The Kübler-Ross change curve, also called the grief curve, is a model of the emotional stages people go through when they face a loss or a major change: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. First described by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in 1969, it is now widely used by managers to understand and reduce resistance to change at work.
Key takeaways
- The grief curve comes from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's 1969 book On Death and Dying, which described five stages observed in terminally ill patients.
- The five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. They are not strictly linear: people can skip, repeat or revisit stages.
- Applied to organisations, the Kübler-Ross change curve helps managers anticipate how employees react to a restructuring, a new manager or a new software rollout.
- Each stage calls for a different management response: inform, listen, involve, support, then celebrate.
- In a software rollout, in-app guidance and usage data help teams move from the bottom of the curve to acceptance faster.
What is the grief curve?
Change is becoming the norm in businesses, and employees often waver between enthusiasm and reluctance. Some fall into denial and reject any evolution. Others become angry and rail against the disruption. To make sense of these reactions, many managers turn to a concept from psychology: the grief curve.
A model born in psychiatry
The grief curve was described in 1969 by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying. Working with terminally ill patients, she identified five emotional stages that people commonly go through when confronted with their own death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The model was later extended to the experience of bereavement, which is why it is also known as the "stages of grief", the "curve of grief" or the "mourning curve".
The model is often drawn as a curve because morale and energy first drop (denial, anger, depression) before rising again towards acceptance. The lowest point of the curve is the moment of greatest vulnerability, and also the turning point.
Why change at work is a form of "grief"
Employees can go through similar phases when their company changes significantly. A restructuring, an acquisition, a merger, the arrival of a new manager or the replacement of a familiar tool disrupts their sense of stability and their routines. What they lose is not a person but something familiar and reassuring: a way of working, an expertise, a status, a team. Some refuse to admit the reality of the situation; others express frustration or sadness. These are natural reactions, and they explain the varying degrees of resistance to change observed in every transformation project.
From grief curve to Kübler-Ross change curve
Over the following decades, organisational development consultants and change managers adapted the grief curve to the workplace. The result is usually called the Kübler-Ross change curve (or simply the change curve, the transition curve or the emotional change curve). It maps how individuals react over time when a change is announced and implemented.
Several workplace versions exist. Some keep the original five stages; others add an initial "shock" stage and replace the final stages with "experimentation", "decision" and "integration", to reflect the fact that employees must not only accept a change but also learn new ways of working. Whatever the variant, the logic is the same: the dip in morale and productivity is normal, and the job of leadership is to make it shallower and shorter.
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation uses the name "Kübler-Ross Change Curve®" for this application of her work to organisational change.
The 5 stages of the Kübler-Ross change curve
1. Denial
In the first stage, the person refuses to admit the reality of the change because it seems too destabilising to accept. Employees filter out information that contradicts their view of the situation and minimise the importance of the announcement: "it will never happen", "this project will be dropped like the last one". Denial is a self-protection mechanism. In a company, however, it delays preparation and can hinder implementation if it lasts too long.
2. Anger
Once denial subsides, anger sets in. The employee realises that the change is inevitable, which causes frustration and resentment. Dissatisfaction is voiced to colleagues and management, sometimes through sharp remarks, open criticism of the project or, in extreme cases, resignations. Anger releases the tension generated by a change that feels imposed. If it is not heard and channelled, it can spread across the team.
3. Bargaining
Bargaining is the stage most often forgotten in workplace adaptations, yet it is very visible in practice. Employees try to negotiate, delay or limit the change: "can we keep the old tool for this process?", "can my team start later?", "can we keep our spreadsheet alongside the new system?". Bargaining is a sign that people are starting to engage with the change, even if they are still looking for a way around it.
4. Depression
The employee now fully realises the impact of the change on their daily work and what they will lose. Motivation drops, pessimism about the future increases and productivity falls. This is the bottom of the curve. Without support, the employee can disengage or become isolated from the team. With the right support, this is also the moment when people become open to learning.
5. Acceptance
Acceptance marks the turning point: the individual stops fighting the change and starts to work with it. They participate more constructively in meetings, help colleagues and make the effort to learn new methods and tools. Some versions add a further "serenity" or rebuilding phase: once acceptance is consolidated, employees regain confidence in the company and their future in it, and are once again willing to invest in upcoming projects. Many workplace versions of the change curve call this phase "integration".
These stages are not linear. An employee can move back from acceptance to anger when a new difficulty appears, and two members of the same team can be at very different points of the curve at the same time.
Stage by stage: employee reactions and what managers should do
The main value of the Kübler-Ross change curve for managers is that it links each emotional stage to a specific type of support. The table below summarises the most common reactions and the actions that help at each stage.
| Stage | Typical employee reaction | What managers should do |
|---|---|---|
| Denial | "It won't happen", "it doesn't concern me", little interest in information sessions. | Communicate early and repeatedly: why the change is needed, what will change, when. Give concrete facts and dates. |
| Anger | Criticism of the project or of management, frustration, rumours, tension within the team. | Listen without judging. Organise listening sessions, acknowledge concerns and answer them honestly. |
| Bargaining | Requests for exceptions, delays, workarounds, keeping old tools "just in case". | Be clear about what is negotiable and what is not. Involve employees in the parts of the design they can influence. |
| Depression | Low morale, loss of confidence, drop in productivity, fear of not being competent. | Provide training and day-to-day support. Set small, achievable goals and make help easy to find. |
| Acceptance | Experimentation with new methods, constructive questions, mutual help. | Recognise successes, even small ones. Share quick wins and empower internal champions. |
Across all stages, a few principles apply:
- Communicate proactively and transparently on the reasons for the change. Explaining its necessity and its benefits fosters buy-in.
