide how the new approach may be used for the entire college and

prepare an implementation plan• Prepare faculty and staff for the new implementation, implement, and

follow up with improvements


Change Models

Participant Task• In teams of 4, choose a possible future NSF

program.– Describe the change model required to bring about

existence of the program.– Describe the assumptions about individual and

organizational change that underlie the change model.– Prepare team report

• Team Reports• Guided Discussion


Part 2: Individual Change

Outline

• Lecturette– Diffusion of innovation– Staged change models– Reasons for concern about change


Diffusion of Innovation: Patterns

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0 1 2 3 4 5

Normalized Time

Per

cen

t A

do

pte

d(area under a normal distribution)

Rogers, Everett M., Diffusion of Innovations, fourth edition

Late Majority

34%

Laggards 16%

Early Majority

34%

Early Adopters

13%

Innovators3%

Type and Distribution of Adopters



Diffusion of Innovation: Patterns

• Innovators: Venturesomeness; more cosmopolite social relationships; innovators play gatekeeping role in the flow of new ideas into a system

• Early adopters: More integrated into local system than innovators; innovators are cosmopolites, early adopters are localites; greatest degree of opinion leadership

• Early majority: Interact frequently with peers; seldom hold positions of opinion leadership; unique position makes them an important link in the diffusion process; may deliberate for some time before completely adopting a new idea

• Late majority: Adoption may be result of increasing network peer pressure; weight of system norms must definitely favor an innovation to help convince late majority

• Laggards: Most local outlook; many are near isolates; point of reference for the laggard is the past; decisions often based on what has been done previously


Adoption of Innovations: Factors

• Relative advantage: degree to which an innovation is perceived as better than the idea it supercedes

• Compatibility: degree to which an innovation is perceived as being consistent with existing values, past experiences and needs of potential adopters

• Complexity: degree to which an innovation is perceived as difficult to understand and use

• Observability: degree to which the results of an innovation are visible to others

• Trialability: degree to which an innovation may be experimented with on a limited basis



Oblivious to needs, desires,

or effortsAwareness that

things are happening

Interest in the things that are

happeningDecisions about

what is happening

Commitment to aid or resist the changes that are

happening

Action

Passive Information Gathering

Active Information Gathering

Staged Change Model

Facilitate stage-to-stage changes, not the overall change

Passive information gatherers are willing to invest less time and energy.

Active information gatherers are willing to invest more time and energy.


Individual Change

Concepts/Ideas• Concept #1 - ??• Concept #2 - ??• Concept #3 - ??

Applications• Application #1 - ??• Application #2 - ??• Application #3 - ??

Individually, write down several concepts about individual change and think of an application for each concept.


Part 3: Change and Resistance

Outline

• Lecturette– Origins of resistance– Dynamics of change and resistance (figure)– Responses to resistance– Levels of resistance (Maurer)– Guides



Origins of Resistance

• Resistance is inevitable, not bad– People are at different stages in changing

– People move from stage to stage at different rates

– People move from stage to stage in response to different stimuli

– Resistance is similar to turbulence

Learning/Change Cycles

Commitment to Change

New Learning

Concerns, e.g.,

• Will I be successful?

• Will I find friends?

• What will my future look like?

Positive Impact

Negative Impact

Possibly Improved Results


How to Recognize Resistance

• Confusion• Immediate Criticism• Denial• Malicious Compliance• Sabotage• Easy Agreement• Deflection (changing the subject)• Silence• In-Your-Face Criticism

Maurer, Rick, Beyond the Wall of Resistance, Austin, Texas: Bard Press, 1996, chapter 2


• Dismissal: “You’re an idiot.”• Bulldozer: “You just don’t understand and I will

try again to convince you of the correctness of my approach.”

• Let’s talk: “What you say has merit. Let me understand your concerns and let’s review how an alternate proposal might address your concerns.”

• Anticipate: Don’t be placed in a position of selling a curriculum proposal; instead position yourself as responding to a felt need

Responses to Resistance


How Intense is the Resistance?

• Level 1: The Idea Itself

– Communicating the Idea

• Relative Advantage

• Compatibility

• Simplicity

• Easy to Test

• Observability

– Involvement

• Level 2: Deeper Issues

• Level 3: Deeply EmbeddedMaurer, Rick, Beyond the Wall of Resistance, Austin, Texas: Bard Press, 1996, chapter 8


• Communicating the Idea– Relative Advantage

– Compatibility

– Simplicity

– Easy to Test

– Observability

• Involvement

• Risks of Level 1

–Can intensify–Reluctance to

deal with resistance


Level 1: The Idea Itself (primarily intellectual)



• Distrust

• Bureaucratic Culture

• Punishments and Rewards

• Loss of Respect and Face

• Fear of Isolation

• Events in the World

• Resilience

What is needed?

• Actively involved

• Heard

• Valued

• Risks

• dealing with emotionally charged issues


Level 2: Deeper Issues (primarily emotional)



• Combination of Level 2 Factors

• Historic Animosity

• Conflicting Values and Vision

What is needed?

