ORGANISATIONAL

READINESSTO-CHANGE

Compiled by:
RICHA MITTAL(124)
SAKSHI MALHORA(125)
GEETIKA SACHDEVA(126)

introduction
Readiness means being prepared. In
summary change readiness can be defined
as:
Having the right conditions and resources
in place to support the change process
having a clear vision and objectives for the
intended change.
Having the motivation and attitudes to
engage with the change and make it work.

Continue:
It is important to assess your organisations
readiness for change before taking any
major steps to implement any change
process.
A readiness assessment will help determine
if the organisations existing environment is
prepared for change.
it will also predict how change may impact
staff and the overall performance.

What is readiness
assessment

Readiness assessment is the act of measuring

how prepared your organisation is for a major
change.
In order to conduct a readiness assessment, you
need to evaluate the culture; leadership styles;
performance; processes; and, resources of the
organisation.
By conducting this, an organisation can identify
their needs and major gaps in workflow.
Results from this can help shape the
organisations approach to various QI initiatives.

Elements of readiness
assessment
READINESS-TO-CHANGE
Organisational
QI
project readiness
QI program
ASSESSMENT
readiness

(i) Organisational QI program

readiness
It is a precursor of quality improvement.
It is achieved when your organisation is
prepared for change and willing to alter
current practices for quality improvement.
The assessment will identify the available
resources , staff characteristics, and areas
that the organisation needs to improve.
As a result, the organisation can prepare for
any barriers that hinders the
implementation of change.

(ii) QI project readiness

Every QI project needs a project team to
manage the project. Team members should
be selected based on QI project and the
types of expertise needed.
A QI project readiness is conducted to
evaluate the teams readiness to change,
commitment, and leadership support.

Readiness assessment process

Stages in readiness to change

Stage 1: PreContemplation

Individual is unaware, unable, unwilling to

change. No intent to change.
Indicators: argue, interrupt, deny, ignore,
avoid reading, talking, or thinking about the
behaviour.
Individual is traditionally characterised as
resistant, unmotivated.

Clinical tools

Establish rapport.
Determine why the client has come to you.
Introduce ambivalence about recovery why
it might be a good idea, e.g., why do you
think other people decide to manage their
disorders?
Give information on risks, pros & cons of use.
Acknowledge the clients thoughts, feelings,
fears, and concerns.
Keep the interview informal.

Stage 2: Contemplation

Individual is ambivalent or uncertain

regarding behaviour change.
Indicators: Individual meets clinician half
way, willing to look at pros & cons of
behaviour change.
Individual is traditionally characterised as
unpredictable, time intensive.

Clinical tools

Discuss and weigh pros and cons of recovery.

Emphasize clients free choice and
responsibility.
Elicit self motivational statements.
Discuss the clients goals in life, how will
recovery affect these?
Reduce the fear of recovery through
examples and problem solving.
Ask questions that clarify motivation, e.g.,
whats most important to you..why?

Stage 3: Preparation

Individual shifts from thinking about

behaviour change to planning first steps.
Indicators: Individual asks questions,
considers options, demonstrates openness
in considering behaviour change.
Individual is traditionally characterised as
compliant, coming along,, good to work
with.

Clinical tools
Support efforts to change
Clarify goals and identify successful
strategies
Structure plan of action with client based on
clients history and willingness, allowing
client to decide
Encourage client to commit to action
Give client clear, consistent, and
unequivocal message about recovery.

Stage 4: Action

Individual demonstrates steps toward

behaviour change such as periods of
abstinence.
Indicators: Individual is receptive to clinical
interventions. Treatment compliance is
normal. Demonstrated behaviour change
affects positive outcomes in other areas (i.e.
Relationship at home and work).
Individual is traditionally characterised as
successful, working the program.

Clinical tools
Seek commitment to specific behavioural
change at each session
Acknowledge difficulties, support even
minimal progress
Identify risky situations, triggers & coping
strategies
Help client find new reinforces
Support perseverance (sticking to the
plan)

Stage 5: Maintenance

Individual sustains treatment goals.

