The Phases of Change

Abstract

Any change process can be thought of as going through distinct phases or stages. An individual going through a divorce or the loss of a loved one will experience several distinct phases in the process of adapting to the new situation such as shock, denial, acknowledgment and so on. Researchers have documented that groups of people and organizations react to major changes in a similar way. Conceptually, we can make a distinction between ‘linear’ and ‘circular’ phase models of change. The linear models see change as a straight line process, progressing from a present state, through a transition state to a future state. The implicit assumption in several of these models is that the future state is more desirable than the present state. While the ‘linear’ models follow the Enlightenment tradition of European science and are consistent with that world view, East Asian and Confucian traditions offer a very different, circular theory of change. The East Asian philosophies conceptualize change as a never-ending, cyclical process.