Chapter 18

THEY MEET, THEY TALK … BUT NOTHING CHANGES

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Zitieren als: Klonek, F. E., Paulsen, H., & Kauffeld, S. (in press). In J. A. Allen, N. Lehmann-Willenbrock & S. G. Rogelberg (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of meeting science. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 18 They Meet, They Talk … but Nothing Changes: Meetings as a Focal Context for Studying Change Processes in Organizations Florian Erik Klonek, Hilko Paulsen, & Simone Kauffeld Technische Universität Braunschweig Abstract In this chapter, we discuss how meetings relate to organizational change management. We present a coding instrument that assesses meeting talk in terms of change or sustain talk, two psycholinguistic constructs that are supposed to facilitate or inhibit organizational changes and that represent participants’ readiness versus their resistance to change. We present a stepby-step guideline on how the dynamics of readiness and resistance to change within one meeting can be graphed using a time-sensitive measure that we call R-index (i.e., for readiness and resistance to change). We show how two theoretical frameworks—Lewin’s field theory and the Transtheoretical model of change—are related to the operationalization of change talk and sustain talk in meetings. Finally, we discuss how the R-index can be used as a dynamic measure of change readiness in meetings. Keywords: meetings, observational methods, motivational interviewing, readiness to change, resistance to change, change talk, R-index, transtheoretical model, driving/hindering forces


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Mr. Schmidt works as a consulting engineer in a service company that specializes in the field of energy efficiency. He has evaluated the energy efficiency performance of the local hospital and discovered several sources of energy waste in the laboratory. Today Mr. Schmidt has a meeting with the principal doctor who is head of the laboratory. Mr. Schmidt’s aim is to discuss new measures to improve the energy performance of the building. Mr. Schmidt: Thanks for your time for this meeting. Doctor:

Well, I have heard that there is something wrong here... something about the electricity bill or so.

Mr. Schmidt: Yes, that’s right. I am here to talk with you about reducing your energy costs. We have investigated which sources contribute to strong energy waste. Doctor:

For sure, I know that our lab requires a lot of energy. I can imagine that this is a problem.

Mr. Schmidt: There was an extensive use of a lab machine in the second floor. The one in room number 201 and … Doctor:

Are you talking about our new laboratory device [technical name]? … Oh no. I was so glad to get it three years ago.

Mr. Schmidt: Well, but you should know that this machine uses a lot of energy … Doctor:

To be honest, I would not survive without this tool. It saves me so much time.

Mr. Schmidt: Well, maybe you should also think about the costs then.

THEY MEET, THEY TALK … BUT NOTHING CHANGES Doctor:

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I don’t pay the bill directly, so I actually don’t care that much.

Mr. Schmidt: You could still use a stand-by or energy-saving function. That is literally no effort! Doctor:

I think that the security should turn it off at night … Isn’t it their job to look after these things?

Mr. Schmidt: For me, it's incomprehensible that you do not take any responsibility in this. Doctor:

I can't give the energy consumption top priority. You know, we have to be present here all day in case there is an accident that is not foreseen. So I don't want to be concerned with having the machine stop and not running. It must be there when I need it.

Mr. Schmidt: Okay, maybe we can meet again next week and I can see if I can talk to security—to see if they can do something about this. Doctor:

Well, I hope that this will help.

Mr. Schmidt: Thank you for your time and see you next week.

This case study has illustrated a meeting in which change was of focus in the discussion. In this particular case, the meeting included one participant who was responsible for initiating change (i.e., saving energy) within the organization, while the other participant was affected by these changes (i.e., the change recipients, cf., J. D. Ford, Ford, & D’Amelio, 2008; Kanter, Stein, & Jick, 1992). As illustrated in this conversation, the willingness to carry out the changes is vital to the success of the initiative.


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This chapter stresses how meetings are crucial means for initiating change processes in organizations: Participants share information, work mutually on solutions, and engage in action planning (Kauffeld & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2012). If meetings are not used effectively, they can be a waste of time and money (Rogelberg, Shanock, & Scott, 2012) and may even have negative effects for an organization (Kauffeld & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2012). As meetings offer an opportunity to produce organizational change by means of interpersonal communication (J. D. Ford & Ford, 1995), this chapter integrates research from psycholinguistics and clinical psychology (e.g., Lombardi, Button, & Westra, 2014) into the science of meetings. We offer new research directions for understanding how change is produced—and sometimes inhibited—in meetings. Specifically, our approach contributes to the scarce research that investigates how verbal behaviors within the interaction process contribute to successful meetings. The first section sets out the process of how meetings are related to organizational changes. The second section introduces the notion of change talk—a psycholinguistic construct from research in motivational interviewing (MI). We will give a brief introduction of MI and outline in detail a behavioral coding scheme that can be used for analyzing participants’ readiness and resistance to change in meetings. The third section elaborates on the temporal dynamics of change language. We show how the behavioral codes can be transformed into a numerical index of readiness or resistance to change, and we provide a step-by-step guideline for meeting researchers. In the fourth section, we discuss differences and similarities between our coding scheme with existing observational instruments (act4teams from Kauffeld & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2012, and Interaction Process Analysis from Bales, 1950) that have been used previously to analyze meeting behavior. The fifth section provides two theoretical change models—Lewin’s, (1952) force field model and the Transtheoretical model of change from Prochaska & Di Clemente (1982)—that can be used as


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a framework for analyzing change talk in meetings. The final section sets out theoretical and practical implications for meeting researchers and HR practitioners. Introducing Change Language as a Key to Understanding Meeting Outcomes Meetings can have different functions for an organization: For example, coordination in terms of the determination of future actions (Clifton, 2009; Huisman, 2001), distribution of information (Boden, 1994; Tepper, 2004; Terry, 1987), or searching for solutions (Kauffeld & Lehmann-Willbenbrock, 2012; Schwartzmann, 1989)—to name only a few. The following chapter introduces the idea of considering meetings as a place where changes are discussed. We build on the ideas that “talk in organizations drives action within organizations” (King, 2003, p. 1206) and that meeting talk can produce change in a dynamic way (J. D. Ford & Ford, 1995). Therefore, researchers should focus on change-related communication in meetings. We define this as any verbal behavior that is either positively or negatively related to a previously defined organizational or behavioral change goal. Meetings are used as a means of coming together and discussing procedures or to deciding on future actions (Mirivel & Tracy, 2005). In this respect, meetings offer an ideal field research laboratory to systematically observe whether organizational members show readiness or resistance to change (Klonek, Lehmann-Willenbrock, & Kauffeld, 2014). Some authors have argued that meetings provide a necessary precondition for initiating strategic change because the daily workflow of organizational members is interrupted and may therefore be changed (Jarzabkowski & Seidl, 2008). In other words, meetings provide a space in which current behavioral routines are destabilized and can be changed (Lewin, 1952). Furthermore, meetings are also used to discuss changes and to carry them back into the wider organization (Jarzabkowski & Seidl, 2008). This can be summarized in the following way: “If the meeting is to have an effect on the wider organization, any decisions taken or changes proposed during the meeting must be incorporated into the organization” (Jarzabkowski & Seidl, 2008, p. 1395). We also embed our chapter within a theoretical framework, that is, the


