RESILIENCE RESEARCH –

THE IBT TELEPHONE

PROJECT
LO’S

• 1. Understand and increase awareness of developing personal resilience and be able to

enhance resilience in others (Knowledge & Understanding).
• 2. Understand and be able to apply thinking styles that enhance well-being and
performance (Application).
• 4. Reflect on personal strengths and weaknesses and develop and appropriate career
development plan (Organisational Agility, Personal Ambition).
ABOUT THE • "Salvatore R. Maddi obtained his doctorate in clinical psychology from
Harvard University in 1960. He began developing the resilience and hardiness

AUTHORS OF approach in 1975, and founded the Hardiness Institute in 1984. The author of
nearly 100 papers, he is internationally recognized as a leader in psychology,
OUR KEY and continues to win prestigious awards for his hardiness-based consulting
and research work. An international survey in 1986 named him among the top
TEXTS – 175 psychologists in the world.

ORIGINALLY • Deborah M. Khoshaba has been a professional psychologist for the past
fifteen years and is director of Program Development and Training at the
PUBLISHED Hardiness Institute. Deborah teaches graduate students in psychology at
Pepperdine University, and lectures for psychology undergraduates at the
IN 1950! University of California, at Irvine. Her professional activities and published
works include the areas of resilience, coping, and human potential.
Organizations the authors have consulted to include Kawasaki, the University
of Southern California, Illinois Bell Telephone, and Baxter HealthCare
Corporation.They have appeared on CNN and in the New York Times, Los
Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. Both authors live in Laguna Beach,
California
THE ILLINOIS BELL
TELEPHONE PROJECT
Hypothesis: “whether stressful changes
enliven or destroy depends upon how
one responds to them.”
• They evaluated roughly 450 male
and female supervisors, managers,
and decision makers at IBT, through
yearly interviews, psychological
tests, medical examinations, and
work-performance reviews.
THE ILLINOIS • In 1981, six years into the study, the U.S. Federal Court ordered

BELL • the earth-shattering deregulation of the ‘‘Ma Bell’’ government

monopoly.
TELEPHONE
PROJECT • Deregulation changes dismantled IBT’s long-standing policies and
• work norms in ways that greatly disrupted employees’ functioning.

• Managers sometimes had as many as ten new supervisors within a

• twelve-month period. Neither they nor their supervisors had any
• real grasp of what was happening.
 By the end of 1982, IBT had downsized from 26,000 to
THE ILLINOIS BELL 14,000
TELEPHONE
employees. Some still regard the deregulation of AT&T as
PROJECT the largest upheaval in corporate history
 “During this time, most IBT employees endured massive
levels
of stressful, disrupting changes. Close to half of the
employees in
THE ILLINOIS BELL
our sample lost their jobs. Two-thirds of our sample broke
TELEPHONE down
PROJECT in various ways. Some had heart attacks or suffered
depressive and
anxiety disorders. Others abused alcohol and drugs, were
separated
and divorced, or acted out violently.”
HOW WOULD YOU DEAL WITH THIS
SITUATION?

WHAT FACTORS ARE THERE

AFFECTING HOW EMPLOYEES FEEL?

WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN HANDLING IT WELL OR
POORLY?
PROTECTIVE FACTORS

• What factors might protect against stress?

E.g. where you live, the weather, how you feel about
yourself, etc.
THE ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE
PROJECT

“One third were resilient and thrived.

Three key attitudes of commitment,
control, and challenge came up
repeatedly in the resilient group. We
began to call them the 3Cs. These
three attitudes combined to form a
mindset of courage in the resilient
employees. Through this, they could
face the stressful changes and do the
hard work of coping effectively with
them.”
THE ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE PROJECT

- Evidence from the research suggests

that there are three attitudes which
resilient people demonstrate
- Understanding, analyzing, and
critiquing this will be a core part of
the course
THE ATTITUDES OF 3 CS

1. COMMITMENT. When you are strong in the

commitment attitude,
you view your work as important and worthwhile
enough to
warrant your full attention, imagination, and effort.