Indicators: Individual has made behaviour
changes, practices stable abstinence , meet
treatment goals, practices healthy coping
strategies.
Individual is traditionally characterised as
ready for successful discharge, no longer
needing treatment, ready for aftercare.

Clinical tools
Support and affirm changes
Rehearse new coping strategies and
countermeasures to triggers
Review personal growth long term goals
Encourage client to contribute to recovery
of others.

Readiness to change
ruler(scale)
The readiness-to-change ruler is used to
assess a persons willingness or readiness
to change, determine where they are on the
continuum between not prepared to
change on the left to already changing
on the right, and promote identification and
discussion of perceived barriers to change.
It is used as a quick assessment of persons
present motivational state relating to
changing a specific behaviour.

How to use?
Indicate the specific behaviour to be assessed on the
ruler form. Ask the person to mark on a linear scale
from 0 to 10 their current position in the change
process.
Question the person about why he or she did not place
the mark further to the left , which elicits motivational
statements
Question the person about why he or she did not place
mark further to the right, which elicits perceived
barriers
Ask the person for suggestions about ways to
overcome identified barriers and actions that might be
taken.

Scoring

A score above 5 shows that the person is

willing to consider change and should be
supported and encouraged.

Importance of readiness-tochange
Helps in identifying barriers that hinders the change
process and removing them
Help organisation in addressing issues before they
escalate to major problems
Helps saving time
Helps increasing likelihood of successfully improving
quality
Helps strengthen employee relations by engaging
employees in assessment
The results may encourage the organisation to alter
its QI planning efforts for more satisfying outcomes.

Research
papers

A theory of organizational readiness for

change
by Bryan J Weiner
Department of Health Policy and
Management, Gillings School of Global
Public Health, University of North Carolina
Chapel
Hill, USA

Discussion
Organizational readiness for change is a multi-level, multifaceted construct. As an organization-level construct,
readiness for change refers to organizational members'
shared resolve to implement a change (change commitment)
and shared belief in their collective capability to do so
(change efficacy). Organizational readiness for change varies
as a function of how much organizational members value the
change and how favorably they appraise three key
determinants of implementation capability: task demands,
resource availability, and situational factors.

Summary
The theory described in this article treats organizational
readiness as a shared psychological state in which
organizational members feel committed to implementing
an organizational change and confident in their collective
abilities to do so. This way of thinking about organizational
readiness is best suited for examining organizational
changes where collective behavior change is necessary in
order to effectively implement the change and, in some
instances, for the change to produce anticipated benefits.
Testing the theory would require further measurement
development and careful sampling decisions. The theory
offers a means of reconciling the structural and
psychological views of organizational readiness found in the
literature.

A Diagnostic Tool for Assessing Organisational

Readiness for Complex Change
by: Blackman, D., OFlynn, J. and Ugyel,

WHY IS A NEW DIAGNOSTIC FOR ORGANISATIONAL

CHANGE REQUIRED?
Reflecting upon the dismal results of change
management By (2005, 378) called for new research
arguing that the development of current research
streams would not change the outcomes; new methods
of measurements are required to determine the
potential success change initiatives. At the macro-level,
Burke & Litwin (1992) suggest that to determine the
causes of organisational change it is important to firstly
understand how organisations function (i.e. what leads
to what), and secondly understand how organisations
might be deliberately changed.

CONCLUSION
Undertaking the diagnostic would enable an organisation to
determine: first, whether the enablers or the barriers are
stronger for a proposed or existing change and, second,
which of the barriers or enablers are strongest and are most
likely to be able to change current status quo. In the case of
the two missing elements these would need to be identified
to the organisation as potentially undermining any change
initiative and as requiring management by the senior
leadership. The diagnostic will, therefore, become a
combination of prediction and prescription if an organisation
wishes to improve its chances of change success. An
advantage of this proposed diagnostic is that it will be
relatively quick to undertake and can be used during a time
of change if there are unexpected problems. Specific areas of
concern can then be addressed.

