The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe explores the theme of change and the difficulties of adaptation that come with it. The protagonist, Okonkwo, experiences two different phases of change. The first phase is his exile to his wife’s village for seven years. This change involves moving to a new place, where he loses his power and has to learn the rules and norms of the new village. Okonkwo copes well with this change because he knows the reasons, potential results, and the length of his stay in the new place. Knowing the framework of the change helps him to adapt.
The second phase of change is returning home to his village and realizing that everything has changed. Okonkwo does not understand the reasons behind the change and struggles to adapt because his traditional view of the world does not allow him to comprehend the new system. This situation is similar to organizational change, where resistance often occurs when people do not understand the need for change and are not part of the decision-making process.
The movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” provides another example of the difficulties of organizational change. The employees of Life magazine resist the change to online publication because they were not part of the decision-making process and did not understand the need for change.
In conclusion, effective change can only occur when the affected people understand the rationale, future results, and length of the change. They should be part of the change or become the part that is changed.
He has to adapt to the new conditions by accepting the situation, and he is good at coping with the challenges of the new village. He knows the reasons, potential results and the length of stay in his new place, and knowing the framework of change helps him to adapt. When the future and the reasons for the change are clear for somebody, it is easier to show adaptive behavior. This story interesting if taken from some parts of the story, how to find someone to adapt will be a change and accept it