Change and the Individual
What candidates must understand
Organisational change happens to people, and people move at different speeds. Learn the change curve, adapted from Kübler-Ross: shock, denial, frustration or anger, bargaining or exploration, depression, then acceptance. It is descriptive rather than prescriptive; people loop back and do not march neatly through stages. Bridges' transition separates the external change (new system, new structure) from the internal transition: ending, neutral zone, new beginning. Questions often test that distinction: going live is not the same as people letting go.
Understand why people resist: loss of competence, loss of control, added workload, perceived injustice, and unmet needs for information, involvement, capability or incentive. Resistance is data, not disloyalty. ADKAR gives a diagnostic sequence: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, reinforcement. A gap at any point produces predictable failure. The Beckhard and Harris change equation says change happens when dissatisfaction × vision × first steps exceeds resistance; because the factors multiply, a zero anywhere kills the change.
Traps
- Assuming one communication event creates understanding.
- Treating resistance as a personality flaw rather than a symptom.
- Confusing the change curve with Bridges' transition model.
- Assuming extrinsic rewards fix a capability gap.
Worked example
A team rejects a new CRM. Before writing a resistance plan, diagnose: do they know why (awareness), want it (desire), know how (knowledge), have practice (ability), and see it sticking (reinforcement)? If ability is the gap, more communication will not help. Rule of thumb: match the intervention to the missing need, namely information, involvement, training or reinforcement.