54 Organization Development JournalMay I Have Your Attenti.docx

54 Organization Development Journal
May I Have Your Attention
Please? A Review of Change
Blindness
Rebecca Ellis
Rebecca Ellis has over 12 years of
experience in corporate learning and
organization development in
healthcare, financial services and
construction sectors. She is currently
an internal OE consultant at Edward
Jones. Rebecca holds a Bachelor’s in
Mathematics Education from the University of Evansville
and an M.S. Ed. in Instructional Systems Technology
from Indiana University. She is currently a second year
Ph.D. student in the Organization Development program
at Benedictine University.
Contact Information
[email protected]
Abstract
The inability for individuals to recognize change
occurring around them could be detrimental to
change adoption and overall organizational
effectiveness. There is a scientific challenge
associated with the inability to recognize change
and we are all susceptible. The phenomenon is

called change blindness and, although it has not
received focus in change management literature, it
is frequently discussed in psychology journals.
This paper aims to bring attention to the limits of
human attention while providing guidance, which
may decrease the possibility that individuals will
be blind to the change occurring around them.
Practitioners, leaders, and knowledge workers all
stand to gain from awareness of the limits of
attention. There is reason to suspect specific
guidance on the use of visuals in change
communication would benefit OD practitioners
and consultants, particularly if the same benefits
found in training and development can translate in
OD. This review will draw on training and
development research to highlight how visuals are
used to maximize problem solving and lead to
deeper understanding (Clark & Mayer, 2007; Clark,
Nguyen & Sweller, 2006), which this researcher
suggests might also be keys to successful change
management.
Introduction
This paper explores relevant theories and research
on the topics of change management, visual
communication, and inattention. The literature
review begins with a brief discussion of change
management followed by a discussion on the
cognitive value of visuals in communication.
Finally, the review introduces the concept of
inattention and change blindness, and highlights
55Volume 30 s Number 3 s Fall 2012

the impact of these phenomena on organization
change efforts.
Change Management
Friedlander and Brown (1974) state, “since
processes and structure are embedded in each
other, it is almost impossible to create lasting
change in one without modification of the other”
(p. 315). This speaks to both the systemic and
systematic aspects of any change effort. Although
change starts with the individual, it must also be
supported at the organizational level, and
sometimes industry level, in order to be sustained.
As such, change communication plans typically
contain specific, focused key messages for the
various target audiences. These key messages are
then timed to be delivered when each message
would have the most impact. The ideas in this
paper are grounded in such an approach with an
assumption that there is a desire to create effective
communications for a variety of delivery methods
and without regard to whether the change is
planned or not, such as in reaction to changing
environmental conditions.
Is There Really Such a Thing as Managed
Change?
Many have attempted to create a programmatic
way to introduce and sustain change such as
Lippitt’s set of heuristics for building models to
facilitate organization change, which help structure
change in a logical way (Alderfer, 1977). There are
also alternative schools of thought stipulating that
“change is not linear” and, as a result, is difficult to

successfully express through a framework or
model. As Beer and Walton (1987) highlight from
the work of McLean et al.,
…planned change model is still used but often
breaks down. The cycle (contracting, data
collection, analysis, and feedback) results in
insufficient data for action and cycles back to
data collection, an education program is set up
as a precursor to change activities but detracts
from objectives and becomes and end rather
than a means, and a steering group may get
bogged down analyzing its own process and
neglect the problem it was formed to solve. (p.
359-360)
Cummings and Worley (2008) also make note that
it is “seriously misleading” (p. 41) to describe
planned change as a rationally controlled, orderly
process. This is especially true in the wake of
typical and common organization dynamics such
as changing stakeholders, shifting goals, and other
unexpected events. They further state, “Those
emergent conditions make planned change a far
more disorderly and dynamic process than is
customarily portrayed, and conceptions need to
capture that reality” (Cummings & Worley, 2008, p. 42).
Although change may not be a controlled or
orderly process, there is likely an opportunity in
every change effort to be thoughtful in planning
the most effective communication to all who may
be potentially impacted. Whether it is an intimate,
individual discussion or a communication for the
masses, this researcher believes there may be value

