| Course | EDO 816 Leading in Highly Uncertain and Rapidly Changing Environments |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 7 |
| Paper type | Doctoral change analysis |
| Length | About 1,055 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Doctor of Education |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for EDO 816 Module 7
Not Resisters but Ambivalent: Reframing Responses to a Shared Services Partnership and Building Commitment That Lasts
Student Name
Doctor of Education Program, Aspen University
EDO 816: Leading in Highly Uncertain and Rapidly Changing Environments
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Not Resisters but Ambivalent: Reframing Responses to a Shared Services Partnership and Building Commitment That Lasts
In January, Halden College announced a partnership with Lakeview University, twelve miles away, to combine their finance, human resources and information technology offices into a shared services center located on Lakeview's campus. The change would affect thirty-one Halden staff positions and save about $1.4 million a year, money the board planned to put into the adult degree program recommended in Module 5. Within a month, the vice president for finance reported that the change faced widespread resistance. Staff circulated a petition to the board, faculty senate members questioned whether the savings were real and two managers with a combined fifty years at Halden retired early. This paper argues that resistance is the wrong frame for what happened and proposes a different approach. The college, Lakeview and the people involved are invented for this course.
Beyond Resistance
Piderit (2000) argued that research on resistance to change had relied on a one-dimensional view in which employees either supported or opposed a change. She proposed that responses are attitudes with three dimensions: cognitive, what people believe about the change; emotional, how they feel about it; and intentional, what they intend to do. The dimensions need not agree. A person may believe a change is sensible, feel anxious about it and intend to cooperate cautiously. Piderit called such conflicted responses ambivalence and argued that they are common, that they can be productive and that labeling them resistance obscures them.
Mapping Halden's Responses
The map shows that most staff accept the financial case. Their emotional responses, fear of losing jobs and grief at leaving the campus where they had worked for years, drive their actions more than disagreement does. Treating them as resisters would miss that they could become supporters if their fears were addressed.
| Group | Cognitive | Emotional | Intentional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance and human resources staff | Most agree costs must fall | Fear of job loss; grief at leaving Halden's campus | Signed petition; most still attend planning meetings |
| Information technology staff | Divided; some see better career paths at a larger center | Mixed | Two applied for center leadership roles |
| Faculty | Doubtful the savings are real | Concern for colleagues; distrust of administration | Questions in the senate; no organized opposition |
| Long-serving managers | Agree in principle | Loss of identity built over decades | Two retired; one stayed and is helping plan |
The Change Agents' Part
Ford et al. (2008) argued that the standard account of resistance is one-sided, treating it as an irrational reaction by recipients to an obviously beneficial change. They proposed that resistance is in part a label change agents apply, and that agents contribute to the reactions they label. Agents may break agreements and violate trust, fail to communicate or communicate in ways that invite opposition, and respond to early objections in ways that harden them. They also argued that resistance can be a resource, surfacing problems with a change, keeping a topic alive and engaging people more deeply than indifference would.
Halden's leaders contributed in specific ways. The partnership was announced to the whole campus by e-mail before affected staff were told in person. In an early meeting, the vice president said that no one would have to work on Lakeview's campus, and two weeks later the plan showed all positions located there. And when faculty asked for the savings calculation, the request was answered with a summary rather than the figures. Each action fed the reaction the vice president then reported as resistance. Some objections also had merit: the faculty's questions revealed that the savings estimate assumed no new software costs, which the finance office has since corrected.
Kinds of Commitment
Herscovitch and Meyer (2002) extended a model of organizational commitment to commitment to a change. Affective commitment reflects a desire to support a change based on belief in its benefits. Normative commitment reflects a sense of obligation to support it. Continuance commitment reflects a recognition that there are costs to failing to support it. In their studies, affective and normative commitment were associated with behavior that went beyond compliance, such as cooperation and championing, while continuance commitment was associated with compliance at most.
Halden's leaders were on course to gain continuance commitment: staff would go along because they had no alternative. A shared services center depends on people solving problems across two institutions' systems, which requires cooperation beyond compliance. Building affective commitment matters for the center's success, not only for morale.
A Plan for Commitment and Resilience
First, repair broken agreements: leaders will acknowledge the location reversal publicly and offer a hybrid arrangement in which staff work at Halden two days a week for the first year. Second, involve the people affected: each of the three service areas will have a design team, half staff from each institution, to shape how the center works, which builds affective commitment by giving people a stake in the result. Third, treat objections as information: a standing log of concerns, with responses published monthly, will make visible which objections changed the plan. Fourth, support resilience for those whose roles change: guaranteed positions at the center or a retraining stipend for every affected staff member, and early, honest conversations about what each person's work will look like.
