Why Is That We Know We Have to—Or Want to—Change, but Find Ourselves Moving Around in Circles?

Abstract

In this essay, we will explore a question which is widely recognized in the world of practitioners of change and which seems a problematic issue in any change process, but is badly understood in theory: "What is happening when there is a lot of enthusiasm about a change initiative and a lot of knowledge about the change, but nothing happens?" Why is coming into action so difficult in any change process? We ourselves, being scholars as well as practitioners, are in the middle of trying to understand the answers to these questions. In this essay, we will explore the literature to shed light on this. We discuss that (a) "people consistently act inconsistently," (b) resistance is a multi-layered and multi-meaning concept that needs reconceptualization, and (c) perception of the change recipient plays a pivotal role in every change process.

(Engaging or Avoiding) Change Through Reflexive Practices

“…Thus a call to change that arises from "being struck" may lead to transformative action in some cases, but reflexive practices can also be oriented towards stasis in the face of transformative pressures (e.g. see Nistelrooij & Caluwé, 2016) that are experienced in an unhopeful emotional tone or driven by self-interest. Hence, reflexive practices can be deployed to avoid a call to change as well as to engage with it (Antonacopoulou, 2004(Antonacopoulou, , 2010; see also the examples discussed in Cunliffe, 2004;Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001).…”

“…Being struck does not, however, always directly lead to change and progress (Gorli et al, 2015;Nistelrooij & Caluwé, 2016). Instead, it can lead either to action that challenges the source of the discomfort or to self-interested disengagement; the latter may address the symptoms but not the causes of discomfort, and is focused on the search for desirable interpretations of such (in)action (Paharia, Vohs, & Deshpandé, 2013).…”

Evitalizing Social Work Practice: The Community Development Conundrum

“…Perhaps this is a question of passion and resistance (Van Nistelrooij & De Caluwe, 2016) or how people deal with issues of loss (Kübler Ross, 1969). Only further research in this area will unravel this mystery.…”

“…Van Nistelrooij and De Caluwe (2016) acknowledge that resistance to change was, until just a decade ago, presented in terms of Newtonian physics with a clear linear causal pattern in which every action is accompanied by an equal force in the opposite direction. Currently, change is seen as a very complex process accompanied by strong positive and negative emotions (Cartwright, Habib & Morrow, 1951).…”

“…Looking from a holistic or cybernetic perspective means that we look specifically at how outcomes are fed back to the performing whole -which in this instance is a group of people (social workers), an echelon, an organisation or even a network of organisations (see Van Nistelrooij & De Caluwe, 2016).…”