in utilizing visual communications to impact
understanding and adoption of the change.
Visual Communication
There may not be any hard evidence that a picture
is indeed worth a thousand words; however this
researcher found compelling evidence that a
picture is highly valuable and useful in conveying
thoughts and ideas. Richard Mayer’s research
(Clark & Mayer, 2007) showed an 89%
improvement in learning when a relevant visual
was added to a previous text-only lesson. As an
example, his research proved an 80 word, 5
illustration course was more effective than one with
6 times the amount of words and the same amount
of illustrations (Clark & Mayer, 2007).
Paivio laid the foundation for the importance of
visuals in communication when he developed his
dual-coding theory over four decades ago (Mayer
& Moreno, 1998). This seminal researched showed
that humans process visual and verbal/auditory
information separately. When appropriately
leveraged, we can use both sides of working
memory to maximize the learning potential.
Multimedia instruction has been proven to garner
improved transfer of knowledge as well as
application. This researcher believes knowledge
and transfer are key not only for effective learning
outcomes but also for achieving maximum

organization effectiveness. Recent research
supports two main advantages of visual
communication that should benefit Organization
Development. These two advantages include
deeper understanding of the content and increased
problem solving capabilities.
Visuals Can Lead to Deeper Understanding
Providing two methods for learning material –
auditory and visual – provides two opportunities
for schemas to be developed simultaneously. This
increases cognitive load in a positive way that
allows the learner the opportunity to integrate the
two sources of information resulting in a higher
level of understanding than if there had been one
mode of communication (Clark, Nguyen, &
Sweller, 2006). This useful, germane form of
cognitive load deepens learning and increases
understanding (Clark, Nguyen, & Sweller, 2006).
By providing multimedia explanations, students
build two mental models – visual and verbal – that
are later connected leading to increased
performance (Mayer & Moreno, 1998).
Visuals Can Aid Problem Solving
The second benefit for organization effectiveness is
related to problem-solving capabilities. Mayer
(Clark & Mayer, 2007) has demonstrated a 50%
increase in problem-solution generation in students
who viewed an animation with simultaneous voice
over than those who viewed the animation and
heard the narration separately. Similarly, students
who read a text explaining how tire pumps work
that included captioned illustrations placed near
the text generated about 75% more useful solutions
on problem-solving transfer questions than did

students who read the same text and illustrations
presented on separate pages (Mayer & Moreno,
1998).
In Deborah Colwill’s (2010) article on the use of
metaphors in consulting for change, she made a
similar point related to problem solving in a
discussion on innovation through visuals:
“Generation of shared images, metaphors or
knowledge leads to articulating innovative avenues
of realizing a preferred future state” (p. 124).
Considering the potential positive results for
organization development that would come from
increasing understanding and problem solving, this
researcher believes a picture is indeed worth
hundreds of words – if not thousands – when used
properly; however it is not quite as simple as
making sure the communication contains effective
visual elements. There is a good reason Gagne’s
(1988) first of nine instructional events is that of
gaining attention. There is no basis for teaching
content if you do not have the attention of the
person you are trying to reach. The same is likely
true for change communication. In fact it is
probably even more critical in change and not
solved by providing some provocative, attention
getting opening. The audience may be blind to the
fact that change is needed – or worse yet, that
change has occurred and needs to be addressed.
Inattention and Change Blindness

Even the smartest, most alert people are not
immune to the interesting phenomenon called
inattentional blindness (IB). Inattentional blindness
is used to refer to family of instances where we
commonly fail to see plainly visible items even
though we are looking directly at them because
they are not expected (Most, 2010). It occurs when
our attention is devoted to another task or object.
Magicians exploit our limited attention capacity by
manipulating where we focus our attention. That
type of induced IB is called attentional misdirection
(Chabris & Simons, 2010). Another type of IB is
change blindness. Change blindness is the
“surprising failure to notice the seemingly obvious
changes from one moment to the next” (Chabris &
Simons, 2010, p. 54). It is this type of IB that this
researcher argues is most concerning for the change
consultant and OD practitioner.
Chabris and Simons have gained attention on
inattention at a large scale since their mid-1990s
release of the now infamous gorilla video where an
individual in a gorilla costume enters the center of
a basketball game, bangs her hands on her chest
and exits out the other side of the screen. In nearly
every experimental situation, less than 50% of the
audience detects the gorilla (Chabris & Simons,
2010). Why? Mainly because the video narrator
assigned a task of counting only the white team’s
basketball passes so the dark team – and anything
else dark – does not get attention. In essence, the
gorilla blends into the background. Cognitive load
also likely plays a role. Vickery, Jiang, and
Sussman (2010) have proved memory is impaired
when attention is diverted by second task, such as

