1. Emotion of Change
● Chee Liung Wun ● Lim Shieh Chern ● Ng Yee Jie ●

2. Change is intensely personal and
fundamentally about feelings.
However, emotions are
frequently perceived as
“uncomfortable knowledge” and
are to be avoided or ignored in
management. Thus, companies
that want their workers to
contribute with their heads and
hearts have to accept that
emotions are essential to the
new management style
(Duck, 1993)
Introduction

3. Emotions color all perception,
thinking, and behavior, and often are
critical variables in both effective
and ineffective change projects
(Lundberg & Young, 2001)
Terminology of Emotion

5. An organization denies the validity of
emotions or permits only certain kind of
emotions in the workplace causes:
Managers cut themselves off
from their own emotional lives
The ideas, solutions, and new
perspectives were cut off
Importance of Emotion

6. People do not have problem with change itself, but rather
with transition. Change is the situation, but transition is
“psychological”
(Bridges, 1991)
Recognizing and Knowing
Emotion of Change

7. Stage 1: Denial
Employees do not accept the
changes
Stage 2: Resistance
Employees in this state tend to
slow down the change process
Stage 3: Exploration
Employees begin to explore their
new role when they realize they
cannot resist the change
Stage 4: Commitment
Employees are mutually
committed in change process
Emotional
States
Kubler - Ross Grief Model

8.  Lundberg and Young (2001)
Two Phenomena of Emotions
• Vary from weak to strong in intensity, are
relatively short in persistence, and are not
diffuse in that they have particular stimuli.
Affective reactions
• Less intense, typically of longer duration,
and are diffuse in that they are not
associated with anything in particular.
Moods

9.  Three Dimensions:
Two Phenomena of Emotions (cont.)
• Felt
strength
of an
emotion
• Duration
of an
emotion
over time
• Whether
emotion is
focused or
targeted
on an
object

10. Dimensions of Affective Response and Mood
High Positive
(joyful, energetic & exhilarated)
Low Positive
(apathetic, sluggish & listless)
Low Negative
(calm, content & placid)
High Negative
(anger, sorrow &
anxiety)
Unpleasant
(sad, distress & sober)
Pleasant
(happy, pleased & carefree)
Aroused
(restless, astonished &
changeable)
Unaroused
(peaceful, quiescent & controlled)
Source: Adapted from Weiss and Cropanzano (1996)

11. Emotions Affect Behavior
Affective reactions are object-
focused, shorter in durations,
and vary in intensity. Affective
reactions response to particular
perceived events.
Moods are less intense, more
diffuse, with an object focus –
reflect a person’s life events
(especially changes in status
and power)
How emotions relate to
observable behavior begins with
a perceived event, which
triggers an affective response,
sometimes conditioned by a
mood.
Affective reactions primarily,
and moods are more distally,
have an impact on cognitive
processed, that is, attention,
judgment, reasoning, analysis,
creativity in problem solving,
efficiency, and thoroughness in
decision-making.

12. Cognitive processed,
in turn, result in
social behavior.
Social behavior is
filtered through
“feeling rules” or
“display rules”.
Conformance to these
rules are termed
“emotional labor”.
Emotional labor is
managing dissonance
between felt emotions
and the emotions one
is expected to portray.
Emotions Affect Behavior (cont.)

13. The Model of Emotion-Influenced Behavior
Perceived
Events
Affective
Reactions
Mood
Cognitive
Processes
Behavior
Emotional
Display Rules
Emotional
Labor Cost
Source: From Lundberg and Young (2001)

14. New management paradigm says that:
Managing people is managing feelings. The issue is not
whether employees have “negative” emotions, but rather
how to manage them.
Managing Emotion of Change

15.  Edgar Schein
Managing Emotion of Change
SurvivalAnxiety
The
experienced
tension
between what
is desired and
what is
perceived to
be the present
reality
LearningAnxiety
The prospect
of learning
something
new
Greater Than

16. 1. Communication and stimulating conversation
Managing Emotion of Change (cont.)

17. 2. Preparing employees thru trainings &
coaching
3. Facilitation
Managing Emotion of Change (cont.)
To minimize the discomfort and anxiety of the change process
A process guide to make a process easier or more convenient for
the employees during change.

18.  Transition Management is a way of dealing with
people that makes everyone feel more
comfortable when facing organizational change.
Transition Management
Phrase I, Letting Go
Phrase II, Leading people through
neutral zone
Phrase III, Launching new
beginning

19. Pietersen’s framework is based on six principal
elements that can minimize resistance and
assist the successful implementation of change
Create a simple, compelling statement
Communicate constantly and honestly
Maximise participation
If at else fails, remove those who resist
Generate short-term wins
Set a shining example
Pietersen Framework

20. For Change Agents
Conversations and sharing experience with
peers/competitors in other organizations
Talking with friends who work in the same field
Formal networking with other sustainable development
types
Attendance at training courses and learning programmes
Signing up to e-newsgroups, email groups or web-based
discussion forums
Informal networking (e.g. ‘green drinks’, socializing,
occasional coffees)

21.  Emotion involvement is inevitable part of any
organization change process.
 Employees do not resist change per se but
rather, the impact of the change on them.
 Thus the new paradigm in managing people
during change process is managing emotion.
 The strategy is to make everyone feel more
comfortable during the change process, using
management frameworks and tools that are
discussed above.
Conclusion

22. Thank You
Q & A Session