An alternate definition of emotion as defined by Nadler and Lowery (2009):
"Emotions are responses and/or behaviours that express feelings towards an environmental stimuli or a triggering object".
In relation to change, O’Conner and Fiol (2006) are one of many resources that link the emotional reactions to change, to that of the stages experienced in death and dying.
Although individual reactions to change will differ, employees generally proceed through a typical set of phases:
In addition, although not conclusive, common emotions linked to organizational change within the health care system are:
O’Connor, E. J., & Fiol, C. M. (2006). Handling Emotional Reactions to Change. The Physician Executive, November/December, 78-80.
Within organizational structures, emotions are carefully constrained and change programs focus on systems and procedures rather than on human and cultural elements. Philips (2007) encourages health care organizations to recognize the value of their human resources and to pay heed to the “unwritten terms and conditions” of their “psychological contract with employees”.
The following video discusses the element of fear when dealing with change.Most fear is not of the change itself but of the unknown associated with change and can be perpetuated by the proverbial grapevine.
Isolation, on the other hand, can be the result of the breaking up of either formal or informal support groups. It can also result from the perception of not having a say in the decisions surrounding change or from not being asked to share the wisdom that comes from experience.
Not surprisingly, stress is a common cause of sickness and absenteeism within health care organizations. Lokk and Arnetz (2002) cite organizational change as a significant stressor both mentally and physiologically, with stress related illnesses being a common side-effect of poorly managed change.
1. Informed hopefulness
In this stage, employees begin to recognize that change may actually work and that they may survive. It is at this stage also that the foundation for improved psychological conditions and implementation success is also realized (O’Conner & Fiol, 2006).2. Excitement and exhilaration
Although confusion may linger, clarity is also emerging alongside initial change successes which foster periods of excitement and exhilaration. O’Conner and Fiol (2006) suggest that this stage of is the basis for perceived opportunity which propels employees toward confident completion.
3. Confidence and completion
Finally, in this last stage of confidence and completion individuals and teams often experience additional emotions such as high satisfaction, teamwork and optimism.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
“Emotional intelligence (EI) is the set of abilities that account for how people’s emotional reports vary in their accuracy and how the more accurate understanding of emotion leads to better problem solving in an individual’s emotional life. More formally, we defined emotional intelligence as the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in the self and others” (Salovey, Brackett & Mayer 2007). Goleman (2000) defines emotional intelligence as: the effective awareness, control and management of one's own emotions, and those of other people.
Such an intimate understanding of emotion in oneself and others, allows individuals to consciously guide their thinking and actions based on the positive and negative effects of emotion.
Please click here to test your level of emotional intelligence!
This multi-dimensional model consists of four abilities:
Emotional awareness refers to the ability to be aware of the emotions you personally experience and to express emotions and emotional needs accurately to others.
Emotional facilitation refers to an individual’s ability to use emotions to prioritize thinking by focusing on important information that explains why feelings are being experienced. This factor also includes the ability to adopt multiple perspectives to assess a problem from all sides, including pessimistic and optimistic perspectives (Mayer & Salovey 1997)—an ability that is very important in the context of organisational change.
Emotional knowledge refers to an individual’s ability to understand emotional cycles and complex emotions such as simultaneous feelings of loyalty and betrayal.
Emotional regulation refers to the ability of an individual to connect or disconnect from an emotion depending on its usefulness in any given situation in attempts to manage their emotion.
Emotions are reactions we have to personally significant interactions and situations around us each day. Our emotional responses help us to respond, adapt and thrive in the busy environment in which we live. Our emotions or internal responses, which may be positive and negative, can be thought of as “data” or signals about how we perceive various situations, and if we are mindful to what an emotion is signalling, we can consciously help bring about a positive outcome.
For example, when we feel anger, we signal to others not to approach us. Conversely, a smile conveys happiness and approachability. The social nature of emotion is a key source of motivating information for managers and leaders.
2. We can try to ignore emotion, but it doesn’t work
6. Emotional Universals exist, but so do specifics
Emotional intelligence can be applied to the global society at large as the rules of emotion and their associated expressions are universal. Although there are cultural differences in social behaviour, and customs may differ from country to country, emotional expressions are similar worldwide. A smile, laughter, or tears will be interpreted with the same meaning throughout the world. Caruso and Salovey exert that life can be more complex, and specific variations in emotional interpretations can be related to display rules, secondary emotions, and gender.Women have been shown to express more emotion. They display sadness more than men, but do not express anger more than men (Nadler & Lowery, 2009).
2. Personality traits
Individual personality differences have been shown to have an effect on certain patterns of behaviour, the ability to regulate one’s own emotions, and the ability to cope with stress (Lee-Baggley, Preece & DeLongis, 2005; Makin, Cooper & Cox, 1996; Nadler & Lowery, 2009).
The ‘Big Five’ personality traits include:
a) Neuroticism
These individuals are prone to negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, and anger. They use more passive or emotion-focused strategies such as avoidance, self-blame, wishful thinking, and their coping strategies tend to involve hostile response, venting and confrontation (Lee-Baggley et al., 2005).
b) Extroversion
Extroverts tend to experience positive emotions and are often cheerful, warm, energetic and sociable. They engage in higher levels of problem solving and use emotion laden coping strategies such as, support seeking and positive thinking (Lee-Baggley et al., 2005).
c) Openness
These individuals are often creative, imaginative, curious and adaptable in their thinking. They are likely to experience a variety of emotions and tend to use humour as a coping strategy. They are empathetic, as they open to both their own feelings and to those around them (Lee-Baggley et al., 2005).
d) Agreeableness
They are selfless, trusting and helpful. Their method of coping involves protecting social relationships such as, seeking support and avoiding confrontation. They are less likely to use emotion laden coping strategies such as, self-blame, wishful thinking or disengagement (Lee-Baggley et al., 2005).
e) Conscientiousness
These individuals are organized, reliable, assiduous, and self-disciplined. They tend to focus on planning and problem solving, and are less likely to engage in emotion-focused coping strategies such as self-blame, distraction or disengagement (Lee-Baggley et al., 2005).
3. Individual differences
Intelligence
4. Attitudes and Adaptability
Organizational Commitment
Job Satisfaction
Previous Experience with Change
Change and Stress Producing Events Outside of the Workplace
5. Emotional Intelligence
Personal characteristics and previous experiences with change have been shown to affect how we, as individuals, respond and react to change. When an individual experiences positive emotions, they will more often exhibit helpful and cooperative behaviours, and be more accepting of others and of the change around them (Rhee, 2007). While negative emotions have been associated with an individual’s narrowed scope of attention, cognition and action (Rhee, 2007).
These individual emotional responses not only impact their own behaviours, they also may trigger another co-worker’s emotions and reactions (Rhee, 2007). In turn, the reaction of a fellow colleague can either solidify or change the original emotional response of the individual who initiated the interaction (Rhee, 2007). In other words, change can have a ripple effect as one’s individual emotional response can directly impact the emotions and behaviours of another.
Negative emotions
Strategy #1 - Honest and Timely Communication
Research suggests that adjusting the timing and content of the information communicated promotes acceptance of change as employees' experience of emotions evolves in association with the change (Liu & Perrewe, 2005).
Effective communication contributes to employees perceived sense of control during change and allows for richer information sharing. It also gives employees the ability to foresee and make sense of the future. This alleviates a potentially tense climate as employees struggle with uncertainty. A delicate balance of quantity and timing of the communication is crucial in managing the emotional reaction to the information.
Initially, in the primary appraisal of introducing the change, anticipatory emotions contribute to the level of mixed regard and discrepancy associating the past with the current situation. With emotions running high communication should be global with minimal elaboration and detail. Too much information at this stage may give employees the impression that events are going on beyond their understanding and control, which can induce more uncertainty and fear. Information should be carefully reframed with an emphasis on the positive aspects of the change. The positive information communicated will induce excitement in employees in the primary appraisal, while a high level of specific information whether positive or negative will induce fear in employees (Liu & Perrewe, 2005). Information must be communicated early in the change process as employees level of acceptance at this early stage is quite malleable and emotions quite anticipatory.
In the secondary appraisal concerns center around the meaning of the change to “me” and employees begin to think of the change in realation to their own well being. The actual experience of the change is now a reality in daily life. As employees begin to understand the change and the change process, communication can be more detailed. Thus, in the secondary appraisal of the proposed change, communication that addresses the specific concerns and issues of employees is more effective in contributing to employees’ accurate assessment of the change and their response to it. The specific information that is immediately relevant is now more helpful.
Organizations and change agents must also ensure that adequate time for adaptation and sense making occurs when communicating. Employees need time to adjust and leaders should monitor the content of communication to fit the changing needs of their employees emotional and cognitive state.
Communication is a process and not a one-time event in the continuum of change and transition.
Strategy #2 - Organizational culture: a culture of trust
The culture of an organization that compels leaders to pay particular attention to the human side of organizations will inspire a culture that contributes to trust, loyalty acceptance and commitment to change.
When leaders focus on establishing trust, they are better able to deal with both the operational and business component and the human element of change. These leaders understand the emotional discomfort and pain of change on employees, and must be agile and resilient to rise to the challenge.
An organizational Human Resources strategy to help employees adjust to change should consist of polices and strategies the are modeled by leaders. Research suggests that positive organizational support has a positive impact on job satisfaction and affective commitment by employees with experiencing change (Kiefer, 2005).
As Lazarus (1991), suggests, “in so far as emotions are an inherent part of everyday functioning and a legitimate expression of individual experiences, emotional expressions need to be taken seriously by management and responded to in a respectful manner" (Keifer, 2005, p. 891).
As organizations transform, employees' emotional needs in times of change, are viewed more democratically and the emphasis is on empowering team oriented cultures (Pident, 2000).
Strategy #3 - Transformational Leadership
This style of leading change, works from the perspective that leaders transform the values, attitudes and beliefs of followers while creating enthusiasm and inspiring followers in the change process (Podsakoff, 1990). It is a style of leadership that provides supportive leadership for change. The notion that transformational leadership positively influences a recipients’ response to change suggests that this style addresses the higher order needs of employees in organizations during the change process (Bommer, Rich & Rubin, 2005).
The six dimensions of transformational leadership consists of:
Leaders that communicate a vision as well as conveying high performance expectations, improve employees' self-efficacy with an implicit conveying of confidence and a sense of empowerment.
Transformational leaders model behaviors that are to be emulated which serves to increase their trustworthiness and credibility for their followers in the hopes of increased participation and articulation of needs during change.
This leadership style respects followers and oversees their development with the utmost concern for feelings and needs during change. These employees will likely respond to the direction of the leader who communicates concern about them as individuals. This is especially fundamental when work conditions are stressful, frustrating or dissatisfying which is typical during a change initiative.
Transformational leadership behaviors stress cooperative rather than individual needs in the hopes of group engagement and a sense of safety in publicizing emotions and feedback with change.