counting basketball passes, which lowers our
conscious perception thereby lessening our
memory of a salient object, such as the gorilla.
Karns and Rivardo (2010) explained “IB may not be
of significant concern even in serious situations if
perceptual load is low enough, and it may be
nearly unavoidable if load is too high” (p. 646). As
Chabris and Simons (2010) simply put it, “Looking
is not sufficient for seeing” (p. 16).
Figure 1.
What Causes Inattentional Blindness?
Inattentional blindness is unavoidable; however
there are a few strategies to mitigate the impact. It
is first helpful to understand why it occurs. The
literature points to five main reasons why we are
susceptible to change blindness (Figure 1).
Goals and Expectations. Attention is directed to
goal-relevant locations (Vogt, De Houwer &
Crombez, 2011). We cannot eliminate IB because we
cannot eliminate goals and expectations. They are
human nature and help us make sense of what we
see. Have you ever wondered why you can look at
a set of clouds and easily spot a dog, sailboat or
other common object? It is because our brain has
easy access to those items. Those objects match our
experience and expectations. Our mind fits
unknown shapes into known shapes at every
opportunity. Moment-to-moment expectations
determine what we see – or miss – more so than the

distinctiveness of the object within view (Chabris &
Simons, 2010). There is often more than one
competing goal or expectation. As Vogt et al. (2011)
point out, “in most real-life situations…individuals
are pursuing more than one goal at a time” (p. 55).
When multiple goals are present, the one with the
highest perceived value and highest expectancy of
success receive the most attention (Vogt et al.,
2011).
Working Memory Limitations. When we are more
taxed, using more virtual working memory or
involved in multiple tasks, IB goes up and is likely
unavoidable (Karns & Rivardo, 2010). The
probability of IB decreases when cognitive load
decreases. The two are directly related. According
to Olsson and Poom (2005), “Visual working
memory has a maximum capacity of only one
object” (p. 8776). The one object maximum relates
to objects in the same category. Additional studies
determined four different items could be stored if
each belonged to a different and distinct category
(Olsson & Poom, 2005).
Complexity/Speed. As Chabris and Simons (2010)
explain, our brains are "built for pedestrian speeds,
not for driving speeds." The complexity of today’s
world is definitely a challenge and the speed at
which we are expected to process new information
is pushing us beyond our innate capabilities. IB
increases with complexity and speed. This is an
important consideration as many organization
changes are quite complex.
Limited Attention Capacities. As the gorilla

experiment points out, our attention is not
unlimited. It is not possible to be conscious of all of
the actions or events occurring in our visual field.
Devoting more attention in one place means
reducing it in another.
Visual Misdirection/Distractions. When our
attention is focused or directed in one area, we miss
things happening in other areas of our visual field.
As previously mentioned, magicians exploit IB.
Misdirection can induce a failure to notice even
expected stimuli whereas change blindness
prevents us from noticing unexpected objects and
events (Most, 2010).
The concept of “attention” has been of paramount
importance for educators for decades (Gagne,
1988). Although this researcher has not found a
specific tie of attention to change management in
the IB literature, there are four examples of IB that
help build the case for awareness of the impact on
organization effectiveness.
Humans are unaware of limits of attention (e.g.
using cell phones). As an example of this
overconfidence, 70% of study participants believed
they would spot significant changes but not one
person caught any of the 9 intentional editing
errors made in the movie they were shown
(Chabris & Simons, 2010). This reinforces the
notion that only a small percentage of stimuli reach

