C H A N G E A N D T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

Sample Footer Text

INDIVIDUAL CHANGE
Lesson 1
 1. Learning and the process of change – in what ways
can models of learning help us understand individual
change?

2. The theoretical approaches to change

• Behavioral : How can we change people’s behaviour?

• Cognitive : How can we make change attractive to

OUTLINE
people and how can they achieve the results that they
want

• Psychodynamic : What’s actually going on for people

as they experience change, and what are the
implications for their health & well-being?

• Humanistic : How can people maximize the benefits

of change? MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 20XX 3
 3. Personality and change – how do we differ in our
responses to change?

4. Managing change in self and others – if we can

understand people’s internal experience and we
know what changes need to happen, what is the
OUTLINE best way to effect change?

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 20XX 4

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 20XX 6

KEY THEORIES OF HOW INDIVIDUALS GO
THROUGH CHANGE

Four approaches to individual change MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 20XX 7

LEARNING & THE PROCESS OF CHANGE
In what ways can models of learning help us understand individual
change and develop ourselves?

• Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge through

experience which leads to a change in behavior

• Many of the change scenarios that you find yourself in

require you to learn something new, to adjust to a new way
of operating, or to unlearn something

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What happens when you first start to learn
something new?

The Learning Dip

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 Learning from the Gestalt perspective

Gestalt psychologists suggest people have some things in the foreground of

their consciousness and others in the background of their consciousness

Unfamiliarity
Trial & error
Some practice
Requires focus & attention

Recedes to
background
with time
 Ko l b ’s Le a r n i n g Cy c l e
Learning through a process of doing and thinking

David Kolb (1984)’s model of experiential learning unpacks how learning

occurs, and what stages a typical individual goes through in order to learn
Activists Reflectors

Theorists Pragmatists

Ko l b ’s Le a r n i n g Cy c l e
FOUR THEORIES OF HOW INDIVIDUALS
GO THROUGH CHANGE

Four approaches to individual change MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 20XX 13

The Behavioral
Approach to Change
BEHAVIORAL APPROACH

• This approach focuses on how one individual can change another

individual’s behaviour using reward and punishment, to achieve
intended results

• If the intended results are not being achieved, an analysis of the

individual’s behaviour will lead to an understanding of what is
contributing to success and what is contributing to non-achievement

• To elicit the preferred behaviour, the individual must be encouraged

to behave that way, and discouraged from behaving any other way

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Ima g i n e an o rg an i sat io n i s u n derg o in g
a p l a n n ed p ro g ram o f c u l t u re c ha n g e

A behavioral approach will focus on changing the behavior of

staff and managers, and not necessarily improving processes
or relationships
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The behavioral approach is underpinned by the work of Pavlov
and Skinner

Classical Conditioning

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Skinner (1953) looked further at the effects of behaviors, not
just the behaviors themselves

Operant Conditioning

The rats learned that accidental pressing of the lever led to food being
provided. The reward of food led to the rats repeating the behavior
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Using rewards & punishments (i.e., additions & subtractions of positive
and negative stimuli), there are 4 ways to encourage a behaviour

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R4qiF9KCdI&t=106s
 Steps in Planned Behavior Change

Step 1: Identify the behaviors that impact

performance

Step 2: Measure those behaviors – how

much of those behaviors are currently in
use?

Step 3: Generate an intervention – what

rewards/punishments should be linked to
the behaviors that impact performance?

Step 4: Evaluate the effectiveness of the

intervention
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Step 3: Designing an intervention

Financial
reinforcement
Feedback on
performance

Social
reinforcement

Behavior change
PROBLEMS WITH THE BEHAVIORAL APPROACH

• The pure behaviourist view of the world, prevalent in

industry up to the 1960s, led to difficulties with motivating
people to exhibit the ‘right’ behaviours

• This in turn led researchers to investigate what

management styles worked and did not work

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 HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE PEOPLE TO CHANGE
THEIR BEHAVIOR AT WORK?

Douglas McGregor showed

that managers who held
Theory Y beliefs about their
workforce were able to elicit
good work performance

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 HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE PEOPLE TO CHANGE
THEIR BEHAVIOR AT WORK?

Frederick Herzberg found

that two sets of drivers
motivated workers to give
their best performance

Increases satisfaction,
motivation and
positive attitudes Reduces
dissatisfaction and
negative attitudes
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BEHAVIORAL APPROACH

• If change is only approached from a behavioural perspective, you are

acting on the assumption of McGregor’s Theory X – the only way to
motivate and align workers to the change effort is through a combination
of rewards and punishments

• You would ensure that the right reward strategy and performance
management system was in place and was clearly linked to an individual’s
behaviours

• Herzberg’s ideas suggest that there is something more at play than reward
and punishment when it comes to motivating people. Yet the provision of
Herzberg’s motivators can be used as some sort of reward for correct
behaviour 25
The Cognitive
Approach to Change
COGNITIVE APPROACH

• Cognitive theory is founded on the premise that our emotions

and our problems are a result of the way we think

• Individuals react in the way that they do because of the way they
appraise the situation they are in

• By changing their thought processes, individuals can change the

way they respond to situations

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COGNITIVE APPROACH

• Rokeach, through the 1960s and 1970s, suggested that a person’s set
of values influences his beliefs which, in turn, influences his attitudes.
Individuals’ attitudes influence their feelings and their behaviour

• In the context of change, individuals need to look at the way they limit
themselves by sticking to old ways of thinking, and replace that with
new ways of being

• The cognitive approach is focused on the results that individuals want

to achieve and how they go about this 28
 How do we change our thinking so we can
achieve the results we desire?

3
The cognitive approach
encourages us to look at how
Changing
our script our internal conversations
2 within ourselves limit us, and
change the script
The cognitive
approach
suggests we pay Making 1
attention to the sense of
way in which we our results The cognitive
talk to ourselves approach
about results Setting clear, advocates the
challenging use of goals →
goals the clearer the
goal, the greater
the likelihood of
achievement
SO WHAT DO WE KNOW OF THE COGNITIVE
APPROACH?

• It builds on the behaviourist approach by putting behaviour into the context of

beliefs, and focusing more firmly on outcomes we want to achieve

• Many cognitive techniques are used in the field of management today,

particularly in coaching

Building a positive Setting some Tackling our

mental attitude stretching goals limiting beliefs

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 NEXT WEEK…
Psychodynamic & Humanistic Approaches to Change