ABSTRACT
A technical proposal is useless unless it is accepted and implemented. Change involves the sociopolitical world as well as the world of facts. Technological change is easier to implement than organizational change. Yet, even technological change interacts with social systems to produce a soft system. The change process is divided into five steps. The situation starts with stability, "unfreezes," "moves," "refreezes," and then is stable again. Only trivial technical changes arouse no resistance. The question, then, is how to overcome the resistance. Resistance to change may be due to lack of knowledge of some of the facts and emotions. Communication within the group will reduce uncertainty, thereby reducing the resistance to change due to "fear of the unknown." Successful decision making in a group requires that all essential knowledge is within the group, that this knowledge be available to be transmitted to the group members, that this knowledge is transmitted, and that the group members accept this knowledge.