You stay involved with the events and people

around you even when the going gets rough, and
you sidestep unproductive alienating social
behaviors, seeing withdrawal from stressful
circumstances as weak.
2. CONTROL. When you are strong in the control attitude, you
keep trying to positively influence the outcomes of the changes
going on around you. Rather than let yourself sink into passivity
and powerlessness, you do your best to find solutions to workday
problems. In deciding where to apply your efforts, you determine
which situational features are open to change and gracefully accept
those outside of your control.
• 3. CHALLENGE. When you are strong in the
challenge attitude,
you see change as instrumental in opening up new, fulfilling
pathways for living.You face up to stressful changes, try to
understand them, learn from them, and solve them.You
embrace life’s challenges, not deny and avoid them. This
expresses your optimism toward the future rather than
your fear of it.
SELF-EVALUATION

Think about the three Cs

- Which is your strongest?
- Which is your weakest?
- Which do you want to improve and why?
TWO VITAL SKILLS

• The courage and motivation of the three resilient attitudes bring about the skills of
transformational coping and social support
• The resilient IBT employees transformed stressful changes to their advantage. First, they entered into a
thought process that placed the changes into a broader perspective, taking the sting out of them, so to
speak.

• A common way they broadened their perspective was to see a particular stress as happening to lots of
other people. This made them feel less alone in their pain and struggle. As the broader perspectives
made the stressful circumstances a bit more tolerable, they could then think about them long enough
to deepen their understanding of them, which led to well-considered, innovative plans and problem
solving actions.

• This is a classic hands-on approach—get a firm grip on change and what it really means, then turn the
situation to your advantage—as opposed to breaking down or acting precipitously in the face of
change.
• In handling stressful changes in this direct manner, the resilient employees interacted by
engaging others rather than by alienating them.

• They also attempted to resolve interpersonal work conflicts by interacting constructively,

assisting and encouraging win-win solutions for all. They believed that problems are
opportunities to strengthen relationships. Moreover, no matter how difficult things got,
they sought to preserve relationship bridges because it was worthwhile and important to
their growth.
Think of your own work.

When can these three resilient attitudes bring about the

skills of transformational coping and social support?

- Constructive relationship building

- Not avoiding difficult situations
Having a ‘challenge’ mindset
- Encouraging win-win outcomes

Chuck was a stand-out
member of the IBT study
LOOKING AT AN
EXAMPLE OF A This small, neat man in his
mid-fifties introduced himself
as someone who enjoys
RESILIENT solving problems
MANAGER
He seemed to thrive on
changes that made the most
of his talents and capabilities.
Although an engineer by
trade, Chuck became an IBT
customer relations manager
His eyes lit up as he
described customers’ needs,
investigating and mending
customer disputes, and
working out company service
capabilities and obligations.
Chuck clearly anticipated the
deregulation’s more stressful
aspects, but saw it as a
stimulus to his and the
company’s growth.
Chuck said he experienced customer relations
work as more challenging than before, although
still manageable

He astutely grasped customer concerns and

problems arising from such changes

for example, customers had more places to take

their business. Chuck knew that these customer
concerns would emphasize his job position,
making his role more central within the company.
 Rather than panicking about the
deregulation and seeing it as a threat
While many employees around him
to IBT’s business, he put it into
bemoaned the deregulation, and tried
perspective and saw it as a natural
hard to hang on to the good-old days,
evolution of the telecommunications
Chuck looked to the future
industry that could, in the end, work
to everyone’s advantage.
 Chuck realized what
was immediately he set up an action plan
important to him was that surveyed existing
ensuring the satisfaction clients, to find out what
Chuck took his overall
of IBT’s customers with they valued about their
plan to his supervisors
the services they were telephone services and
receiving, so that they what they wanted but
would not switch to a did not have
competitor company.
Chuck would not take ‘‘no’’ for an answer and persisted until his supervisors finally
accepted that they needed to try to keep their customers happy, even though they
were not happy themselves.

Finally, they adopted his plan, put him in charge of implementing it, and allocated the
necessary resources to him.
RESILIENCE AT HOME

Chuck also responsively attended to his family’s needs, despite his strong commitment to
work.

His two children were just about to enter college. When they moved out of the
family home, Chuck’s wife planned to return to school to finish a college degree she
had long ago interrupted.