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transtheoretical model of change (TTM; Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982)—sometimes also called stages of change model. The TTM assumes different stages of change that describe a varying degree of readiness for individuals. Since its development in 1982, the TTM has been used as a generic change model for a wide range of behavior changes (Prochaska et al., 1994). It provides strategies to guide individuals through change and to adopt alternative behavioral routines (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). The stages of change are five discrete stages that are associated with specific cognitions, including participants’ readiness to change, which are called (1) precontemplation, (2) contemplation, (3) preparation, (4) action, and (5) maintenance. Individuals in precontemplation do not actively think about changing. In other words, they are unaware that change might even be a possibility for them. In a meeting, this stage would describe participants who have no intention whatsoever of changing the status quo. In the contemplation stage, individuals start thinking about change, but they will not take any behavioral actions toward it. In a meeting, participants at this stage would, for example, discuss what the costs are and what the benefits of changing are. In the preparation stage, individuals have made the decision to change and are making plans about how to achieve this. Also, initial behavioral steps toward the new behavior can be observed. In the meeting context, participants in this stage would make an action plan about how change measures should be accomplished. In the action stage, individuals would take clear behavioral steps toward the change goal. In the meeting context, it is rarely the case that determined actions are directly acted out while people are still meeting. Jarzabkowski and Seidl (2008) reported that working groups are often used as a means to develop and advance proposed changes. Nevertheless, behavioral actions most regularly take place outside the meeting. If changes are maintained over a specific period of time, individuals move into the maintenance stage. We assume that readiness in meetings can be operationalized by investigating how meeting participants talk about changes. Specifically, we demonstrate in this chapter how change


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readiness in meetings can be operationalized using a single, time-variant, and dynamic index of change. There are only a few studies that have investigated the relation between meetings and change management in organizations (Jarzabowski & Seidl, 2008; Klonek et al., 2014; Preget, 2013). Preget (2013, p.340) argued that “talk is an important resource in ‘doing’ change management work.” She proposes that a conversation analysis in meetings can contribute to our understanding of organizational change because this method examines naturally occurring interactions, and thus might reveal what change might look like (Preget, 2013). In our own research (Klonek et al., 2014), we followed this line of research using the quantitative method of interaction analysis. We found that change agents can, indeed, contribute to resistance to change within change-related interactions. Overall, we have outlined that organizational changes are often discussed in meetings and there is increasing research interest in this topic. The current chapter aims to present a tool for studying change-related interactions in meetings. Our chapter contributes to the science of meetings as we focus on actual behaviors within the dynamic meeting context (Baumeister, Vohs, & Funder, 2007) and discuss how these verbal behaviors facilitate or inhibit meeting outcomes (Kauffeld & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2012). We will take a process analytical approach and shed light on the temporal dynamics of change readiness within meetings. Conceptually, this chapter is restricted to meetings with change-related conversations, that is, we focus on meetings in which participants discuss a concrete behavioral, strategic, or organizational change. In the next section, we present a verbal coding scheme that can be used to capture change-related communication in meetings. As our coding scheme originates from research in MI, we will give a brief definition of this communication method.


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Motivational Interviewing: The Origins of Change Talk Motivational interviewing is a client-centered and directive counseling style to enhance intrinsic motivation to change (Miller & Rollnick, 20013). It originates from clinical psychology and was developed as a way of motivating participants for drug and alcohol treatment or to change their consumption behavior (Miller & Rollnick, 2013). Motivational interviewing covers a variety of communication techniques that are supposed to enhance intrinsic motivation of participants who talk about change-related goals, and it has a specific focus on participant’s language, namely change or sustain talk.1 One of the central assumptions in MI is that readiness is created through communication and can be empirically observed when counselors meet with their clients. This idea was tested by psycholinguist Paul Amrhein and his colleagues (2003), who coded participants’ verbal behavior using a system that distinguishes language in favor of change (termed change talk) from language against change (termed sustain talk). Since then, this coding scheme has been applied in many clinical studies in order to investigate how participants express motivation to change in faceto-face communication (e.g., Lombardi et al., 2014). Only recently has this discursive analytical measure been transferred to the field of organizational studies (Klonek et al., 2014, Klonek & Kauffeld, 2012; Paulsen et al., 2013). Within these first studies, the coding scheme has been applied to study resistance in change management projects (Klonek et al., 2014), coaching interactions (Klonek & Kauffeld, 2012), or to study change-related communication of software engineering teams (Paulsen et al., 2013). Coding Change and Sustain Talk In the change talk coding system, participants’ verbal behavior in meetings can be considered as a natural measure of their readiness for organizational changes: Participants’ verbal expression of interest in change reveals readiness (i.e., change talk), whereas verbal

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Some authors also utilize the term „counter change talk“ which is synonymous to sustain talk


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expressions of concern and arguments against change indicate a lack of commitment for future actions (i.e., sustain talk). -----------------------------------Insert Table 18.1 about here -----------------------------------

Table 18.1 shows how verbal utterances of participants can be classified in more detail. For example, participants can reason why change makes sense (“I can see how this pays out for us”), or they can commit to a certain action (“I will do it”). In contrast, participants can also voice reasons why changes do not suit them (“This will only cost me more time”) or they can withdraw commitment (“I am never going to change this”). Even though verbal behavior is coded in more detail, participants’ verbal behavior in meetings can be analyzed on the first level, that is, by using only the two codes change or sustain talk. This is in line with a research guideline for observational schemes from Bakeman and Quera (2011, p. 19), who recommended that “when in doubt, you should define codes at a somewhat finer level of granularity than your research questions require (i.e., when in doubt, split, do not lump).” The Temporal Dynamics of Change Language within Meetings In the previous section, we described the verbal coding scheme of Paul Amrhein and colleagues (2003) that is used to categorize language that drives versus language that inhibits change. This particular behavior can been characterized by two functions: Change and sustain talk utterances are micro-acts that (1) express participants’ readiness/resistance to change and (2) determine if the meeting will result in organizational changes that follow the meeting. To illustrate the second function: If participants express a lot of sustain talk in a meeting, we would assume that important actions will not be carried out afterwards. In contrast, we would expect that meetings with a high amount of change talk facilitate necessary organizational actions to implement changes that are later carried out.