• Persistence

• Actively involved

• Heard, valued

• Risks

• dealing with emotionally charged issues


Level 3: Deeply Embedded (viewed as enemy)



What is your contribution to resistance?

• “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself”

Tolstoy• “We have met the enemy, and he is us”

Pogo• “We must become the change we wish to see

in the world.”Gandhi

Resistance


Guides: Responding to resistance

• NO. 1: Maintain clear focus– Keep both long and short view, persevere

• NO. 2: Embrace resistance• NO. 3: Respect those who resist

– Respect vs. trust– Listen with interest– Tell the truth

• NO. 4: Relax– Stay calm to stay engaged– Know their intentions

• NO. 5: Join with the Resistance– Begin together– Change the game– Find themes and possibilities



Change and Resistance

Participant Task

• In teams of 4, based on the information just introduced, how might you change the change model developed by your team .– How might you use the ideas to improve your

change model?– Prepare team report

• Team Reports

• Guided Discussion


Part 4: Dynamics of Change

Outline

• Lecturette– Processes that promote change

• Does not depend on where you are in the change

– Processes that hinder change• Depend on where you are in the change• Initiation• Sustaining• Redesigning and rethinking



Change Promoting Processes

• “because it matters”– Personal results (Fritz: “What matters to you?”)– “realization that in order to survive and thrive I

must change” (Schein, Organizational and Managerial Culture)

• “because my colleagues take it seriously”– Community

• “because it works”– Business results

Senge, Peter, et. al., The Dance of Change


Challenges of Initiating

• “We don’t have time!”– Challenge: control over personal time

• “We have no help!”– Challenge: inadequate coaching, guidance, and

support

• “This stuff isn’t relevant!”– Challenge: relevance

• “They’re not walking the talk!”– Challenge: management clarity and consistency

Senge, Peter, The Dance of Change


Challenges of Maintaining Momentum

• “This stuff is ____!”– Challenge: fear and anxiety

• “This stuff isn’t working!”– Challenge: negative assessment of progress

• “We have the right way!” / “They don’t understand us!”– Challenge: isolation and arrogance, true believers

and non-believers



Challenges after InstitutionalizationChallenges of of Redesigning and Rethinking

• “Who’s in charge of this stuff?”– Challenge: prevailing governance structure

• “We keep reinventing the wheel!”– Challenge: diffusion, inability to transfer

knowledge

• “Where are we going?”– Challenge: organization strategy and purpose



Dynamics of Change

Concepts/Ideas• Concept #1 - ??• Concept #2 - ??• Concept #3 - ??

Applications• Application #1 - ??• Application #2 - ??• Application #3 - ??

Individually, write down several concepts about the dynamics of change and think of an application for each concept.


Part 6: Culture

Outline

• Lecturette– Definition– Levels of culture– Formation of culture– Changing culture


Why Worry?

“Culture eats change for breakfast.”

James Hunthttp://www.top7business.com/archives/management/20000208.html

Jim Hunt, Principal

James W. Hunt & Associates

The "Change II" Management Consulting Firm

Web address: www.jameswhunt.com

http://www.jameswhunt.com/


What is culture?

“A ‘culture’ is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that have been learned by the members of their group.”

Edgar Schein, in Senge, Peter, The Dance of Change


Levels of Culture

• Artifacts– visible organizational structures and process– easy to observe, difficult to decipher, ambiguous

• Espoused values, rules, behavioral norms– strategies, goals, espoused rationalizations– articulated reasons for actions, (espoused theories, Argyris)

• Basic underlying assumptions– unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs– theories-in-use (Argyris)

Edgar Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, second edition


Levels of Culture

• Artifacts– Tenure and promotion criteria– Tenure and promotion records

• Espoused values, rules, behavioral norms– What people say publicly about what is required for

tenure and promotion

• Basic underlying assumptions– What people assume and/or say privately about

what is required for tenure and promotion and why


• Adaptation to its external environment– Mission and strategy

– Goals

– Means

– Performance measurement

– Correction and remediation

• Integration of its internal processes– Creating a common

language and conceptual categories

– Defining group boundaries and criteria for inclusion and exclusion

– Distributing power and status– Defining and allocating

rewards and punishments– Explaining the unexplainable

- religion and ideologyEdgar Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, second edition

Culture – Lessons learned via


• “You cannot create a new culture. You can immerse yourself in studying a culture ... Until you understand it. Then you can propose new values, introduce new ways of doing things, and articulate new governing ideas. Over time, these actions will set the stage for new behavior. If people who adopt the new behavior feel that it helps them ... The organizational culture may embody a different set of assumptions, and a different way of looking at things ...”

Edgar Schein, in Senge, Peter, The Dance of Change

Changing culture


Non-traditional Change Models

• Complex Adaptive Systems

• Large Group Intervention

• Sensemaking in organizations


Complex Adaptive Systems

• Equilibrium is a precursor to death

• Living things move toward the edge of chaos when confronted by a threat.– "In the face of threat, or when galvanized by a compelling opportunity,

living things move toward the edge of chaos. This condition evokes higher levels of mutation and experimentation, and fresh solutions are likely to be found."

