The management rallying cry “Embrace change!” is too often met with “A change imposed is a change opposed” reality. Human beings crave predictability and security, and certainly do so concerning the place at which they toil 40+ hours each week.
The reality of today’s űber-competitive marketplace demands organizations be flexible and adaptive, and workers be cooperative and collaborative. A leading theory addressing intrinsic motivation identifies an innate psychological need to grow, to learn new things, and to stretch current abilities and skills. These demands would seem to combine to spell motivational opportunity, and they do, but only when certain conditions are met.
Examining the dynamics surrounding organizational change efforts through the lenses of two complementary theories of human behavior permits managers to anticipate likely resistance, and to help mitigate same. Specific techniques have been identified as supporting employees’ intrinsic or self-motivation, based on analyses of workplaces including Wall Street employees and workers in unionized environments.
This paper presents the two theories and illustrates how line managers can draw insight into ways of leveraging the opportunity change provides to energize greater creativity and performance.