Managing Organizational Change

Resistance to change is an expected reaction of human nature. We are not accustomed to change, as it is possible to lead to failure; however, there are also ways to manage the resistance within the company.

This article discusses the pros and cons of advocating change within the workplace. It also discusses the reason (s) individuals are said to resist change because of habit and inertia, fear of the unknown, absence of the skills they will need after the change, and fear of losing power. OD approaches to organizational change presents a solid consensus that change and resistance can and should be "managed" by developing a strategy for change and using the OD tool kit of interventions such as training and communication programs, confrontation meetings, stakeholder

Change is difficult. Walking with people through change can be challenging and often draining. Bringing change, that persists is even harder. Most people resist even when they see the need for change and believe that it has to occur (p. 52).

Several instances exist where within an organization; changes take place regardless of the geographical position. These changes often encompass one or more individuals. In any case of a change taking place, people are likely to face abnormalities in their regular actions. A number of internal and external aspects also contribute much to this phenomenon as individuals resist change in their lives. Several instances exist where individuals portray resistance in terms of opposing change to them. This resistance in terms of change occurs because of lower tolerance level to change. This paper would take into account a number of significant aspects related to this resistance as far as change is concerned.

When someone or something suggests making different in form, to transform, and to replace or substitute; I can only think of change. Change is all around us and has become a way of life. Understanding the reasons behind the change, for me is the key to managing change. As I reflect over some of the activities of my quick skills text of managing change. I can now see that it has brought me full circle from understanding change, to reacting to change, developing a positive attitude toward change, to anticipate change, to creating change, and keeping

Personal impact and fear of change are not the only causes of resistance by individuals during a change to business practices. The lack of respect and negative attitudes can also lead to employees resisting business change. If an employee lacks respect or has a negative attitude towards a person or department leading the change, then there are more likely to oppose the new ideas being implemented. Poor communication greatly impacts individuals’ accepted to new practices in a company. Typically if an employee is given new behaviors to adopt, but is given no reason, then that employee may reject the change. Upper management must effectively relate the value, need and benefit of the change to help get employees on board with new changes. The lack of individual input can also lead to resistance. Some individuals feel the need to be included in new ideas. When employees are not asked to be involved in changes, they may lack the vision of importance or will to change. A heavier workload can also cause opposition among employees. Employees may not embrace more systems and requirements needed

Hence, in today’s global and dynamic environment marked with hyper-competitive and volatile markets it is widely recognised that an organisation’s ability to manage change quickly, productively and positively is a critical driver of organisational success (Cope, 2009; Gilley, Gilley, & McMillan, 2009; Gilley, Godek & Gilley, 2009; Turner-Parish, Cadwallader &Busch, 2008; Appelbaum, Claude, Nadia & George, 1997). However, despite the overall agreement that change is

According to Palmer, Dunford, and Akin (2009) there are six different approaches to managing resistance to change which are, situational, let nature take its course, thought self-leadership, creative counters, tinkering, kludging, and pacing approach, and finally the power of resistance approach. While all of these different methods or approaches for dealing with change have positives and negatives, some are better than others. For example, Kotter and Schlesinger’s situational method is great in that it recognizes some situations need to be treated differently than others. However, they suggest that manipulation could be used and while they explain the dangers of this approach, its application is very limited and the rewards don’t outweigh the risks.

Individuals need to commit to change to make it happen. Unrecognizing that is a big common mistake of leaders. For top managers change is often seen as opportunity to strengthen the business while for middle managers and employees it is disruptive and means upsetting the balance. That is why it is important to have good judgment about the gap between leaders and follower and act accordingly by having alignment between the organization statement and the implementations& behaviors of its management, to insure credibility. Otherwise a lack of credibility would lead to conflicts and commitment problems that sabotage the implementation process to successful change. Methods and approaches to prevent change blocking/ resistance will result to make change happens and that is to be considered as ways to overcome or manage resistance. It is important that employee´s understand changing drivers for the success of preventing blocking otherwise only one option will be left to make the change through; it is to block or get these employee´s out of the process by firing them or changing their position.

To identify the key elements of the resistanceto change described in this situation, one may make use of the six Change Approaches of Kotter and Schlesinger.[1]The model prevents, minimizes or descreases resistance to change in organizations. According to Kotter and Schlesinger (1979), there are four reasons that why people resist change, three of which are applicable to this case:

Organizational change initiatives trigger anxiety and even fear and panic across an organization’s hierarchy, especially in such a volatile business environment (e.g. 2008’s global economic crisis, the stock market’s fluctuations).

I scored average (13 out of 20) on “understanding change,” “managing resistance to change,” and “implementing change” (“How Good Are Your,” n.d.). A specific behavioral change I need to work on is resistance to change. This will be the most difficult area for me to address. Some reasons for resisting change are uncertainty, distrust of leadership, threat to one’s self-interest, and fear of being manipulated (Lussier & Achua, 2016, p.414). Changes in my job position have always meant taking on more work and responsibility without additional staff hired, promotions, or raises. In order to be successful in a role as an I/O professional, I will need to manage this difficult area so that I can successfully guide others in the change management process.

When considering these factors for resistance to change I see when there’s poor communication this starts with individuals that make the key decisions in the organization. It is their required duty to keep all individuals informed and ensure that all questions and complaints are handled before the changes are effective. Sometimes when a new change spreads through the hierarchy, details are unclear, and employees end up receiving incorrect information, or second-hand information. Poor communication will cause resistance to change.

Dent and Goldberg challenge currently held beliefs about Resistance to Change in organizations, seeking to reestablish its true meaning and thus replace it with a more appropriate mental construct. This was expedient for applicability to change management in organizations. In achieving this, the authors retraced the origins of the concept in the field of organizational behavior, through a systematic literature review.

* Participation, which involves including stakeholders of the change into the change process in order to have them understand and commit to the change.