Skip to main content
Search

Behavioral issues in change

Published on March 1, 2009 Archived on May 28, 2025   26 min

A selection of talks on Management, Leadership & Organisation

Please wait while the transcript is being prepared...
0:00
This talk is entitled Behavioural Issues in Change, and is the work of Bernard Burnes, Professor of Organisational Change at Manchester Business School.
0:12
The presentation covers four key questions with regard to behavioural issues in change. Why do people react as they do to change? What is the best way to manage change? What is the scope for choice? What is the role of managers in the change process?
0:32
When faced with the prospect of change, there are three common reactions which can be summed up in the following quotations. Change is the only constant. Though written 2000 years ago, this is as true today as it was then. The world is in a constant state of change. Change is sometimes fast and sometimes slow, but always present. Most people recognize this fact, but that does not mean they welcome it as noted by Machiavelli in the 16th century. There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. Underpinning this is the view of Lord Salisbury, a former British prime minister. Change? Change? Why do we need change? Things are quite bad enough as they are. These quotations could well be combined into a new motto for modern organisations. Change might be inevitable, but we won't support it, and in any case, it won't do any good.

Quiz available with full talk access. Request Free Trial or Login.

Show
Hide

Behavioral issues in change

Embed in course/own notes