Just doing a Job

If employees have no sense of the intended vision and see themselves as “just doing a job,” it is likely that any organizational change will be difficult to understand, be resisted, and cause personal trauma. On the other hand, if employees “get” the vision of the organization and understand the direction and perspective of where the organization is going and why, they are more likely to embrace their future role—even if that future means they leave the organization.6

This book is aimed at those who want to be involved in change and wish to take positive actions. We encourage readers to escape from passive, negative change recipient positions and to move to active and healthy roles—those of change initiators, facilitators, and implementers. Readers may be in middle manager roles or may be students hoping to enter managerial roles. Or, they may be leaders of change within an organization or a subunit. The book is also intended for the informal leaders in organizations who are driving change, sometimes in spite of their bosses. They might believe that their bosses “should” be driving the change but don’t see it happening, and so they see it as up to them to make change happen regardless of the action or inaction of their managers.