Change Management Models: 09. The Kubler-Ross Model

The Kubler-Ross Model was created in 1969 by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who was a Swiss-American psychiatrist. It was originally developed to explain the grieving process and describes five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. She identified these stages as defense mechanisms to change, loss, or shock, and further proposed that the model could be applied to any life-changing situation. By the 1980s, organizations began using the model as a tool to manage change management initiatives in the business world. Today, it's widely used to predict how performance is likely to be affected by the implementation of a significant change. In this course, we'll talk about how this model works within change management and discuss what managers can do to support their teams when using this model.