conscious awareness. What is the potential harm
related to unawareness on limits of attention for
those frequently multitasking on the job? What are
the implications for ideal job design and for
individuals who are required to divide attention on
too many tasks in the workplace?
Memories of events can be changed by viewing
doctored photos. “Emotional memories seem more
accurate but are not” (Chabris & Simons, 2010, p.
65). For example when considering research of
eyewitness testimony, visual memory is more
accurate than a combination of the individual’s
own written description of the event plus his/her
visual memory (Weinberg & Hajcack, 2010). In
other words, reflection does not help with recalling
accurate details. How could organization
consultants and practitioners use this as an
advantage by perhaps using visuals of the
future/desired state to influence the emotions
and/or beliefs related to the move from the current
to future state?
Looked-but-failed-to-see driving errors account for
the third highest cause of accidents and make up
10% of the total (White & Caird, 2010). Although
individuals look in the direction of a changing
object, they miss it. In our everyday lives, this is a
real threat as we fail to notice the approaching
motorcycle due to expectations of encountering a
car (Chabris & Simons, 2010). Motorcycle driving
schools spend a good portion of their curriculum
teaching motorcycle drivers how to be “seen”.
How might this relate to or have implications for
workplace safety?

Most aspects of cognition decline with age in
particular the executive functions of memory,
attention, processing speed and multitasking. In a
recent study, the 18-25 age group detected change
74.2% of the time while the 75+ age group only
detected change 54% of the time (White & Caird,
2010). Graham and Burke (2011) point out that “on
a practical level, the results suggest that older
adults’ safety in everyday life may be jeopardized
when safety depends on noticing fully visible
unexpected objects while performing an attention-
demanding task” (p. 4). As the workforce ages,
how might we reduce the impact of this decline in
functioning?
Mitigating Inattentional Blindness
Unfortunately, people cannot be trained to improve
attention overall. Although individuals can learn
to recognize a specific object/event thereby making
it more expected; there is no overall improvement
in change blindness so it does not help with the
detection of the next new unexpected object
(Chabris & Simons, 2010). Despite the fact that
there is not a fix, there are six main strategies for
mitigating the effect of inattentional blindness
based on recent literature. Eliminate IB by
designing unexpected objects/events to look more
like expected objects/events. For example, Chabris
and Simons (2010) suggest it would make more
sense to design motorcycles to look more like a cars
by adding a two headlight design since that is a
distinguishing feature of cars – the more expected
object. Some manufactures, like Triumph, have
now incorporated twin headlights into their design
and many conversion kits are on the market to

retrofit older motorcycles.
Tell an Intriguing Story. Humans tend to
remember a narrative better when inferences are
made due to the richer, more elaborate memories
being formed. Chabris and Simons (2010) explain
that the mind prefers leaps of logic over being told
facts explicitly. In addition, personal anecdotes
were more memorable and remembered longer
than abstract data (Chabris & Simons, 2010). What
do you remember most about the last dramatic
sports match you watched – the story around the
winning play or the final score?
Reduce Chaos. Eliminate the need to divide
attention or multitask as much as possible.
Memory is impaired when attention is diverted by
a second task (Vickery, Sussman & Jiang, 2010).
Keep in mind, based on what was learned
regarding different categories of objects; it is easier
to give divided attention to similar objects than
distinctly different objects. For this reason, as in
training, chunking like items together may be
valuable in situations where it is necessary to
provide extensive content.
Increase content expertise. Experience matters.
When individuals are trained to the point that tasks
are automatic, working memory is freed and IB is
reduced. This was demonstrated in two
experiments. First, in a basketball experiment,
those with playing experience did better. Secondly,

experienced drivers tended to more safety related
changes when compared to inexperienced drives as
measured by average distance driven per year
(Memmert & Furley, 2010). Looking at this another
way, similar to education and training,
organization development practitioners can
facilitate quicker mastery of new content by
tapping into individuals’ experience and relating
all new content to prior knowledge (Vickery,
Sussman & Jiang, 2010).
Encourage Aerobic Activity. Recent research
suggests that walking 30 minutes a few times a
week beat puzzles and mind exercises when it
comes to maintaining a healthy brain (Hillman,
Erickson & Kramer, 2008). The cardiovascular
activity increased executive functioning (i.e.
planning & multitasking) which can help facilitate
reduced cognitive load and lower the probability of IB.
Build IB Awareness. When we understand the
attentional limits imposed by our brain, we tend to
take steps to avoid missing what we need to see
(Chabris & Simons, 2010). One personal example is
the knowledge this researcher acquired regarding
the cognitive drain related to a cell phone
conversation while driving as opposed to having
the same conversation with a fellow passenger in
the same vehicle. There is proof the two are very
different and it is not a matter of physical
limitations (i.e. holding a phone). This knowledge
has changed how this researcher uses these devices
while commuting daily. It also sheds light on the
potential ineffectiveness of laws mandating the use
of “hands free” devices since those laws are not

