Five Stages Of Grief

FiveStagesOfGrief was named and identified by the now deceased Dr Kubler Rossian, a conclusion drawn from studies of terminally ill persons (ref book "On death and dying").

It is a model for all CatastrophicSeaChangeEvent?, probably applicable to companies, communities, countries, etc. as well.

These "extreme" coping stages were well portrayed in the movie All That Jazz, and are:

1. Denial - It can't be true, it is unreal, life goes on. see SelfDeceit
2. Anger - What the #@* is happening? How Dare they, etc.
3. Bargaining - If we only do this or that, things will be all right tomorrow
4. Depression - Reality is still with us, can't shake it away
5. Acceptance - Let's start from Ground Zero, and do the best we can

Sometimes the order between Bargaining and Depression may be switched around, and loops happen as well. But Denial is always the first reaction, and Acceptance (resigned to accepting the facts) signifies the end stage of this journey.

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In the case of 9/11 2001 televised attack, stage 1 is very short-lived for most people, but still some people took it for "an accident".

However some lives were reportedly lost unnecessarily, due to "reassurances" provided to occupants of the doomed towers.

Any observation re: relevance of this model for the Boxing day Tsunami of 2004?

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Organization relevance

Useful for people concerned with ChangeYourOrganizationTactics. If the model is relevant then specific provisions need to be made for affected staff, prior to an exercise such as OutSourcing.

The earlier people can be guided through the stages quickly, the more energy is left to do constructive planning.

I was working for a multinational years ago and when management started to plan a head-office relocation (to different city), work stopped there for over six months and gossip flew all over the place. In hind sight I would think it would have been cheaper for the firm to engage consultants to communicate and lead the workers through the uncertainties. This would have been beneficial to the workers as well if we assume most people get satisfaction through meaningful contributions to work efforts.

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Before the bubble burst for large companies (e.g. Enron), there was much SelfDeceit evidenced in the documentaries that interviewed its workers. One link on reports related to this company is located at http://www.failureisimpossible.com/needtoknow/enron.htm

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CategoryPsychology