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However, what happens if participants offer a lot of sustain talk (e.g., “This might not work in our team”) at the beginning of a meeting, but eventually show high readiness to change (for example, because their concerns were taken seriously). There is actually no empirical research that has looked at the temporal dynamics of change readiness in meetings. As the observational coding of participants’ verbal behaviors preserves time information, a meeting can be regarded as a time series of change-positive and change-negative events. This allows for tracking the temporal dynamics of a change process within one single meeting. We propose a new index in order to capture the temporal dynamics of resistance and readiness to change. We call this index R.

The R-index (i.e., Resistance/Readiness to change) constitutes the verbally expressed temporal readiness or resistance to engage in a previously defined change goal. It is a state construct that can show temporal variations ranging from strong resistance to change to strong readiness to change.

It can be formalized as: = where: t = current event Ci = +1 if i-th event is coded Change Talk Ci = -1 if i-th event is coded Sustain Talk Ci = 0 otherwise

In other words, the time-variant index Rt is the difference between the frequency of all change talk and all sustain talk utterances at time t.


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If Rt > 0, then “readiness” is dominant up to time t If Rt < 0, then “resistance” is dominant up to time t If Rt = 0, then “ambivalence” is prominent up to time t

If Rt is positive, the participants show more readiness to change than resistance to change until time t. If Rt is negative, the participant shows more resistance than readiness to change until time t. If Rt is zero, the participant is ambivalent at time t. We recommend defining a window of tolerance of +/- k units around the zero value in order to capture a smoother transition between states of resistance-ambivalence-resistance. The value of k has to be determined within the research context. A Step-by-Step Illustration of Change Talk in the Meeting Context In the following sections, we show how the R-index can be used to investigate the change readiness/resistance of participants across time within a single meeting. On the basis of three dyadic meetings, the present section offers a step-by-step illustration of how to analyze change processes in meetings. In sum, our aim is to give a demonstration of research possibilities and not to test specific hypotheses. Figure 18.1 gives an overview of the research procedure. -----------------------------------Insert Figure 18.1 about here -----------------------------------Step 1: Recording the meeting. We apply this step-by-step illustration with data that originates from a recent study (Klonek et al., 2014). In this study, we videotaped three meetings in the context of a European energy-saving project on re-commissioning (details of the data acquisition are described in Klonek et al., 2014). Re-commissioning (Re-Co) is a form of building quality management


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that involves technical and behavioral changes in building maintenance in order to improve cost and energy performances. Engineers who work in the field of re-commissioning often have meetings with building occupants and building owners in order to discuss measures and changes that have to be implemented. Changes can affect building operations, standard procedures, and user behavior. Re-Co advisors had a role-playing meeting with one of the building users (i.e., change recipient). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the implementation of recommissioning measures. Re-Co advisors had the possibility to talk about the measures that they actually wanted to apply in the real project. Another Re-Co advisor played the role of the change recipient. Note that we use this data from these meetings for mere demonstrational purposes. Six participants voluntarily participated in the role-playing meeting. Building users were given a short role description that stressed that they were resistant to the proposed changes. Step 2: Coding of meeting. After data collection, the verbal behaviors of participants in the meeting are coded by independent observers. Verbal behavior of building users is categorized into three main codes (cf. Klonek et al., 2014): verbal behavior that speaks against change (sustain talk), verbal behavior that speaks in favor of change (change talk), and verbal behavior that is related to neither change nor resistance (neutral following). Both change and sustain talk can be further specified into reasons, desire, ability, needs, activation, taking steps, and commitment. Table 18.2 shows a transcript with examples of how verbal behavior is coded on the first level. -----------------------------------Insert Table 18.2 about here -----------------------------------Coding can be accomplished with paper/pencil methods (cf. Bakeman & Quera, 2011) or with software support (e.g., INTERACT, Mangold, 2010). We implemented the coding


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scheme in INTERACT in order to record time-event data (i.e., sequences of behavioral codes for which onset and offset times have been recorded; cf., Bakeman & Quera, 2011). As a result, readiness and resistance of change recipients is tracked on an utterance-by-utterance level. Coding results in a two-dimensional table with its rows showing behavioral events, on/offset times, and assigned codes (see Figure 18.2). Columns are used to organize codes into different classes of the hierarchical coding system. The outermost left side of Figure 18.2 shows the number of behavioral events in the meeting; onset and offset times of each event are automatically recorded by the software INTERACT. The columns Key, Role, ChangeRecipient, and Subcode are part of the coding system that we developed for our research. Observers watch and listen to the recorded meeting and allocate codes from the scheme by using keys on their keyboard. The column “key” records which key observers have pressed to categorize a behavioral event. Keys have been defined on the most fine-grained level of coding, that is, the key “g”2 logs in the category reason against change. As this is— by definition—sustain talk, which is voiced by the meeting participant, the codes Sustain Talk and Participant are automatically written in the corresponding cells. For reasons of simplicity in this demonstration, we only coded the verbal behavior of the conversational partner (i.e., participant). With respect to Re-Co advisors, we only coded when they spoke, but we did not categorize their verbal behavior. -----------------------------------Insert Figure 18.2 about here ----------------------------------Step 3: Computation of R-scores. After coding has been accomplished, the timed event data is used to derive the dynamic and time-variant measure “R” (readiness/resistance) that visualizes the dynamics of readiness and resistance across the meeting. Change and sustain talk codes for each utterance 2

We used the key “g” as the German code name for the code “reasons” is “Gründe”


