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Towards Gaining Support for Federal Spectrum Reform

Joel Brockner
JB
Joel Brockner Phillip Hettleman Professor of Business - Graduate School of Business, Columbia University

September 23, 2014

Abstract
Gaining support for federal spectrum reform requires not only the right incentives but also a high quality process for bringing about change. Drawing on the organizational change literature, I describe the driving and restraining forces that comprise a high quality process. The driving forces entail surfacing dissatisfaction with the current state, providing a vision of the future state, and putting plans and resources in place to transition from the dissatisfying current state to the better future state. The restraining forces form the bases of people’s resistance to change; they are the perceived costs of change. Support for federal spectrum reform is more likely to occur when the driving forces outweigh the restraining forces.