Jane Stubberfield
Change 2 Kubler-Ross Change
Curve
By the end of this session you will be able to:
Identify the stages in the model
Explain the relevance of the model to the impact of
change in organisations
Assess its use in mentoring
Developed in the 1960s by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Published in her book On death and dying in 1969
Originally applied to people who had been given tragic
news
Is now regularly applied to the impact of change in
organisations
Helps you think through the best way to implement
change
p
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e
time
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
Shock
Denial
Anger
Depression
Acceptance
Integration
Based on Kubler
Ross (1969)
As with all models, this is a generalisation
Not everyone will go through all of these stages
Not everyone will go through the stages in the way it is
shown on the model
However, this does allow you to predict how people
may react when planning change and how to manage it
Important to remember that some people thrive during
change and will see it as a great opportunity
Stage 1
Shock and denial
Allows us to take
in news
Head in sand
Feel threatened
Stage 2
Anger followed
by depression
Blame
Frustration
Apathy
Get stuck in
details
Stage 3
Acceptance and
then integration
Seen as
inevitable
Resigned
Gradually the
change becomes
part of normal
things
What would be important for a leader to
consider in each of the stages so that they
can introduce the change as easily as
possible
List your thoughts for each of the stages
Openness and honesty
Explanations
Allow time
Empathy
Listening
Stage 1
Involve everyone affected in planning and action
Continue movement forward
Provide support and feedback
Go for small wins
Openness and honesty
Stage 2
Persistence
Celebrate achievements
Meet learning needs
Coach
Involve and communicate
Stage 3
If a client came to you to talk about some
change they are planning with their team,
how could you use this model to help them?
Write down a list of questions covering all
the stages that you could ask your client to
help them to think through how they are
going to handle the reaction to the change
How can you best let the team know about the change
so that it is easier for them to accept it?
How shocked do you think the team will be by this?
How will you handle this?
What can you do to handle any denial from the team?
How can you keep in touch with the team to handle
any frustrations that they may have?
How will you handle it if members of the team turn to
blame as a way of deflecting moving forward with the
change?
What plans do you have to inspire and motivate the
team through out this process
What can you do to help them integrate the change
into their normal work routine?
Kubler-Ross, E. (1969) On death and dying. Routledge.
This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE
as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme.
This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England
& Wales license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/).
The resource, where specified below, contains other 3
rd
party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and
attributions are outlined below:
1. Slide 4 based on the work of Kubler-Ross, E. (1969) On death and dying. Routledge.
2. The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights
to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources.
3. The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
-non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license.
Author Jane Stubberfield
Institute University of Plymouth
Title Change 2: the change curve
Description Presentation: Change 2: the change curve
Date Created 06/06/2011
Educational Level 7, Masters
Keywords
UKOER, LFWOER, UOPCPDLM, Mentoring, learning, development, coaching,
training, advising, change
Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project
University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved