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are transformed into integers (Change Talk = 1; Sustain Talk = -1) and summed up for each behavioral event. The last two columns of Table 18.2 demonstrate how codes are transformed into the R-index. Step 4: The temporal dynamics of the change process. In order to visualize temporal dynamics of change language within one meeting, we recommend graphing how the R-index changes across time. Figure 18.3 shows the time series of R for the three meetings that we recorded. One unit on the x-axis corresponds to a behavioral event in the meeting, whereas values on the y-axis show the corresponding values of R. This plot allows for capturing several features of a single meeting at one glance: (1) Graph location: a graph can be in the area above the x-axis or beneath the x-axis. A meeting with graphs in the area above the x-axis (values > 0) indicates a meeting in which participants showed more language in favor of change than language against change. In sum, this graph location shows a participant’s general readiness or resistance to change across the meeting. (2) Overall slope: Each graph can have a positive or negative slope. A positive slope indicates that a participant’s change talk outweighed sustain talk, whereas a negative slope indicates that participants sustain talk outweighed change talk. This index takes into account the temporal development of a participant’s readiness to change: Initially, participants may show more sustain talk, but they may talk more about the pros of changing at the end of a meeting. (3) Change of slope (U-turn): A change in slope (U-turn) is present when participants first give a sequence of change talk, which is then followed by a sequence of sustain talk. In other words, participants first voiced readiness to change and then made a turn and started to argue in the opposite direction (of maintaining). U-turns indicate phases of intrapersonal conflict (“This change is good for us, but on the other hand, I don’t feel comfortable with it”)


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and interpersonal conflict (A: “I think we must change our energy consumption behavior”; B: “That is not how I see things. I simply do not care about energy consumption”). (4) Final peak: The final peak is identical to the sum of all change talk utterances minus the sum of all sustain talk utterances across the whole meeting. This index summarizes the final readiness of participants at the end of a meeting. On the one hand, this index reflects the result of a meeting and can be used as an outcome measure of meeting effectiveness. On the other hand, this index can be used as a predictor for measures that should follow the meeting (i.e., the number of implemented measures). -----------------------------------Insert Figure 18.3 about here --------------------------------------The three Re-Co meetings are shown in Figure 18.3. It can be seen in the figure that the previously describe features vary strongly across the three meetings. The first meeting is characterized by a graph location beneath the x-axis, a negative slope, and a negative final peak. In other words, the participant in this meeting showed high resistance to change. Furthermore, the participant in this meeting argued more in the direction of sustaining than changing the status quo (indicated by the slope). When the meeting ended, this participant had uttered eleven statements more than the statements he had uttered in favor of change. The graph of the second meeting is also located beneath the x-axis. The slope in this meeting is not as negative as the one in the first meeting. Furthermore, the graph reveals several u-turns; that is, at event 55, the participant started with a sequence of change talk, followed by another sequence of sustain talk, and so on. The final peak of this meeting is close to zero. In other words, whereas the initial phase of this meeting indicated strong resistance, the final part of this meeting showed more verbal behaviors in the direction of change. In sum, this participant seemed to be ambivalent about changing.


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The third meeting is characterized by a graph location above the x-axis, a positive slope, and a positive final peak. Overall, the verbal behavior of this participant in this meeting reveals readiness to change. The jitter at the end of the session indicates that the participant switched quickly between change and sustain talk. How is Change Talk Related to other Meeting Coding Schemes? The coding scheme that we presented in the following chapter has its roots in the psycholinguistic work of Paul Amrhein, and has been most exclusively applied in clinical process studies of MI or therapy settings in which patients discuss specific target behaviors with their respective therapists (e.g., alcohol reduction). In this respect, it is still relatively new within the science of meetings. Previous coding schemes have been proposed to code verbal and nonverbal interactions of participants in meetings, such as act4teams (Kauffeld & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2012) or the Interaction Process Analysis (IPA, Bales, 1950). The following section will outline similarities and differences between these coding schemes and the current coding scheme of change-related conversations. Act4teams and Change Talk Act4teams has been developed as a process-analytical observational instrument to measure interaction processes in organizational group discussions (Kauffeld, 2006a). In subsequent studies, it has been predominantly used to analyze participants’ verbal behavior in team meetings (Kauffeld 2006b; Kauffeld & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2012; Kauffeld & Meyers, 2009; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Allen, & Kauffeld, 2014; Lehmann-Willenbrock, Allen, & Meinecke, 2013). It encompasses 43 behavioral categories that can be summarized into four broader types of interaction, namely, (1) problem-focused, (2) procedural, (3) socioemotional, and (4) action-oriented communication. Furthermore, every verbal code in the system can be classified in terms of functional versus dysfunctional meeting behavior: To give an example, the code interest in change is a functional and action-oriented type of


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communication, whereas the code losing train of thought in details and examples is a dysfunctional and procedural type of communication. Differences between Act4teams and change talk. First, the change-related coding system from Amrhein et al. (2003) and act4teams differs most visibly in terms of granularity. Whereas act4teams assesses verbal behavior with 43 different codes, the change coding scheme only distinguishes very broadly between change, sustain, and neutral talk. Even when the sub-classifications (e.g., reasons, desire, need, ability, commitment) of change-related verbal behavior are taken into account, act4teams still has more than twice as many codes. Although this affects the level of detail with which interactions can be observed, it also affects the amount of time it will take to learn and apply a coding system. Second, the act4teams system has been developed as an instrument to assess interactions in groups, whereas coding of change-related interactions has been developed to assess only the verbal behavior (i.e., language) of one participant within a dyadic conversation (most notably, MI). Although there is a plethora of observational studies that have used the observational scheme from Amrhein et al. (2003) in dyadic interactions (e.g., Bertholet, Faouzi, Gmel, Gaume, & Daeppen, 2010; Hodgins, Ching, & McEwen, 2009; Klonek et al., 2014; Lombardi et al., 2014), only a few studies have extended the use of change-talk coding to group interactions (e.g., Klonek & Kauffeld, 2012; Paulsen et al., 2013). Finally, act4teams and coding of change talk differ with respect to the definition of a target behavior. This is probably the most important difference between both systems. Where act4teams assess participants’ interest in change regardless of the topic, coding of change talk has to address a previously defined target behavior. We will give an example to illustrate this difference: If the target of a meeting is that participants should not use a specific high-energy consuming device, then only language that addresses this target behavior is coded in terms of change talk. The utterance, “I will not use that machine anymore,” would be coded as change