targeting the core of the issue.
There is one final factor that may be worth
investigating - emotion. Emotional stimuli are
viewed longer and more likely to be recalled,
regardless of degree, than non-emotional stimuli
(Weinberg & Hajcack, 2010). In other words, items
that are more negative in nature tend to capture
and hold attention better than positive emotion
items. According to Weinberg and Hajcack (2010),
the negative item received increased allocation.
That leads this researcher to suspect, since change
is often viewed as negative, a change effort will
inherently get increased attention. If this is indeed
the case, how can we maximize the return of this
increased allocation of attention for the benefit of
increasing adopting and sustaining change?
Conclusion
If we begin to treat change adoption in the same
vein as learning a new knowledge, skill, behavior
or attitude, there are likely opportunities to learn
best practices from the education and
communication arenas. From 1995-2003, at least 17
studies were conducted on the use of multimedia
and visuals in training (Clark, Nguyen & Sweller,
2006). These studies have repeatedly proven the
value of visuals in instructor led training and web-
based instruction for increasing performance.

Despite the wealth of data and advice available to
training and development practitioners, this
researcher has not located any related research in
the context of change. If there are potential options
for improving performance, we should explore
them. Given the potential benefits and possible
negative implications for organization
development, we need to learn more about change
blindness and effective use of visual
communications so that we can improve our
changes for successful change implementation.
With the known challenges related to change
adoption, any increase in probability would be
helpful to the organization development
community.
This paper highlights opportunities to increase
recognition/acknowledgment of change which
seems like a necessary first step for a given
individual to accept/adopt the change. Research on
what mitigation strategies are most effective would
benefit the organization development community
immensely. There are also opportunities related to
job design, workplace safety, generational studies
and wellness that would also lead to increased
organization effectiveness.
Another opportunity for research is the topic of
effective use of visuals in change communications.
As mentioned earlier, nearly all change events have
a communication plan that dictates what messages
are being sent at specific times to specific
audiences. Although this mass, one-way
communication may not go as far as more personal
two-way communication regarding the change,

there is often a need to get the same message out to
a broad population at the beginning of a change
implementation so it should be as effective as
possible. Even though a variety of media is often
used, the messages are not always designed in a
way that makes them most user friendly. Research
on the impact of reducing cognitive load in change
communications might prove valuable to
organization development practitioners who are
helping craft these important messages.
Through future research, we may soon discover
that instructional communication research, which
demonstrated appropriate use of visuals increased
an individual’s capacity to take in more
information, will also be useful in communicating
change by maximizing working memory and
deepening understanding. A deeper
understanding combined with better problem
solving might not only lead to higher probabilities
of successful adoption of change but also to better,
more sustainable solutions for the problems that
need attention.
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Change Management: Leadership,
Values and Ethics
RUNE TODNEM BY∗ , BERNARD BURNES∗ ∗ & CLIFF
OSWICK†
∗ Staffordshire University Business School, UK, ∗ ∗ Manchester
Business School, The University of
Manchester, UK,
†
Cass Business School, City University London, UK
Where We Are and Where We Are Going
On behalf of all Associate Editors, Editorial Advisory Board
and Editorial Board
members: welcome to the 12th volume of Routledge’s Journal
of Change
Management (JCM). First, let us take this opportunity to
wholeheartedly thank
you all for your contribution to the Journal’s development over
the last year,
being that as a colleague, submitting and published author,
reviewer, guest editor,
reader, author and teacher utilizing work published in JCM,
member of the
Routledge team or librarian subscribing to the title. Without
your personal support
and contribution JCM would not be in the strong position it is
today – Thank you!