Although this change inconvenienced him, he supported his wife’s personal

development.
CHUCK’S “I enjoy a genuine life, full of challenges, meaning, and
purpose, and look forward to more of it,’’ he stated.
OVERALL
ATTITUDE Chuck rarely got ill, and although he was tired at the end
of the day, he was content.
READING – (OPEN ON G DRIVE)

• Psychological Resilience A Review and Critique of Definitions, Concepts, and Theory

David Fletcher and Mustafa Sarkar
• Highlight passages you find interesting or useful
• Be prepared to present at least 1 passage to the class and why you’ve highlighted it
• Remember to keep these, they can be used for your assignment
READING PASSAGES – PAGE 12

Human beings typically encounter a variety of difficulties and challenges during the course
of their lives, ranging from daily hassles to major life events.

Some individuals become overwhelmed by everyday hassles (DeLongis, Coyne, Dakof,

Folkman, & Lazarus, 1982) whereas others react positively to the most testing of
experiences (Bonanno, 2004).
READING PASSAGES – PAGE 13
WHICH DEFINITION DO YOU PREFER?
• ‘‘Protective factors which modify, ameliorate or alter a person’s response to some
environmental hazard that predisposes to a maladaptive outcome’’ (Rutter, 1987, p. 316).

• ‘‘The personal qualities that enables one to thrive in the face of adversity’’ (Connor &
Davidson, 2003, p. 76).

• ‘‘The capacity of individuals to cope successfully with significant change, adversity or risk’’
(Lee & Cranford, 2008, p. 213).
READING PASSAGES – PAGE 17

The majority of theories incorporate the notion that resilience is a dynamic process
that changes over time. Furthermore, most researchers acknowledge that, within the
process itself, the interaction of a wide range of factors determines whether an individual
demonstrates resilience.
READING PASSAGES – PAGE 17

One of the main contributions of Richardson (2002) and colleagues (1990) is the
presentation of their resiliency model. In the model, the resilience process begins with a state
of biopsychospiritual homeostasis, or a comfort zone, where a person is in balance
physically, mentally, and spiritually. Disruption from this homeostatic state occurs if an
individual has insufficient resources (i.e., protective factors) to buffer him or her against
stressors, adversities, or life events.
Summary: Resilience is about dealing with being out of your comfort zone.
A STRESS VACCINE?

• Where possible, it is crucial that individuals’ immediate

environment is carefully managed to optimize the adversities
they encounter in their lives. Traditionally, there has been a
tendency to assume that negative life circumstances impede
positive adaptation.
A STRESS VACCINE? (P20)

• Seery, Holman, and Silver (2010) recently found that people

with a history of some lifetime adversity reported better
mental health and well-being outcomes than people with no
history of adversity (see also Neff & Broady, 2011; Seery, 2011).
A STRESS VACCINE?
(P20)
• Indeed, drawing from theories of
stress inoculation (Meichenbaum,
1985), it has been suggested that
exposure to adversity in
moderation can mobilize previously
untapped resources, help engage
social support networks, and create
a sense of mastery for future
adversities.
USING A
REFLECTIVE
APPROACH IN
TRAINING
RESILIENCE
FROM KENT UNIVERSITY
– REFLECTIVE LEARNING

• “PDP is based on the theory of reflective

learning, which emphasises that learning
derives from our experiences and can be
constantly updated through the process of
recording and thinking about the experiences
we have. A very important aspect of
reflective learning is that it is a process in
which we can learn about ourselves. Gibbs’
reflective cycle identifies 6 stages of
reflection which help students to make sense
of their learning experiences.”
 We all reflect naturally from time to time on things
that happen to us. PDP makes this process more
formal. Often students are required to write their
reflections in the form of a blog or reflective report.
This encourages a habit in students which is deemed
HOW CAN I to be useful in becoming a more reflective learner.

