Please assist with the given problems.
Question 1. Explain how Hank Greenberg can use small-group theory in dealing with resistance to the change.
Question 2. According to field theory, what are the positive and negative forces in this situation?
The Department of Public Health in State X is in the process of installing a new system that will automate the collection of data relation to stream pollution caused by runoff from coal mines. In the past, this data has been collected manually from handwritten reports submitted by public health assessors who sample streams, then entered manually into the minicomputer housing programs that permit entry, collection, and transmission of data directly to the department’s minicomputer. Personnel in the Data Assembly Unit of the department’s Branch of Environmental Health will no longer enter data manually into the minicomputer, and department officers have not yet decided what duties those personnel will be assigned to, once the new system has been installed. The Chief of the Data Assembly Unit, Herman Wells, is a vocal opponent of the new system. He is well liked and well respected by his staff. Under the new system, Mr. Wells will no longer be responsible for assembling reports on steam pollution related to coal mines, a major part of his job under the old system; instead, these reports will be produced automatically under the new system. Mr. Wells has become embittered about the failure of the department to promote him after his many years of faithful service, and he holds a grudge against his boss and the department’s officers; in fact, he wantes the department to fail in its efforts to control stream pollution so that his arguments about how to effect the control will be justified. The Director, Branch of Environmental Healh, is Homer Farren. Mr. Farren also is concerned about the new system; he fears that the automation will lessen his influence with Mary Rory, Head of the Bureau of Health Planning and Statistics, to whom he reports. Under the new system, Ms. Rory will no longer have to rely on Mr. Farren for compilation and distribution of stream pollution reports. Mr. Rory and other senior officers of the department view the new system as a much-needed improvement that will speed the reporting of stream pollution information and permit more effective action to prevent the pollution. They also see the new system as less expensive in the long run; it will permit eventual reductions in staffing levels and salary expense.
The director of the new information system project is Hank Greenberg. Mr. Greenberg has scheduled a meeting with all members of the Data Assembly Unit, including its chief, in an effort to explain the advantages of the new system and to gain employee buy-in. He fears that they will be strong resistance to the change brought about the new system, and he is especially concerned about the influence that the unit’s chief, Herman Wells, will have on the opinions of other members of the unit.