Second, let us report back to you: we are on track! The aims of
securing
inclusion in Thomson Reuter’s Social Sciences Citation Index
(SSCI) and 3∗
ABS are both realistic targets thanks to the ongoing active
support of a growing
and diverse community of scholars, students and practitioners
with an interest
in the complex field of change management. Enjoying SSCI and
ABS success
in itself is not an aim to us. However, the acknowledgement
provided and
removal of the barrier of not ‘being on the list’ is crucial to
JCM’s, and indeed
the whole field’s further development.
It is, therefore, somewhat disappointing that the Association of
Business
Schools (ABS) Executive Committee has decided not to publish
a new version
(v5) of their biannual ABS Academic Journal Quality Guide
until after the 2014
Research Excellence Framework (REF), despite of their promise
in the current
version (v4, 2010) to provide a new and updated version in
2012. In the 2010
version it is indeed stated that ‘The rankings made in the ABS
Guide are not
Journal of Change Management
Vol. 12, No. 1, 1 – 5, March 2012
Correspondence Address: Rune Todnem By, Staffordshire

University Business School, College Road, Stoke-on-
Trent, ST4 2DE, UK. Email: [email protected]
1469-7017 Print/1479-1811 Online/12/010001 – 5 # 2012 Taylor
& Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2011.652371
fixed, but have been reviewed annually, and from 2010 onwards
biennially in light
of available evidence’ (Association of Business Schools, 2010,
p. 5). The decision
of delaying the publication of version 5 of the ABS Guide, most
likely taken under
considerable pressure and lobbying by special interest groups
defending status quo
and vested interest, may very well delay the well deserved
acknowledgment of all
the hard work undertaken by younger journals such as JCM.
Based on feedback
from a range of stakeholders, including editors of journals
highly ranked by
both ABS and SSCI, we would in fact expect JCM’s ABS
ranking to increase
from 1∗ to 2∗ in 2012, and we find this highly unjustifiable
delay to be regretful.
However, in this Journal we don’t take anything for granted and
we don’t cry over
spilt milk. We move upwards and onwards and take control over
what we can
actually control.
We held two highly successful Editorial Board meetings in
2011. One at the
EGOS conference in Gothenburg, where we also ran a ‘Meet the

Editor’
session, and one at the AOM conference in San Antonio (hot,
hot, hot . . .). The
support, passion and ambition of individual board members took
our breath
away, and it made us appreciate all the more what an honour it
is to be the
caretakers of this great Journal with an even greater potential.
We have yet to
decide on the approach for 2012, but we will at least be aiming
at having a
strong presence at the AOM conference in Boston.
We take great pride in having a highly effective and efficient
double-blind peer
review process where all articles that are desk approved are
forwarded for review
by at least two colleagues. With an annual accept ratio of
12.9%, the average time
from submission to first decision in the prior 12 months was 19
days, and the
average time from submission to final decision in the prior 12
months was 25
days. Combined with the fact that authors receive extensive and
high-quality
reviews this is somewhat of an achievement which provides
clear evidence of
the enthusiasm and buy in from our fantastic reviewers.
So, what is on the JCM menu for 2012? Well, we can promise
you exciting
special issues, starting with this first issue and new
contributions to our highly suc-
cessful ‘Reflections’ series. We can also promise you a range of
high-quality,
interesting and hopefully at times provocative articles.

For the remainder of this annual editorial article we would like
to focus on what
so often is overlooked when it comes to change management:
leadership, values
and ethics.
We Are All In This Together
According to Barker (2001, p. 491), ‘. . . leadership is all about
change’ and no
change is value free (Macleod and By, 2009). Burnes and
Jackson (2011) argue
that all approaches to leadership and change are underpinned by
a set of ethical
values that influence the actions of leaders and the
outcomes/consequences of
change initiatives for good or ill. Ethics are not set in stone –
there is no rule
book. They are, however, highly individual beliefs – some of
which may be per-
ceived as being universal – distinguishing between what is right
or wrong, good or
bad. These beliefs provide a basis for judging the
appropriateness of motivation
2 R. T. By et al.
and consequences of behaviour and they guide people in their
dealings with other
individuals, groups and organizations.
The argument that leadership and change need an ethical
foundation is far from

new. Such arguments can be found in the work of Barnard
(1938) on leadership in
the 1930s and in the work of Lewin (Burnes, 2004, 2009) on
change in the 1940s.
Even before the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, there had been an
increasing
volume of calls for organizations to act in an ethical fashion.
Prominent in this
respect was the promotion of corporate social responsibility
(CSR). However,
this did not necessarily lead to a diminution of unethical
behaviour. As Joseph Sti-
glitz (2010), the Nobel Prize-winning economist, observed in
his book on the 2008
Global Financial Crisis, the reverse seems to have been the
case. Unethical and
criminal behaviour appears to have mushroomed out of control
in many organiz-
ations as society seems to have encouraged the individualistic
motto of ‘every man
for himself’ in replacement of ‘one for all, all for one’. This
development can
hardly be blamed on individual leaders – good or bad, right or
wrong. That is a
far too simplistic, if not naı̈ ve understanding of a rather
complex situation in
which we all have a role to play and responsibility to take. We
are not just
dealing with a few rotten apples. We are in fact dealing with
human nature, and
this regretful development of greed must be seen as a reflection
of the wider
societal embracement of the individual at the cost of others. A
development we
are all part of.