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talk. On the other hand, if the target of a meeting is that participants should use a new device in order to facilitate working procedures, then that same utterance would be coded as sustain talk. In this respect, change talk is always related to a specific behavioral goal. By contrast, the action-oriented verbal codes in act4teams do not need a target behavior to be coded. Act4teams more generally assess whether participants show willingness to take (any) actions—coding in act4teams is therefore more open-ended. Future research should address under which terms these different operationalizations may tap the same or different constructs. Similarities between Act4teams and change talk. Beside these differences, act4teams and change talk coding also share some striking similarities. In particular, the type of action-orientated communication in act4teams seems to capture a similar construct as change talk coding. We have already discussed that the definition of target behavior is an important difference between both coding schemes. However, the codes interest in change, taking responsibility, and action planning all fit into the definitions of change talk. The definition of the code action planning strongly overlaps with the commitment to change code in the change talk system. Whereas the coding of change talk and sustain talk is symmetrical in terms of valence (i.e., the code commitment can be coded as change or sustain talk: “I promise to do this” versus “I refuse to change this”), the structural code composition in act4teams lacks this feature. As a result, act4teams can capture action planning in terms of a functional verbal behavior, but does not capture negative action planning. In sum, both systems seem to capture a similar construct (change readiness versus action-orientation), but in which way they overlap is a question of future research. IPA and Change Talk Another famous meeting process instrument is the Interaction Process Analysis (IPA) from Bales (1950). IPA encompasses 12 different behavioral codes that can be allocated to two dimensions: The socio-emotional area and the task area. Whereas verbal codes in the


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socio-emotional area can be further distinguished into positive or negative emotions, verbal codes in the task area are distinguished either into questions or attempted answers. Similarities between IPA and change talk. IPA and coding of change talk share only superficial similarities. Both systems use a reduced number of codes and both focus on the functional aspects of verbal utterances—that is, IPA stresses the relational (socio-emotional) and instrumental function of verbal utterances, whereas the change talk system stresses the change-related (driving or hindering) function of a speech act. Differences between IPA and change talk. IPA is considered as the classical instrument in interaction and process analysis of group interactions, whereas the coding of change talk and sustain talk has its roots in dyadic conversations. As IPA and the change talk system address different functions of communication, they are not interchangeable. We will illustrate the differences in functional aspects of communication in the following example: Whereas IPA includes three codes that only focus on questions (question for opinion, question for suggestion, question for orientation), the same verbal behaviors are considered neutral behavior in the change talk system; that is, they are not related to changing or sustaining. This is explained in the following way: A question does not reveal whether a person expresses his readiness to change or sustain the status quo. Concurrently, the socio-emotional area also is not captured in the change talk system. We have no knowledge of which way the emotional tone of change talk and sustain talk affects the dynamic interaction of a meeting. We assume that strong resistance to change of a participant may sometimes include an aggressive or hostile intonation (e.g., “Forget it! We will never do this again. This does not make any sense for us!”)—but at the same time, this is not a prerequisite. In other words, participants can also express resistance to change (sustain talk) with an emotionally neutral tone (i.e., giving arguments that will make change unsuccessful).


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In sum, both IPA and change talk coding capture different functional aspects of a meeting. As a result, they can be combined and used for different research purposes. Future research could investigate, for example, in which way change talk differs in terms of socioemotional connotation, or in which way change talk is more likely in meetings with positive socio-emotional interactions. Theoretical Frameworks to Evaluate Change Processes in Meetings In this section, we introduce two prominent theoretical frameworks that have been used to study the temporal process of change: Lewin’s change theory of driving and hindering forces (1952) and the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM, Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982). First, we show how change and sustain talk of meeting participants correspond to the constructs of driving and hindering forces. Second, we will explain how change language is linked to a key construct in the TTM, namely the decisional balance (Janis & Mann, 1977): The decisional balance captures ambivalence to change (Klonek, Isidor, & Kauffeld, 2014; Piderit, 2000) in terms of reasons for change (i.e., pros) versus reasons against change (i.e., cons). We will show how the decisional balance construct can be used as a process measure in change-related meetings. Lewin’s Change Theory of Driving and Hindering Forces Kurt Lewin is often regarded as one of the fathers of social psychology (Wheeler, 2008). His theory on driving and hindering forces has been influential in the social sciences and organizational change management literature (e.g., Burnes, 2004). In Lewin's theory, behavior is considered as “a dynamic balance of forces working in opposing directions” (Kritsonis, 2005, p. 1). Two constructs are central: Driving versus hindering forces. Driving forces are forces that give momentum in the direction of change. Driving forces facilitate change because they push individuals in the desired direction. In contrast, hindering forces are forces that work in the opposite direction, that is, they work against change. If driving and hindering forces are equally strong, no change can occur. These theoretical concepts have


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been incorporated in the method of force field analysis, a management tool that can be used to analyze driving and hindering forces in an organizational change program (Swanson & Creed, 2013). Lewin’s conceptualization of driving and hindering forces shares striking similarities with the constructs of change and sustain language. In this respect, change talk can be considered as a driving force, whereas sustain talk can be considered as a hindering force. If participants talk about reasons to change in a meeting (“I can see how this pays out for us”) or voice desires to change (“I wish we would finally do something about this”), their talk drives action within the organization (King, 2003, p. 1206). However, if meeting participants talk about reasons to sustain the status quo (“This will only cost me more money”) or their lack of abilities to change (“I don’t know how we should do this”), they prevent change. As a result, meeting talk can either result in action or inaction because “the way practitioners talk actively shapes an organization rather than just passively defining it” (Clifton, 2006, p. 202). From Lewin’s point of view, the R-graph that we described in Figure 18.3 indicates when and where in a meeting the driving and hindering forces are at equilibrium (i.e., when Rt is close to zero), when driving forces outweigh hindering forces (positive Rt values), and when hindering forces suppress change (negative Rt values). In other words, the change talk analysis which uses the R-index can be treated as a form of scientifically sound force field meeting analysis. In the introduction of this chapter, we explained that the Transtheoretical Model of Change assumes different stages of change that could characterize specific meeting periods: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. The TTM also incorporates a second central construct: the decisional balance (Janis & Mann, 1977; Klonek et al., 2014). Decisional balance is a mechanism that weighs the benefits of changing (change talk) against the costs of changing (sustain talk). Furthermore, the TTM assumes that balance between the benefits and costs vary as a function of TTM-stage: In precontemplation, costs outweigh the benefits of changing: In the middle stages, the benefits slowly surpass and


