Feelings and interpretations during an organization’s death

Abstract

An organization’s death exhibits many of the same feelings and reactions that humans experience with the loss of a loved one. People are forced to disconnect from established relationships and to reconnect with others. This disconnecting and reconnecting involves stages of anticipation or uncertainty, confirmation or recognition of the need for change, action, and adjustment. Describes an observational study of an organization which exhibits the feelings and reactions during different stages of an organization’s death. Three propositions explain how people cope during these stages: (i) Those who are able to take positive action have a more pronounced sense of their own ability to control their own destinies (internal locus of control) and a realistic feeling of invulnerability. (ii) The beliefs and illusions about an organization’s pending termination may be created and nourished by very little information, rumours and preconceived beliefs. (iii) Some people, who were more receptive to feedback, have some very realistic beliefs about their future and were very capable of adjusting their “paradigms” of how to respond to their future. The painful feelings of disconnecting might be assisted by feedback and support, while reconnecting to new organizations might depend on one’s attitudes and beliefs.

Citation

Barton Cunningham, J. (1997), "Feelings and interpretations during an organization’s death", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 10 No. 6, pp. 471-490. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534819710190111