Resilience After the Move
Resilience will be tested after the center opens, not before. The first six months will bring unfamiliar software, new supervisors and colleagues from another institution's culture. The plan anticipates this with a buddy system pairing each Halden staff member with a Lakeview counterpart, a monthly open meeting for the first year where problems can be raised without going through supervisors, and a review at six months asking staff directly what has worked and what has not. These practices treat resilience as something the organization builds around people, not a trait some staff have and others lack, and they give leaders early warning if commitment begins to slip back into compliance.
Conclusion
What Halden's leaders called resistance was mostly ambivalence, shaped in part by their own actions. Piderit shows that responses have cognitive, emotional and intentional sides that can conflict, Ford, Ford and D'Amelio show how change agents help create the resistance they report, and Herscovitch and Meyer show why compliance is not enough. Repairing trust, involving people, using objections as information and supporting those affected can turn ambivalence into commitment.
References
Ford, J. D., Ford, L. W., & D'Amelio, A. (2008). Resistance to change: The rest of the story. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 362-377. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2008.31193235
Herscovitch, L., & Meyer, J. P. (2002). Commitment to organizational change: Extension of a three-component model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), 474-487. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.3.474
Piderit, S. K. (2000). Rethinking resistance and recognizing ambivalence: A multidimensional view of attitudes toward an organizational change. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 783-794. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2000.3707722
EDO 816 Module 7 instructions, in plain terms
The seventh module of EDO 816 deals with people, resistance and resilience, and the assignment commonly wants an account of how people met a change and what leaders can do to earn real support. Where this page and your Module 7 directions disagree, follow the directions; the college and its people are invented. Describe the change and the responses to it. Present research that complicates the idea of resistance. Analyze responses by group and by dimension rather than labeling people. Examine leaders' own contribution to the responses. Distinguish kinds of commitment and propose a plan for commitment and resilience, citing journal articles in APA 7 form.
How the EDO 816 Module 7 example is put together
The partnership would move thirty-one Halden staff positions into a shared center run with a university twelve miles away, saving about $1.4 million a year. After the announcement, the vice president for finance reported widespread resistance: staff petitioned the board, faculty questioned the savings and two long-serving managers retired early. Piderit (Academy of Management Review) frames a map of responses by cognitive, emotional and intentional dimensions, which shows staff agreeing the change made financial sense while fearing for their jobs and identity. Ford, Ford and D'Amelio (Academy of Management Review) show how leaders' own actions, an announcement before consultation and a broken promise about locations, fed the reaction. Herscovitch and Meyer (Journal of Applied Psychology) explain why commitment based on lack of alternatives would not produce the cooperation the center needs. The plan builds affective commitment through involvement and repairs trust through kept agreements.
EDO 816 Module 7 rubric: what earns full marks
Analyses of resistance earn credit when they move beyond labeling people as resistant and explain responses with research. This example maps responses on Piderit's three dimensions for each group, showing ambivalence where leaders saw opposition. It applies Ford, Ford and D'Amelio honestly to the leaders' own conduct, identifying specific broken agreements and communication failures. Herscovitch and Meyer's distinction among types of commitment explains why compliance would not be enough. The plan follows from each finding and includes a way to treat objections as information. The paper also addresses resilience for those who lose roles, which shows care for people as well as the change.
EDO 816 Module 7 help: mistakes that cost marks
Papers on resistance often treat it as an obstacle caused by stubborn individuals. Research shows responses are mixed, often ambivalent and partly shaped by how leaders act. Map cognitive, emotional and intentional responses separately for each group. Examine what leaders did, such as how the change was announced and whether promises were kept. Distinguish commitment people feel from compliance they offer because they have no choice. Treat objections as information that may improve the change. Finally, plan support for people whose jobs or identities the change affects, since resilience is built, not assumed.
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EDO 816 Module 7 questions, answered
What does EDO 816 Module 7 usually ask for?
Aspen's EDO 816 covers people, resistance and resilience in this module, so analyzing how people responded to a change and how leaders can build commitment is typical. Read your Module 7 prompt.
Is resistance to change always bad?
No. Ford, Ford and D'Amelio argued resistance can surface real problems and that change agents help create it through their own actions.
What is ambivalence toward change?
Piderit's term for mixed responses, such as agreeing with a change's logic while fearing its effects, across cognitive, emotional and intentional dimensions.
Where can I find a free EDO 816 Module 7 sample paper?
Above, without charge: an analysis of responses to an invented college's shared services partnership, with a plan for commitment and resilience.
What are the types of commitment to change?
Herscovitch and Meyer named affective commitment, belief in the change's value; normative, a sense of obligation; and continuance, the cost of not going along.