• Living things self-organize. New forms emerge.– "When this excitation takes place, the components of living systems

self-organize and new forms and repertoires emerge from the turmoil."

• Living things cannot be directed along a linear path.– "Living systems cannot be directed along a linear path. Unforeseen

consequences are inevitable. The challenge is to disturb them in a manner that approximates the desired outcome."


Complex Adaptive Systems

• Disturb instead of direct

• Be prepared to go down before going up

• Use feedback and amplifiers within the system

• Balance comfort and dissatisfaction

– Regulate distress

• Consciously design for self-organization and emergence

– Leadership: Articulate the adaptive challenge, not the solution


Sensemaking in Organizations

• Necessary and sufficient conditions to create and sustain change– Animate people to move and generate experiments

– Provide a direction

– Encourage improvement through situational awareness and closer attention to what is happening

– Facilitate respectful interaction in which trust, trustworthiness, and self-respect all develop equally and allow people to build a stable rendition of what they face

Weick, Karl, “Sense Making as a Driving Force in Change at OILCO”, in Kleiner, Art and George, Roth, Oil Change: Perspective on Corporate Transformation


Large Group Intervention

• During the past twenty (20) years, a number of researchers have developed methods to engage large groups of people in the process of change. One idea behind these methods is the concept of the whole system in a room.– Search Conference– Future Search– Open Space Technology– Whole-Scale Change


Dynamics of Change, Culture and Non-Traditional Change Models

Participant Task• In teams of 4, consider the change that your team

has proposed.– How can you use the dynamics of change to improve your

change model?– In what ways is the change aligned with the current culture?

In what ways does the change cut against the current culture?

– How can you incorporate elements of non-traditional change models

– Prepare team report

• Team Reports• Guided Discussion


Wrap-up

• How well did we achieve the desired results?

• Plus/Delta on the workshop– One positive– One item for improvement


FC Publications on Change•1. Merton Prudence, Carolyn Clark, Jim Richardson, Jeffrey Froyd, “Engineering Curricula Change across the Foundation Coalition: How They Succeeded, What They Learned,” Proceedings, ASEE National Conference, Albuquerque, NM, June 2001

•2. Sheila D. Fournier-Bonilla, Karan Watson, César Malavé, and Jeffrey Froyd “Managing Curricula Change in Engineering at Texas A&M University,” accepted by the International Journal of Engineering Education, 2000.

•3. Sheila D. Fournier-Bonilla, Karan Watson, and César Malavé, “Quality Planning In Engineering Education: Analysis Of Alternative Implementations Of A New First-Year Curriculum At Texas A&M University,” Journal of Engineering Education, 2000.

•4. Jeffrey Froyd, Debra Penberthy, and Karan Watson, “Good Educational Experiments are not Necessarily Good Change Processes,” Proceedings, Frontiers in Education Conference, October 2000, Kansas City.

•5. Jeffrey Froyd and Karan Watson, “Systemic Improvement in Engineering Education,” Proceedings of the ASEE National Conference, June 2000, St. Louis.

•6. Karan Watson and Art Glenn, “New Learning Methods which are Effective in Retaining Women Engineering Students, and a Methodology to Implement the Necessary Curriculum Reform,” Proceedings of the Engineering Foundation Workshop, Lake Trembleau, July 1998.

•7. Karan Watson, “Recovering from a Loss of Momentum in a Major Educational Reform: The Engineering Science Core at Texas A&M University,” Proceedings of the Engineering Foundation Workshop, Baltimore, June 1998.

•8. P.K. Imbrie, Cesar Malavé, and Karan Watson, "Pedagogy versus Reality: How Past Experiences Can Be an Effective Modeling Tool to Successfully Deploy Curricula Changes," Proceedings, Frontiers in Education, Pittsburgh, November, 1997.

•9. Stephanie Adams, Karan Watson, and Cesar Malavé, "Foundation Coalition at Texas A&M University: Utilizing TQM and OD to Manage Change," Proceedings Frontier in Education, Salt Lake City, Utah, November, 1996.

•10. Karan Watson and Cesar Malave, "The Cultural Change at Texas A&M University: From Engineering Science Core to Foundation Coalition," Proceedings Frontier in Education, Salt Lake City, Utah, November, 1996.

•11. Karan Watson, "The Key to Educational Innovation: Changing How, Not What We Do," Proceedings: 10th Canadian Conference on Engineering Education, Kingston, Ontario, June, 1996.


Agenda

• 9:00 AM Tenets of Learning (5 minutes, KW)

• 9:05 AM Team Formation (10 minutes , KW)

• 9:15 AM Your Goals (5 minutes , KW)

• 9:20 AM Workshop Overview; Participant Resistance (10 minutes , KW)

• 9:30 AM Change Models (35 minutes, JF)

• 10:05 AM Individual Change (20 minutes, NP)

• 10:25 AM BREAK (10 Minutes)

• 10:35 AM Change and Resistance (35 minutes , NP)

• 11:10 AM Dynamics of Change (20 minutes, KW)

• 11:30 PM Culture and Non-Traditional Change Models (35 minutes, JF)

• 12:05 PM Wrap-up

change, resistance and leadership

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