about this areaThe Theory area contains articles and essays that address the various models used to describe Human Capital Sustainability (HCS).
These articles and essays are contributed by members of the HCS editorial team. To respond to the ideas presented in an article, click the Respond link at the bottom of that article. |
the wiggle and the pop - part 2Paul Kordis, October 2008 If the issues in the first part of this article are, in fact, as pressing and crucial and ominous as suggested then why does there appear to be so little being done about them? On can conclude that either the issues are false and not truly pressing, or there is a time sensitive phenomena regarding the reluctance of America to correct its course that needs far more illumination than it has yet received. Therefore, a bird’s eye view may be necessary before digging down into the details. From this perspective three critical factors emerge when considering how people change: motivation, ability, and resources. Motivation involves both seeing the need to change and having the desire to implement it. Ability includes the skills and knowledge and capacity to implement the change. Resources include those things tangible and intangible that exist outside of oneself but are necessary for implementing the change. One of the better ways to illustrate these three factors would be to consider someone who is both attending a very exciting party and has been assigned the often painful duty of being the designated driver. In order for this scenario to come to a happy conclusion our hero must first see the need and be motivated to be the designated driver. They must realize that their friends need assistance and they must willingly accept the responsibility of seeing their friends safely home. It may be that they previously made a deal with their friends to be the designated driver and it just so happens that this is the night. Or they may even fear that they will make their friends angry if they don't do it. But in any event they must be motivated to do it or it won't get done. (Unless, of course, someone else does it.) Second, they must be able to drive safely when the time comes. If they throw caution to the wind and drink throughout the night they will not be able to responsibly fulfill their duty. If they leave the party early they won't be available, either. And if they don't know how to drive then they also will fail their responsibility. So they must be able to perform their assigned task at the right time and place and in the right way. They need the skill, knowledge, and ability. Third, they need a valid driver's license and an operational vehicle that can safely hold their friends. If they have no license and no vehicle, or if the vehicle doesn't work, or if it isn't big enough or safe enough, then they cannot fulfill their responsibility regardless of how motivated or skilled they may be. Therefore, motivation, ability, and the appropriate resources are essential for people if they are to get anything done, especially when it comes to changing on a large and systemic scale. As one can see in the series of articles on Wave Theory, human history demonstrates that most of the time people change when the environment imposes a change upon them. There are some who see the need for change ahead of time. And there are even a few who implement the needed change ahead of time. But most people most of the time need to be jarred into changing by an external source. Therefore, whatever the external source may be it must make providing both an awareness of the need to change and the motivation to change its first priority. Why? Because doing so speeds and simplifies the process of getting the necessary skills, abilities, and resources. Once awareness is achieved, the motivation typically manifests as either a punishment or a reward. In other words, it either provides pain or pleasure, and very often both. Perhaps an illustration would help:
In the above figure the red box is the current state and the green circle is the future state. The blue arrow, then, is the transition between the two. In order for someone to be motivated to move from the current state to a future state (that is sufficiently different from the current state to make it distinguishable) the following must be true: the pain of the current state and the pleasure of the future state must both be great enough to overcome the discomfort of the transition (Kordis & Kordis, 1998) . Therefore, one typically needs both pain and pleasure in sufficient quantities to overcome the barriers to significant change. Sometimes the current pain alone, or the future pleasure alone, is sufficient. But in general both are required. what, then, gets in the way of people experiencing the need and desire to change?A special case of the above process is a phenomenon called learned helplessness (Abrahamson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978; Hiroto & Seligman, 1975; Seligman & Maier, 1967) . This phenomenon is characterized by an individual or group behaving helplessly, i.e. believing that they have no control over their current situation when in fact they can change the situation if they were to choose to do so. Learned helplessness often happens when people try to change their circumstances but are thwarted at every turn. When they are then presented with an unpleasant situation that they truly could change, they don't bother trying because they have learned that attempting to change anything is useless, no matter how painful or unpleasant. (More commonly, if you pull down a bloody stump every time you raise your hand you will stop raising your hand, even if it would now be OK to do so.) Even if the current pain is intense and the future pleasure is nearly irresistible, people will sometimes live with the current pain because they feel that anything more pleasant is unattainable and trying to change things would simply cause more pain. Therefore, learned helplessness requires special attention and a fair amount of relearning if large changes are to be made. People must be assured that participating in the change effort will be permitted and rewarded. However, other factors can still greatly impede the progress of change and will be further articulated in some of the following sections. Respond to this topic. Next topic: A New Look at Normal |
founderPaul L. Kordis, PhD advisorsJames H. Banning, PhD Gary Geroy, PhD Ed Goodman, P.E., MSCE Bruce Hall, PhD M.L. Johnson, EdD, PhD David T. Moran, PhD Beverly Title, PhD
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