IMPROVE MY
REFLECTIVE
LEARNING A useful starting point for reflection is to identify a
‘critical incident’ (Brookfield 1987) this doesn’t have
CAPACITY? to be a dramatic event it merely has to have
triggered a series of thoughts which result in the
student learning something new about themselves.
 Record Record your development

Know Know your strengths and weaknesses

Understand Understand how you learn

WHAT ARE THE

Develop
BENEFITS OF
Develop self-awareness

REFLECTIVE Plan Plan your own development

LEARNING? Learn about Learn about yourself

Articulate Articulate your skills/learning to others

Learn Learn from your mistakes

REFERENCES

• Khoshaba, D.M. & Maddi, S.R. (2005) Resilience at work: How to succeed no matter what life throws at
you. New York: Amacom
• Khoshaba, D. M., & Maddi, S. R. (1999). Early experiences in hardiness development. Consult Psychol J, 51,
106–116.
• Kobasa, S. C. (1979). Stressful life events, personality and health: An inquiry into hardiness. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1–11
• Maddi, S. R. (2002). The story of hardiness: twenty years of theorizing, research, and practice. Consult
Psychol J 54:173–185. Maddi, S. R. (2004). Hardiness: An operationalization of existential courage. J
Humanist Psychol, 44, 279–298.
• Maddi, S. R. (2005). On hardiness and other pathways to resilience. Am Psychol, 60, 261–262.
SOME OTHER RELATED WORKS

• Maddi, S. R., & Kobasa, S. C. (1984). The hardy executive: health under stress. Homewood, IL:
Dow Jones-Irwin. (One chapter reprinted in A. Monat & R. S. Lazarus (Eds.), Stress and coping:
An anthology (2nd and 3rd Eds.). New York: Columbia University Press).
• Maddi, S. R. (2006). Hardiness: The courage to grow from stresses. The Journal of Positive
Psychology, 1(3), 160-168).
• Maddi, S. R., Harvey, R., Khoshaba, D. M., Lu, J., Persico, M. & Brow, M. (2006). The personality
construct of hardiness, III: Relationships with repression, innovativeness, authoritarianism, and
performance. Journal of Personality, 74, 575-598.
• Maddi, S. R. (2006). Relevance of hardiness assessment and training to the military context.
Military Psychology, 19 (1), in press.
PLANNING YOUR ASSIGNMENT

• Use the PDP booklet, work through it and then…

• Use your SWOT analysis, PEST analysis, value analysis, and Stress/Resilience analysis +
Other theories and worksheets from class
• - > Choose areas that are strong, and areas for development
• -> Justify these based on your analysis
• -> Include quotes from academic sources
• -> Put these into a 2 minute elevator pitch plus longer presentation
AN EXAMPLE PARAGRAPH FOR THE WRITTEN
ASSIGNMENT
• “One of the areas that I need to develop is my ability to tolerate stress. Some individuals get
overwhelmed by everyday stressors (DeLongis, Coyne, Dakof, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1982) and I
consider myself one of these people. As an example, I often find completing an annual report
for my company very stressful.This impacts my sleep, focus, and ability to perform to the
fullest. I believe that I can work on this by practicing relaxation techniques, using protective
factors like my social network, and most importantly, seeing this from the perspective of a
challenge and not trying to avoid it. I know that people can react positively to the most
testing of experiences (Bonanno, 2004), and those who do often see difficult situations as
challenges (Maddi and Khosaba, 2009). If I see these reports from a challenge mindset, they
are likely to have less of an impact on my performance.
AN EXAMPLE REFLECTIVE PARAGRAPH

• One example of when I found that I was not able to manage my time effectively came last year when I was completing a proposal for my
company. I will analyse this using Kolb‘’s ‘what, then what, so what’ reflective framework (2000), as it is a straightforward reflective
framework that will allow me to clearly articulate my thoughts for professional growth (Roe, 2011)

What?
I was tasked with completing a proposal in a short time period, while I had several other tasks that needed to be completed.

So What?
I didn’t manage my time effectively and I tried to complete all of the projects by working on them at the same time. This led to me
getting confused, even though I had good intentions, I didn’t stop and pick the most effective way of dealing with the workload.

Then What?
After reflecting on this experience. I believe that in future it’d be best for me to take a minimum of 30 minutes to plan out how I will
tackle work to short deadlines. I can then choose which task to complete first and which tasks are the highest priority. This can therefore
improve my ability to manage my time and ensure I don’t miss deadlines again, which is important for my professional development and
achieving my career goals.