Six stages of client readiness for change

PATRICK WILLIAMS, EDD, MCC Founder,
Institute for Life Coach Training

Prochaska, Norcross, and Di Clemente (1994)

identified six well - defined, time - based stages
that clients move through, although not
necessarily in a linear way. This model can also
be quite useful in coaching as a way to apply the
appropriate strategies necessary to support the
client s movement through change and toward
the desired state or behavior. W hat follows is a
coaching example using the six stages. In it, the
client s goals for coaching are to improve his or
her health and begin an exercise routine.

SIX STAGES
PRE CONTEMPLATION: At the pre contemplation stage, the client
actually is not yet considering making a change. Clients sometimes are
unaware of the need for a change or are unaware of their current
patterns or behavior
CONTEMPLATION: Clients at the contemplation stage are considering
making a change and also may find they are quite ambivalent about it, or
they may not know what to do to make the change.
PREPARATION: At the preparation stage, the client is preparing to
change gathering information, assembling resources, checking out
possibilities, and preparing to act.
ACTION: This is the classic stage where the client actually takes action,
practices new behaviors, and tries new things
MAINTENANCE: The client has maintained the chosen actions long
enough to have created new habits and integrated them into the rest of
his or her life.
TERMINATION: Prochaska used this term because it reflects the fact
that the client no longer requires a programmatic approach to the
behavior that needed changing. The new behavior has become a natural
part of the persons life, and it happens without much thought on his or
her part.

Toward a Theory of Change Readiness

The Roles of Appraisal, Focus, and Perceived
Control.
By: Jennifer Walinga University of Victoria

This research article describes and constructs a model of

performance readiness. The goal of this article is to
illustrate how one might meet the challenges of change
effectively. The author explores the factors and principles
driving the positive transformational change of a highperforming soccer team. Framed by theories of cognitive
appraisal, stress, and coping, the study reveals critical
variables to the change readiness process to be appraisal,
focus, and perceived control. By inquiring deeply into
individual appraisals of a change, it may be possible to
facilitate a focal shift from resistance to resolution and
from a desire for power over a change to a recognition
of ones power to change effectively.

CONCLUSION
This article describes an approach for encouraging readiness for
change, a model illustrating the power of focal optimization in the
workplace. Change readiness seeks a more effective change
management strategy that involves facilitating the clarity and
confidence individuals require in committing to and implementing
a change or performance initiative by inquiring deeply into
individual appraisals of the change and helping individuals find a
pivotal point of personal power within the change.
The model integrates theories and models of organizational
change and learning with those of information processing,
performance, stress, and coping. By enlarging on the theory of
stress and coping, this article provides change agents with an
increased insight into change readiness within their organizations.
The procedural model pro- posed demands a fundamental shift
from a paradigm of power over to a paradigm of power to and is
relevant to all levels of the organization, particularly leadership

Organisational readiness for introducing a performance

management system.
BY: Michael Ochurub, Mark Bussin, Xenia Goosen

The researchers conducted this study in a large public organisation in

Namibia. Before 1998, the organisation had a performance appraisal
(measurement) system in place. The organisation used it to measure
staff performance annually. The system had weaknesses because it did
not set performance standards and was very open to bias, nepotism and
favouritism during the performance appraisal process.
As a result, the organisation suspended the performance appraisal
system in 1998. Since then, the organisation has not introduced an
institutional mechanism to improve, measure, monitor or evaluate its
staff and the performance of the organisation. All municipalities are
subject to administrative and operational changes to improve their
performance.
Main findings:
The researchers found that the organisation was not ready to introduce a
PMS.
The study identified various challenges and key factors that were
negatively affecting the introduction of a PMS.

LEADERSHIP, READINESS TO CHANGE, AND

COMMITMENT TO CHANGE
BY: Wustari L.H. MANGUNDJAYA IN ROMANIA

This paper based on the empirical research about

commitment to change in a Construction Company in
Indonesia, using 4 scales namely: C2C, IRFC, ORFC, and CL.
discussion will be based on the concept and findings. The
results (N=186) showed that there was positive and
significant correlation between Change Leadership and
Readiness for Change together with Commitment to
Change.

Results will contribute to the implications of organizational

change, as the management will understand what kind of
variable that has the strongest impact to the Commitment
to Change. This paper contributes knowledge about the role
of leadership during the organizational change.

THANK YOU