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finally outweigh the costs in the action stage. In reverse, the position of the decisional balance can also be regarded as a marker for the respective stage of change of the meeting. Taken together, both the decisional balance construct of the TTM and the driving forces model from Lewin (1952) share the same assumptions about how change occurs: The idea is that the two opposite weights—one in the direction of change, the other in the direction against change—have a dynamic influence on the change process. Depending on which weight is stronger, change either will occur or be prohibited. Within a meeting, these opposite forces can be operationalized as the change versus the sustain talk of the meeting participants. Figure 18.4 summarizes how the stages of the TTM—decisional balance and R-index—are linked in the context of meeting research. -----------------------------------Figure 18.4 --------------------------------------The first line of Figure 18.4 shows the five stages of change that are part of the TTM: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. The second line gives three snapshots of the decisional balance that illustrates how it changes as a function of the TTM stages. The last line in Figure 18.4 illustrates how the R-index would change accordingly. If there is more sustain talk than change talk in a meeting, for example, R would be negative and the balance would be uneven, with sustain talk dragging down the left side. If sustain talk and change talk within a meeting are roughly equal, the balance is at equilibrium at both sides. Finally, if there is more change talk within a meeting than sustain talk, the balance tilts over to the direction of change. Taken together, the decisional balance (and the R-index) can be used as a process measure to evaluate whether a change-related meeting will result in future actions. We assume that meetings with a negative (or close to zero) R-index will not result in organizational changes. In other words, these kinds of meetings can be described as “they meet, they talk … but nothing changes.” In contrast, a meeting with a


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positive R-index characterizes a meeting for which change is possible and which will result in organizational changes. Theoretical Implications Research on change-related meetings is still scarce. The few studies that have been conducted in this context have used qualitative methods (Preget, 2013) and quantitative methods (Jarzabkowski & Seidl, 2008; Klonek et al., 2014) that focused on the changerelated interactions within meetings. The following chapter offered a way to track the dynamics of change in meetings by focusing on actual verbal behavior. We have discussed how change language can be considered as a driving force in meetings, whereas sustain talk is considered a hindering force. The R-index offers a behaviorally continuous measure that captures moment-to-moment dynamics of readiness and resistance to change within meetings. Capturing the Dynamics of Change in Meetings Unobtrusively As participants are not asked directly about the construct of interest (Hill, White, & Wallace, 2014), observations allow non-obtrusive measurements of the psychologicalreadiness constructs. Therefore, the observational method presented captures the dynamic readiness of participants without interfering in meeting procedures. Meeting participants naturally emit verbal utterances that are either in favor of change or against the changes. This information is captured on tape and allows for the detection of dynamic micro-actions and micro-changes that are visualized in the R-graph. Meeting researchers can extract this information and investigate its impact on meeting and organizational outcomes. In contrast, self-reports via questionnaire allow meeting participants to infer what construct may be studied (e.g., asking them: “Are you in favor of the proposed changes?”), and thus become more attentive toward their actual behavior (Clark & Shadish, 2008). Moreover, measuring continuous changes of meeting readiness over the course of one meeting via selfreported questionnaires would require participants to answer questionnaires multiple times and during the actual meeting (e.g., by asking participants to indicate their readiness on a


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scale every minute). Clearly, this procedure would be very disturbing, and we would expect that such a design is methodologically not feasible in organizational field research. However, we have demonstrated how the observational method solves this methodological problem. We will now discuss how this unobtrusive, behavioral-focused approach can help us to understand change meetings better (and thus meetings more generally), as well as meetings in organizations. Since the actual behavior mediates situational factors and therefore affects performance output, the R-index can be viewed as a process variable from an input-processoutput model (IPO; Hackman & Morris, 1975). Within an IPO framework, researchers can ask what input variables (e.g., type of organization, group size, type of meeting, meeting design phases) affect the dynamic process of change meetings (I-P connection), but they can also ask how process variables (i.e., the R-index itself) affect the outcomes of a meeting (P-O connection). Input-Process Connection: Antecedents of Change-Readiness in Meetings Change meetings, and meetings in organizations more generally, can vary regarding several aspects that precede the interaction: For example, how many participants were invited to the meeting? Were more participants included that are pro or against changes? Gautam (2005) proposed that external participants in hospital board meetings are generally pro change. As a result, the author concluded that meetings with few outsiders should impede change. Using the change-related coding system that we introduced in this chapter would allow for testing this hypothesis for future studies. More specifically, based on Gautam’s propositions, we would expect that an increase of outsiders in board meetings would positively affect the R-index, whereas a decrease would negatively affect the R-index. Similar assumptions can be derived from the 4-player change model (Kantor & Lehr, 1975; Ober, 2010). This model maps the change process on four fundamental types of actions: a move that


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initiates direction, a follow supports the current move, an oppose is a behavior that prevents movement, and a bystand offers perspective. Again, we would predict that movers offer a lot of change talk in change-related meetings, whereas opposers would engage in sustain talk. From this person-centered model, the variability of the readiness index would be affected by the composition of participants in meetings: As ‘opposers’ in a team meeting should engage in more sustain talk, the R-index should decrease over time. In contrast, ‘movers’ should offer more change talk. As a result, movers within a meeting should positively affect the R-index over time. Apart from looking at the composition of participants within meetings, future research could also focus on the change-related meeting practices that were identified from Jarzabkowski and Seidl (2006, 2008). How far are these practices related with the R-index in meetings? For example, free discussions are supposed to positively affect the discussion of changes, whereas restricted discussions are supposed to suppress change discussions (Jarzabkowski & Seidl, 2006). As a result, the R-index should be higher (or show strong positive variations) in meetings with free discussions in comparison to meetings that are characterized by restricted discussions. Moreover, some meetings may show within-meeting variations (or phases) of free versus restricted discussions. From a methodological point of view, these meetings offer field data of natural within-subject designs. In order to understand meetings more generally, researchers can analyze R as a dependent time-variant measure (see Figure 18.3). How do meeting design phases (free versus restricted discussion) affect the slope of the graph in these within-subject designs? As within-subjects or single-case designs allow for meeting participants to be used as their own controls, researchers only need small samples and can rule out confounding variable (Logan, Hickman, Harris, & Heriza, 20008). As a result, using the R-index for within-subject designs in organizational research is particularly attractive.


