Organizational Change and Stress Management

Organizational change and stress management are widely accepted as two major issues in organizational life today (Vakola & Nikolaou, 2005). If there is one constant in the business world, it is change (Washington & Hacker, 2005). But with change, stress will normally follow. Change is defined as making things different while stress is defined as a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, a demand, or a resource related to what the individual desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important. This paper will focus on the results of research from experts who have analyzed the influence that resistance to change, potential sources of stress, and the consequences of change and stress have on organizations. As part of the results of each study, the authors’ conclude that there is an apparent need for additional research to be performed and the provided recommended approaches suggested in managing change and stress may not address all issues. The first of these topics explored will focus on individual resistance to change in organizations.

Individual Resistance to Change in Organizations

Individuals go through a reaction process when they are personally confronted with major organizational change (Kyle, 1993; Jacobs, 1995; Bovey & Hede, 2001). Within this process there are four phases that it consists of: initial denial, resistance, gradual exploration, and eventual commitment (Scott & Jaffe, 1988; Bovey & Hede, 2001). Resistance to change is the initial area to focus on. The issues of organizational change and resistance to change have received a lot of attention over the past decade (Macri, Tagliaventi & Bertolotti, 2002). The perceptions of individuals play a fu...

... middle of paper ...

...change and stress by soliciting input from managers and employees making it more likely to produce comprehensive stress management strategies that can target the organization as well as the individual for change (Murphy, 1995). The issues of individual resistance to change, the potential sources of stress and consequences of change and stress on an organization have been addressed in this paper. For all that has been written about change and the effects of change, there is still so much more to be learned (Longenecker & Fink, 2001; Washington & Hacker, 2005). Future studies would profit from the use of additional measures to cross-validate findings of the relationships among workplace stress and organizational change (Vakola & Nikolaou, 2005). One can only hope that future questions about organizational change and stress management can continued to be answered.