Leading Strategicially

1/23/2021 Management of Change and Trust

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Management of Change and Trust

Even with a well-crafted strategy, leading an organization to gain and sustain competitive

advantage is an arduous process. Change can occur in many areas of an organization and

can be deliberate or accidental, incremental or sudden, local or global, and focused or

broadly applied across an organization. Regardless of the type or magnitude of change,

change management involves people.

Central to human nature is the need to be in a state of control and predictability (Thiétart

& Forgues, 1995). Discomfort with change is, in part, a result of a perceived or real loss of

control and the related fear that an unknown or unpredictable outcome might be harmful

or run counter to one’s norms and values. The level of trust within an organization is an

important descriptor of the unease experienced during change.

Trust, or the state of reduced uncertainty and undesirable conduct, favors the comfort of a

predictable, steady state. Resistance to change is implicit in the desire for certainty and

predictability, regardless of whether that steady state is, in fact, the state that will help the

organization stay competitive in the face of changing circumstances.

According to Lewicki, McAllister, and Bies (1998) trust is the “positive expectation

regarding another’s conduct” (p. 444). If a person trusts another, social complexity and

uncertainty have been reduced by having removed specific undesirable conduct. Trust is

developed and modified both on an individual basis and through group affiliation (Lewin,

1975).

The change-trust relationship is not necessarily linear. For example, increasing

communication increases trust and decreases resistance. These influencing factors make

trust seem elastic: trust is enhanced by influencing factors that mitigate uncertainty.

Many organizational practitioners claim to have identified factors that reduce uncertainty

and package these as a remedy. However, leaders should however be aware that each

situation is unique, and applying the plan developed for a previously successful change

Learning Topic

1/23/2021 Management of Change and Trust

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initiative will not guarantee success, even within the same company and involving the

same group of individuals. This is because nothing really remains unchanged (Orlikowski &

Holman, 1997).

Thiétart and Forgues (1995) account for this phenomenon through the application of

chaos theory to organizations. A change-trust model might be able to describe a current

change initiative at a particular point in time. But unless it takes into account the effect of

the continuously changing variables, it can never be accurately used to predict future

success and its application to other groups and situations will be limited.

References

Lewicki, R. J., McAllister, D. J., & Bies, R. J. (1998). Trust and distrust: New relationships

and realities. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 438–458. Retrieved from

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umgc.edu

Lewin, K. (1975). Field theory in social science. Westport, CT: Westwood Press, Publishers.

Orlikowski, W. J. & Hofman, D. J. (1997). An improvisational model for change

management: The case of Groupware technologies. Sloan Management Review, 38(2), 11–

21. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umgc.edu

Pietersen, W. (2002). The Mark Twain dilemma: The theory and practice of change

leadership. Journal of Business Strategy, 23(5), 32–37. Retrieved from

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umgc.edu

Thiétart, R. A., & Forgues, B. (1995). Chaos theory and organizations. Organizational

Science, 6(1), 19–31. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umgc.edu

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