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Process-Output Connection: Consequences of Change Readiness in Meetings Although the I-O connection looks at antecedents of change-related meetings, future research also needs to investigate the relation between the R-index and meeting outcomes (PO connection). Research from MI shows that change language is related to subsequent behavior change (e.g., Amrhein et al., 2003). How does this transfer to the context of a meeting? There is a vast amount of literature that describes how unproductive meetings affect meeting satisfaction (Gautam, 2005; Rogelberg, Allen, Shanock, Scott, & Shuffler, 2010). We would also assume that change readiness within a meeting has a relation to meeting satisfaction. Kauffeld and Lehmann-Willenbrock (2012) evaluated how functional and dysfunctional action-oriented behaviors (a construct that is conceptually related to change talk and sustain talk) of participants affect meeting outcomes. The authors operationalized meeting outcomes with three different measures: meeting satisfaction, team performance, and organizational success. Their results showed that the action-oriented behaviors were related to all three types of meeting outcomes. In fact, counter-active statements were strongly and negatively related to meeting satisfaction and organizational success, whereas proactive statements were positively related to meeting satisfaction, team productivity, and organizational success. Although the authors used a different coding system (i.e., act4teams), their focus on action-oriented behaviors is somehow related to the type of verbal behaviors that are coded with the change and sustain talk observation scheme. In contrast to act4teams, the R-index is a single growth curve that characterizes the change-related communication of participants within one meeting. Instead of counting the frequency of single codes, it transforms two codes (Change and Sustain Talk) and their relation to time into one single index. Future research should investigate which characteristics of the curve (number of peaks, u-turns, graph location) are related to meeting outcomes (e.g., participants’ perception of meeting effectiveness, number of conflicts within the meeting etc.)


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Using R-index to Study Change Processes in Organizations In the current chapter, we have discussed how the language of participants in changerelated meetings indicates readiness to change. The transformation of change and sustain language into the R-index (readiness versus resistance) allowed us to track the dynamics of change readiness over the meeting process. From a more general change management perspective, our approach takes into account that changes in organizations are dynamic and proceed over time: Change in these terms is contributed through the verbal interplay of multiple participants whose interaction will result in readiness. In contrast to a process-based view, change readiness in organizations was traditionally conceptualized as a “static” construct (Stevens, 2013). Stevens advocates a process-based model on change readiness in which changes across time are taken into account. One of the largest contributions of change readiness as a process becomes quite salient when one acknowledges that a given change implementation is more aptly characterized as a moving target composed of many interacting components rather than a discrete, monolithic event. Whereas prior conceptualizations of change readiness assume that initial readiness (largely in response to a set of initial conditions) is sufficient to achieve successful change implementation, (…) [a] process model explicitly argues for a more contextualized approach that accounts for a fluctuating environment that influences an individual’s evaluations and responses to change. The result is a recasting of readiness from a state (or even a series of states) into a trajectory (….) (Stevens, 2013, p. 352) A process-perspective on change readiness takes into account that change readiness is dynamic and fluctuates over time. The R-index captures this feature and can be used as a micro-analytic tool for studying dynamic change processes in the meeting-context. Moreover, there is an abundance of change readiness measures (cf., Holt, Armenakis, Harris, & Feild,


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2007), yet none of them assess how change readiness develops over time. According to Stevens (2013, p. 354 ), the forty change readiness tools that were reviewed from Holt et al. (2007) “are unlikely to be meaningful; rather, quantitative assessments that focus on tracking evaluations and responses as they develop over time are more likely to reflect the eventual success of a change effort.” In sum, the R-index constitutes the first tool that tracks change readiness and resistance to change over time. Organizational researchers in change management that aim to capture change readiness within a process model could apply this micro-analytic tool to study the success of change management efforts in meetings. Practical Implications The practical implications of the current chapter can be divided into two parts: First, we will outline how research using the R-index would lead to a better understanding of change processes and how that knowledge would then flow to practitioners for use. Second, a mere awareness of change and sustain language may be beneficial for facilitators and change managers who take part in meetings. In other words, “interactions sequences are an excellent entry point for seeing, intervening in, and shifting key process[es]” (Ober, 2010, p. 174). We will explain how practitioners can use their own observational skills in order to facilitate meetings. Understanding the Process of Change for Practitioners and Facilitators We have discussed how future research should use the R-index for answering different research questions. Most definitely, the understanding of change processes within meetings has merit for practitioners that are in charge of leading or organizing meetings. For example, if Gautam’s hypothesis (2005) that external participants in hospital meetings increase change readiness was confirmed, facilitators would know that it is important to invite more outsiders in order to “get things moving.” It is also helpful for practitioners to know what type of meeting conduct—that is, free versus restricted discussion, voting, or rescheduling


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(Jarzabkowski & Seidl, 2006)—has an impact on participants’ change readiness. Change managers and facilitators can use these findings to reflect on their capacities to influence the antecedents and conduct of meetings. This knowledge would help them to know how meeting practices might be better employed in order to enhance organizational changes. Use Sustain Talk as a Red Traffic Light As sustain talk is language that expresses resistance to change, practitioners could use it as a signal that their intentions to push for change might be fruitless. Our research suggests that the more change agents try to argue why change is important for change recipients, the more change recipients will show resistance to change (Klonek et al., 2014). A behavioral guideline or rule of thumb that originates from MI is to use sustain talk as a signal—like a red traffic light—which indicates that the current strategy is fruitless (Klonek, 2014). Behavior that has been shown to evoke sustain talk is often autonomy restrictive (Klonek et al., 2014)— other authors have called these behaviors communication traps (Gordon, 1977). In coaching or trainings, practitioners could be sensitized to situations in which they use communication traps. Concurrently, practitioners could be trained to decode sustain talk more easily. This would help them to acquire sensitivity toward change resistance in meetings and, eventually, prevent them from contributing to resistance to change when participants are not ready yet for changes (Klonek et al., 2014). Change is There: We Just Need to Hear and Reflect It At the same time, change talk is an important resource for facilitating change in meetings. The following chapter has shown how participants’ change talk shows their readiness to change by expressing their reasons, desires, needs, or commitment to change. Therefore, HR practitioners should focus their attention on change talk utterances and reflect upon this. We recommend that practitioners should be extremely skillful in active listening, that is, instead of arguing among themselves why the change is important, they should listen to what change-driving arguments they hear from meeting participants and elaborate on these


