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Prof Peter Rosseel: Why change in behaviour is difficult and what you can do about it?

26 July 2023 | Story Kekeletso Takang | Photo Charl Devenish

Prof Phillipe Burger, Prof Peter Rosseel and Prof Liezel Massyn — Prof Philippe Burger, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, together with Prof Peter Rosseel and Prof Liezel Massyn, Head of the Business School, at the recent guest lecture hosted by the UFS Business School.

The business world today is confronted with continuous disruptions and uncertainty. Organisations are challenged to think about digitalisation, innovation, and transformation to remain competitive. Leaders must be able to take everyone with them on a journey of continuous change.

This is according to Prof Peter Rosseel, Director of MCR Consulting (a spin-off of the University of Leuven in Belgium) and Affiliated Professor at the University of the Free State (UFS), who gave the lecture in the UFS Business School. The title of the lecture was The Golden Triangle of Vision-Leadership-Culture: why changing behaviour is so difficult and what you can do about it? and it was aimed at challenging leaders to deal with disruptions and uncertainty, the lecture equipped attendees with the skills to do so.

Prof Rosseel challenged attendees to stretch their thinking. “Change management is not a human resource function, it is a leadership concern. Leaders who want to see a change in behaviour should create conceptual conflict.”

Conceptual conflict

Laughter was coupled with moments of silence as Prof Rosseel, a visiting professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium, took attendees on a roller-coaster ride. He alluded to five examples of conceptual conflict, statements that shook the room.

Team building doesn’t work, it is a waste of money.
Stop giving presentations, people only remember 4% of what was presented.
Take the word ‘consensus’ out of your vocabulary.
You can measure all you want; it won’t change behaviour.
Training as a strategy to change an organisation is a very bad idea.

He believes that conceptual conflict is important for the development of the culture of an organisation.

In addition to creating conceptual conflict, leaders should negotiate with their teams. “There are three ways to go about this; inform, engage/empower, and observe the change in behaviour. People want to be informed on time, people want control, and people want to know why. Meet these terms and you are well on your way to observing the change in behaviour. People can agree to change even if they don’t support it, as long as they believe it is fair.”

An attendee posed a question to Prof Rosseel: “In South Africa, we have trade unions, and this leads to a consensus approach to decision-making. How do we do away with consensus in decision-making?” Prof Rosseel responded by saing: “That’s the context within which you operate. You can’t change the context. Play the politics but never compromise the strategy implementation.”

The golden triangle of ‘vision – leadership – culture’ provides a framework within which organisations can operate. Vision is the content, while leadership facilitates the change in behaviour, and culture is created through strategy implementation and cognitive dissonance.

About the speaker

Prof Rosseel’s field of expertise covers strategy implementation, change management, cultural and digital transformation, leadership, and learning. He travels the world to help leadership teams and their organisations to change (80% of his time).

He also teaches change management, and digital and organisational culture transformation to first- and second-year students in the Master of Biomedical Sciences, third-year Bachelor of Criminology students, and third-year Bachelor of Psychological and Educational Sciences students. In 2024, he will also teach a postgraduate course to engineers on the same subject matter. In South Africa, he teaches in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (20% of his time).

Read up on more programmes offered by the UFS Business School here.

News Archive

And the Best Managed Residence is…

2014-10-27

As examinations draw near and the end of the year is around the corner, residences want to know who the best of the best is.

During the 2014 Residence Awards on 22 October, the UFS announced their best managed residences of the year at the Bloemfontein Campus.

Wag-’n-Bietjie walked away with the spoils of the evening, winning both best managed female residence, and best managed residence overall. Armentum claimed the title of best managed male residence, while Sonnedou was named as the best managed day residence.

Further results for overall best managed residences and other categories are as follows:

Best Managed Residence
Male Residences:

Armentum
JBM Hertzog
Karee

Female Residences:

Wag-‘n-Bietjie
Roosmaryn
Soetdoring

Day Residences:

Sonnedou
Imperium
Marjolein

Overall Ranking:

Wag-‘n-Bietjie
Armentum
Roosmaryn

College

South College (Armentum, Emily Hobhouse, Marjolein, NJ vd Merwe, Villa Bravado)
East College (Arista, JBM Hertzog, Kayalami, Roosmaryn, Legatum, Sonnedou)
and North College (Madelief, Tswelopele, Vergeet-my-Nie, Veritas, Welwitschia)
Central College (Akasia, Kagiso, Karee, Soetdoring, Wag-‘n-Bietjie)
and West College (Abraham Fischer, Conlaurês, Imperium, Kestell, Outiniqua)

Environmental Affairs
Male Residences:     JBM Hertzog
Female Residences: Wag-‘n-Bietjie
Day Residences:        Sonnedou
Overall Winner:           Sonnedou

Diversity
Male Residences:                               JBM Hertzog
Female Residences:                          Akasia
Day Residences:                                Arista
Best Improved Male Residence:         Villa Bravado
Best Improved Female Residence:    Kestell
Overall winner:                                    Akasia

Executive Portfolios
Male Residences:                               Tswelopele
Female Residences:                          Wag-‘n-Bietjie
Day Residences:                                Imperium
Best Improved Male Residence:         Tswelopele
Best Improved Female Residence:    Marjolein
Overall Winner:                                   Imperium

Academics
Male Residences:                               Outeniqua
Female Residences:                          Wag-‘n-Bietjie
Day Residences:                                Imperium
Best Improved Male Residence:         Imperium
Best Improved Female Residence:    Marjolein
Overall Winner:                                   Wag-‘n-Bietjie

Finance
Male Residences:                               Armentum
Female Residences:                          Roosmaryn
Day Residences:                                Imperium
Best Improved Male Residence:         Villa Bravado
Best Improved Female Residence:    Kestell
Overall Winner:                                   Armentum

Culture
Male Residences:                               Abraham Fischer
Female Residences:                          Wag-‘n-Bietjie
Day Residences:                                Sonnedou
Best Improved Male Residence:         Armentum
Best Improved Female Residence:    Akasia
Overall Winner:                                   Wag-‘n-Bietjie

Sport
Male Campus and Day Residences:           Armentum
Female Campus and Day Residences:      Wag-‘n-Bietjie
Best Male RC Sport:                           Armentum
Best Female RC Sport:                      Sonnedou

First-Years
Male Residences:                                                       Armentum
Female Residences:                                                  Welwitschia
Day Residences:                                                        Sonnedou
Best Improved Male and Female Residence:            ConLaurês and Outeniqua
Overall Winner:                                                           Armentum

Prime
Male Residences:                               Tswelopele
Female Residences:                          Wag-‘n-Bietjie
Day Residences:                                Arista
Best Improved Male Residence:         Tswelopele
Best Improved Female Residence:    Arista
Overall Winner:                                   Tswelopele

Social
Overall Winner: Karee
Best Improved Residence: Kestell

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