- Organise listening sessions so that employees can express their fears. This defuses underlying resistance.
- Involve employees in the design of the change: they become active participants rather than subjects of the change.
- Offer training to help them acquire the new skills required. This reassures them about their role.
- Recognise successes in the change process to restore confidence.
For more practical methods, see our guide to tools for successful change management.
Applying the change curve to software rollouts
The deployment of a new ERP, CRM, HRIS or collaboration suite is one of the most common situations in which employees go through the Kübler-Ross change curve. The tool they have mastered for years, sometimes with personal shortcuts and spreadsheets, is replaced by an unfamiliar interface. For a while, they feel less competent than before. That is the dip in the curve, and it often coincides with a visible drop in productivity just after go-live.
Typical reactions during a software rollout
- Denial: users ignore the project communication and keep working in the old system until the last day.
- Anger: the new tool is blamed for every problem: "it's slower", "it doesn't work".
- Bargaining: users ask to keep their legacy files or to postpone their migration.
- Depression: after go-live, users feel lost, make mistakes and flood the support desk.
- Acceptance: users discover shortcuts and benefits, and start helping colleagues.
How to shorten the dip
The deepest point of the curve usually comes when users must perform real tasks in the new tool without help at hand. Classroom training delivered weeks before go-live is largely forgotten by then. Support that appears inside the application, at the moment users need it, reduces this feeling of incompetence and helps them reach acceptance faster.
This is the role of a digital adoption platform such as K-NOW: step-by-step guides, contextual tips and answers displayed directly in the business application, so that each user can complete their task while learning. To know where each team stands on the curve, usage data is essential: K-VALUE measures how the application is actually used and highlights the processes or teams that are struggling. You can then target your support where resistance persists. To define the right indicators, read our article on software adoption KPIs.
Limits of the grief curve model
The Kübler-Ross model remains a major reference, but it must be used with care:
- It was not designed for organisations. Kübler-Ross described people facing death. Organisational change follows a different dynamic, and its intensity is usually much lower.
- The stages are not a fixed sequence. Kübler-Ross herself, in On Grief and Grieving (2005, with David Kessler), stressed that the stages are not linear and that not everyone goes through all of them.
- It describes tendencies, not a timetable. People do not all move through the stages in the same order or at the same pace. The curve is best used as a conversation tool to understand reactions, not to predict them.
- It focuses on individuals. It says little about group dynamics, culture or the quality of the change project itself.
Used as a framework rather than a rule, the change curve gives managers a shared vocabulary to recognise denial, anger or discouragement in their teams and to adapt their support. Combined with clear communication, practical training and a structured approach to digital transformation, it helps turn resistance into adoption.
At Knowmore, we support companies in their transformation and change management projects, helping them anticipate reactions, overcome resistance and get teams on board with new tools.
FAQ
What is the Kübler-Ross change curve?
The Kübler-Ross change curve is a model that describes the emotional stages people go through when facing a major change: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. It is adapted from the five stages of grief described by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in 1969 and is used in change management to anticipate employee reactions and adapt support at each stage.
What are the five stages of the Kübler-Ross grief cycle?
The five stages described by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in On Death and Dying (1969) are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, often abbreviated as DABDA. She observed them in terminally ill patients. They do not always occur in this order, some people skip stages, and many people move back and forth between them.
Is the grief curve the same as the change curve?
Yes, broadly. The change curve is the workplace adaptation of the grief curve. It keeps the idea that morale drops before recovering, but some versions rename or add stages, such as shock, experimentation or integration, to reflect the fact that employees must learn new ways of working. Both names refer to Kübler-Ross's original work.
How can managers use the change curve?
Managers can use the change curve to identify where each employee stands and adapt their support. In denial, they inform; in anger, they listen; in bargaining, they clarify what is negotiable; in depression, they train and support; in acceptance, they recognise progress. The aim is to make the dip in morale and productivity shallower and shorter.
Are the stages of grief always in order?
No. Kübler-Ross and David Kessler stated in On Grief and Grieving (2005) that the stages are not a linear sequence. People can experience several stages at once, skip some, or return to an earlier stage when a new difficulty appears. In organisations, two employees in the same team can be at very different points on the curve.
How does the change curve apply to a new software rollout?
During a software rollout, users often deny the change before go-live, blame the tool afterwards, ask for workarounds, then feel lost when performing real tasks. This dip can be reduced with clear communication, training close to go-live, in-app guidance at the moment of need and usage data that shows which teams need extra support.