We are still living in an era where organizational leaders are
allowed to, and
even rewarded for putting their own egos and self-interests
ahead of the interests
of the many, often with disastrous results and consequences. As
Stiglitz (2010)
observed, the short-term performance incentives of mortgage
salesmen, of the
investors and purveyors of complex and ill-understood financial
instruments and
of the corporate leaders who were supposed to supervise them
were not aligned
with the long-run interests of the institutions for which they
work. To put it suc-
cinctly, the long-term, sustainable interests of the many are
sacrificed to the short-
term greed and arrogance of the few.
To avoid this in the future, we need to highlight the importance
of promoting the
ethical dimension of change as a means of ensuring that leaders
and their followers
act in the interests of the many rather than the few. If followers
and other stake-
holders are not to be so dazzled by the attraction of charismatic
– transformational
leaders that any change is seen as good change, they need to
ensure that leadership
and change are underpinned by a clear and transparent system of
ethics and
accountability. That is to say, leaders must be instilled with a
moral compass
fitting the organization of which they are in charge. Leaders of
tomorrow must
indeed be expected to make decisions in the interest of the many
rather than the

few, and refrain from abusing the faith that is placed in them
and the unique free-
doms that they enjoy. This is a point made forcibly by Barker
(2001, p. 491) when
he states that leadership is ‘a process of transformative change
where the ethics of
individuals are integrated into the mores of a community as a
means of evolution-
ary social development’. Therefore, a key question is how we
can lead and manage
change more ethically?
The danger of not only allowing, but encouraging unethical
leadership and
change can be reduced where there is openness about and
alignment of values
Leadership, Values and Ethics 3
and objectives, transparency in decision-making and truly
independent external
scrutiny. The axis on which acceptable and unacceptable
outcomes revolve is
the ethical values which underpin and link together particular
combinations of lea-
dership and change. We believe the fundamental flaw in some
approaches to
change is that not only are they not explicit about values, but
they give the
impression that it is somehow unworldly or naı̈ ve even to
mention ethical con-
siderations (Burnes and By, 2011).
Organizations have to move beyond general statements of

ethics, such as those
found in CSR statements and policies, and actually evaluate the
ethical values of
leaders and their actions and determine whether they are
compatible with the
wider interests of the organization and its stakeholders. This
requires an under-
standing of ethics both in policy and practical terms, and clarity
about the
ethical basis of different approaches to leadership and change.
Consequently, followers and other stakeholders should not be
passive observes,
but have a positive and active role to play in identifying and
ending unethical prac-
tices. In terms of new directions in organizational change, it is
perhaps apposite to
re-think the notion of ‘stakeholders’ in the process of ethically
motivated forms of
change. In particular, it could be argued that an often-
overlooked group of stake-
holders who are committed to the development of ethical
practices in organiz-
ations are social activists. King and Soule (2007) have argued
that we should
see ‘social movements as extra-institutional entrepreneurs’ (p.
413). Indeed, we
would go further and assert that in some circumstances activists
are synonymous
with external management consultants. The only major
difference being that they
are generally unpaid and they typically have a passionate
commitment to the
specific moral imperatives or social values they encourage an
organization or
organizations to embrace. Hence, social activists can play an