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(see also Klonek & Kauffeld, 2013). Furthermore, we would advise that corporate trainings in listening (e.g., Rautalinko & Lisper, 2004) should focus more strongly on teaching a skill that we term directive listening. Directive listening is a form of reflective listening that attends more closely to change and sustain talk utterances (i.e., the directions of change). The original form technique of reflective listening constitutes a directionless way of paraphrasing a participant’s statement in a conversation (Rogers, 1951). However, these reflections can either repeat sustain or change talk statements. In contrast, a listener who uses directive listening would actively listen for change talk and reflect this (Barnett et al., 2014). Even though this technique demands high skillfulness in reflective listening, we believe that corporate skill trainings in this technique should be of great help for HR practitioners who struggle with change issues in meetings. Using R as a Feedback Tool for Change Agents This chapter has provided a step-by-step guide to visualize the temporal dynamics of change within one meeting. This tool can also be used by professional business consultancies to provide a feedback tool for meeting interactions. A similar approach has been undertaken with the act4teams coaching tool (Kauffeld & Montasem, 2009; Kauffeld, Tiscar-Lorenzo, Montasem, & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2009). Act4teams coaching focuses on the 43 different behaviors during a team meeting, and is used as a feedback tool in order to initiate team reflection. In contrast, R is a single index that visualizes the temporal dynamics of a meeting with respect to change readiness/resistance. We would rather recommend providing feedback on the characteristics of the graph (discussed in the step-by-step guideline) to the meeting participants in order to discuss how particular practices might have contributed to resistance to change. Speaking anecdotally, the use of complex meeting coding systems (such as act4teams) can be very difficult for team facilitators and trainers. If these systems are used to give teams feedback about their meeting behaviors, team coaches are often overcharged with the complexity of the coding system. A single index that distinguishes participants’ readiness


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or resistance across time, such as R, reduces the complexity of a meeting and helps to localize critical incidents that may have contributed to a phase of resistance to change. We have currently prepared three video vignettes (in English and German) that demonstrate the dynamics of the R-index in real time (these videos are available upon request from the first author). Recently, we tested these demonstration videos in a workshop with practitioners (Klonek & Beier, June 2014) and generally received positive feedback in this first pilot testing phase. Conclusion This chapter has proposed the idea of considering meetings as a place where changes are discussed. We introduced an observational instrument from research in MI and showed how meeting talk can be conceptualized in terms of change and sustain talk. Whereas change talk covers verbal statements that advance changes, sustain talk covers verbal statements that prohibit changes. Furthermore, we proposed a step-by-step guideline of how this type of language can be transformed into a single index that visualizes the change dynamics within a meeting. We also compared the coding system of change and sustain talk to existing observational instruments (act4teams and IPA) that have been used to analyze meeting interactions. Change and sustain talk can be theoretically related to Lewin’s field theory of driving and hindering forces, and to the construct of decisional balance in the stages of change model. Finally, we discussed that the R-index offers a dynamic change measure that can be applied in process-based theories on organizational change. Authors’ Note and Acknowledgements We have prepared free demonstration material that visualizes the dynamic changes of the Rindex within three meetings (The Energy-Manager A–C). This material will be published online in the frontiers research topic “Understanding the human factor of the energy transition: Mechanisms underlying energy-relevant decisions and behaviors” (Klonek & Kauffeld, 2014). The material is also available upon request from the first author


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([email protected]). The development of this material was supported by grants through the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology [BMWi, grant number 03ET1004B]. The three tapes used in this chapter for calculation of the R-index have also been qualitatively described in Klonek, Lehmann-Willenbrock, and Kauffeld (2014). We wish to thank Vicenç Quera and Andreas Nohn for their methodological advice during the preparation of this manuscript.


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Table 18.1. Coding Scheme for Change-Related Meetings Change Talk (+)

Sustain Talk (-)

Reasons

“I can see how this pays out for us.”

“This will only cost me more time.”

Desire

“I wish we would finally do something “I don’t care about it.” about this.”

Needs

“We have to tackle this.”

“There is no need to change this.”

Abilities

“We have the resources to get this

“I don’t know how we should do it.”

done.”

Other

“Maybe we should do something about “We should leave everything as it is.” it.”

Taking Steps “I have already done something about it.”

Commitment “I will do it.”

“I have already taken efforts that these things will not be changed”

“I am never going to change this.”


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Table 18.2. Example of How Change-Related Communication is Coded Event Speaker

Transcript

1

A:

Thanks for your time for this meeting…

2

B:

Well, I have heard that there is something wrong here...

Follow

something about the electricity bill or so…

Neutral

3

A:

Code

Yes, that goes in the right direction. I am here to talk with

Integer

Rt

0

0

0

0

0

0

+1

1

0

1

-1

0

0

0

-1

-1

0

-1

-1

-2

0

-2

you about reducing your energy costs. We have investigated which sources contribute to strong energy waste. 4

B:

For sure, I know that our lab requires a lot of energy. I can

Change Talk

imagine that this is a problem. 5

A:

There was an extensive use of a lab machine in the second floor. The one in room number 201… and ...

6

B:

Are you talking about our new laboratory device [technical

Sustain Talk

name] ... Oh no. I was so glad to get it three years ago. 7

A:

Well, but you should know that this machine uses a lot of energy …

8

B:

To be honest: I would not survive without this tool. It saves

Sustain Talk

me so much time. 9

A:

Well, maybe you should also think about the costs then.

10

B:

I don’t pay the bill directly, so I actually don’t care that

Sustain Talk

much. 11

A:

You could still use a stand-by or energy-saving function. That is literally no effort!

THEY MEET, THEY TALK … BUT NOTHING CHANGES 12

B

I think that the Security should turn it off at night…isn’t it

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Sustain Talk

-1

-3

0

-3

-1

-4

0

-4

+1

-3

0

-3

their job to look about these things. 13

A:

For me, it's incomprehensible that you do not take any responsibility in this.

14

B:

I can't give the energy consumption top priority. You

Sustain Talk

know, we have to be present here all day in case there is an accident that is not foreseen. So I don't want to be concerned with having the machine stop and not running. It must be there when I need it. 15

A:

Okay, maybe we can meet again next week and I can see if I can talk to security—to see if they can do something about this.

16

B:

Well, I hope that this will help.

17

A:

Thank you for your time and see you next week.

Change Talk

Note: For purposes of presentation, the content of this transcript was strongly edited. A = Re-Co advisor, B = Building user


Figure 18.1. Step-by-step procedure for analyzing the change processes in meetings.

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THEY MEET, THEY TALK … BUT NOTHING CHANGES Figure 18.2. Software implementation of coding scheme.

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THEY MEET, THEY TALK … BUT NOTHING CHANGES Figure 18.3. Temporal dynamics of R for three simulated meetings.

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Figure 18.4. The transtheoretical model of change and its relation to the R-index in meetings.