cameron and green making-sense-of-change-management

Individual changeSummary of behavioural approachIf you were to approach change from a behaviourist perspective you aremore likely to be acting on the assumption of McGregor’s Theory X: theonly way to motivate and align workers to the change effort is through acombination of rewards and punishments. You would spend time andeffort ensuring that the right reward strategy and performance managementsystem was in place and was clearly linked to an individual’sbehaviours. Herzberg’s ideas suggest that there is something more at playthan reward and punishment when it comes to motivating people. That isnot to say that the provision of Herzberg’s motivators cannot be used assome sort of reward for correct behaviour.THE COGNITIVE APPROACH TO CHANGECognitive psychology developed out of afrustration with the behaviourist approach.The behaviourists focused solely on observablebehaviour. Cognitive psychologists weremuch more interested in learning aboutdeveloping the capacity for language and aperson’s capacity for problem solving. Theywere interested in things that happen withina person’s brain. These are the internalprocesses which behavioural psychology didnot focus on.Cognitive theory is founded on thepremise that our emotions and our problems are a result of the way wethink. Individuals react in the way that they do because of the way theyappraise the situation they are in. By changing their thought processes,individuals can change the way they respond to situations.People control their own destinies by believing in and acting on the values andbeliefs that they hold.R Quackenbush, Central Michigan University25