important part in sti-
mulating value-driven change within organizations through
constructive processes
of engagement and generative dialogue (Den Hond and Bakker,
2007).
A critical issue in the involvement of different groups of
stakeholders (e.g.
employees, customers, clients and activists) is the extent to
which it is possible
for them to recognize what is ethical and unethical. Most
stakeholders would
agree that child labour is clearly unethical, but would they
recognize which leader-
ship and change practices are unethical? If stakeholders are to
be able to monitor
leaders’ behaviour, they must have a yardstick for judging
whether it is potentially
unethical or not. In order to do this, those of us who develop
and promote particu-
lar approaches to leadership and change have to be clear about
the ethical impli-
cations of these. Currently, there is often a damaging lack of
clarity regarding the
ethical values underpinning approaches to change and its
management.
A prime example is the famous quotation attributed to Charlie
Wilson, who was
President of General Motors in the early 1950s: ‘What’s good
for General Motors
is good for the country’. Many leaders appear to interpret this to
mean: ‘What’s
good for me is good for the organization’. But what Wilson
actually said was:
‘For years I thought that what was good for our country was

good for General
Motors, and vice versa’ (Time Magazine, 1961). Therefore, a
more accurate
interpretation of Wilson’s words would be: ‘What’s good for the
organization is
good for me’, which is a very different matter entirely.
4 R. T. By et al.
As Franklin D. Roosevelt (1937) commented on the causes of
the Great
Depression of the 1930s:
We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad
morals; we know now that
it is bad economics. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose
builders boasted their
practicality has come the conviction that in the long run
economic morality pays.
However, this ‘economic morality’ will only prevail if all
organizational stake-
holders are able and prepared to ensure that ethical rather than
unethical behaviour
is pursued by leaders, and this can only be achieved if those of
us in the change
field do our part to identify ethical and unethical approaches to
such change.
References
Association of Business Schools (2010) ABS Academic Journal

Quality Guide, version 4 (London: ABS).
Barker, R.A. (2001) The nature of leadership, Human Relations,
54(4), pp. 469–494.
Barnard, C. (1938) The Functions of the Executive (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press).
Burnes, B. (2004) Kurt Lewin and the planned approach to
change: a re-appraisal, Journal of Management
Studies, 41(6), pp. 977–1002.
Burnes, B. (2009) Reflections: ethics and organisational change
– time for a return to Lewinian values, Journal of
Change Management, 9(4), pp. 359–381.
Burnes, B. and By, R.T. (2011) Leadership and change: the case
for greater ethical clarity, Journal of Business
Ethics (published online 2 November 2011, doi 10.1007/s10551-
011-1088-2).
Burnes, B. and Jackson, P. (2011) Success and failure in
organisational change: an exploration of the role of
values, Journal of Change Management, 11(2), pp. 133–162.
Den Hond, F. and Bakker, F.G. (2007) Ideologically motivated
activism: how activist groups influence corporate
social change activities, Academy of Management Review,
32(3), pp. 901–924.
King, B.G. and Soule, S.A. (2007) Social movements as extra-
institutional entrepreneurship: the effects of pro-

tests on stock price returns, Administrative Science Quarterly,
52(3), pp. 413–442.
Macleod, C. and By, R.T. (2009) Organizational change
management in public services: key findings and emer-
ging themes, in: R.T. By and C. Macleod (eds) Managing
Organizational Change in Public Services: Inter-
national Issues, Challenges and Cases, pp. 241–249 (Routledge,
UK: Milton Park).
Roosevelt, F.D. (1937) Second Presidential Inaugural Address,
20 January. Available at www.bartleby.com/124/
pres50.html.
Stiglitz, J. (2010) Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the
Global Economy (London: Allen Lane).
Time Magazine (1961) Armed Forces: Engine Charlie, Time
Magazine, October 6. Available at www.Time.com.
Leadership, Values and Ethics 5
www.bartleby.com/124/pres50.html
www.bartleby.com/124/pres50.html
www.Time.com
Copyright of Journal of Change Management is the property of
Routledge and its content may not be copied or
emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the
copyright holder's express written permission.

However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.
What types of obstacles/objections do leaders face from
stakeholders when implementing change within an organization?
What strategies can leaders use to work with stakeholders,
remove obstacles, and address objections?
References
By, R., Burnes,B., and Oswick, C. (2012). Change Management:
Leadership, Values and Ethics. Journal of Change Management,
Vol. 12, No. 1, 1–5.
Ellis, R. (2012). May I Have Your Attention Please? A Review
of Change Blindness. Organization Development Journal, Vol.
30, No. 3.
***NEEDS TO BE A MIN OF 300 WORDS AND AT LEAST 1
REFERENCE***

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