Managing Employee Resistance to Change

43-45). Top-down change process provides prescription that has only been developed by top managers and given to lower cadre employees down the ranks to consume without their input. According to Bovey & Hede (2001, p. 540) resistance occurs at the individual level, where employees are motivated by psychological factors to change that include resentment, frustration, low motivation and morale, fear, and feelings of failure. At the same time, earlier publication by Yilmaz & Kilicoglu (2013, pp. 17-18) identified four factors that motivate employees to resist changes in the organisation: employees focusing on self- interests as opposed to those of the organisation, having inadequate understanding of

Some people do not react well to changes and during these times they need updates to the changes and most of all understanding.

Many people may resist change because they fear they will lose their jobs, status or position. It may be because they do not fully understand the purpose of change, or they may have a different perspective on the change than their management. “Individuals, groups, and organizations must be motivated to change. But if people perceive no performance gap or if they consider the gap unimportant, they will not have this motivation. Moreover, they will resist changes that others try to introduce,” Bateman and Zeithaml explained. Many times change for people at work

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.

In this phase, the individual who participates in the awareness program could able to make his/her personal decision to back the change. Desire can be built in an individual by focusing the critical aspect of the consequences which might arise after a change (ADKAR® Model Of Change).

Change is an ongoing and never ending organizational process. Change is often planned because of conflict between the desired and actual state of affairs. Conflict may arise because of difficulties in reaching performance goals or because new goals have been created (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). Making these changes in the workplace is stressful for everyone involved including the staff, the management, and the consumer. The role of the staff is vital for the change process to be smooth and the staff may be resistant to the changes, causing a systematic breakdown. It is the

In today’s society companies are finding that it is more demanding that they make changes in certain departments or in the entire company. May managers are faced with the question, “How do I make successful changes?” Another issue company’s face is the resistance to changes by employees. How can a company reduce the resistance from employees? What role do human

1. James O.Keener at his book (10 Good reasons why people resist change: And practical strategies that win the day) wrote that people in general have 10 different reasons to resist any changes these reasons are

Employees who feel pushed out of their comfort zone may also resist change, due to the unfamiliarity of new implications or managers. The fear of uncertainties due to the lack of communication can also lead to resistance to change on an individual level. If employees are not informed of the needs of the change then the fear of the unknown can cause resistance.

Suggested reasons for resistance include: loss of control, shock of new, uncertainty, inconvenience, threat to status, competence fears. It is important to try to diagnose the cause of employee resistance as this will help determine the focus of effort in trying to reduce/remove the issue.

Bolognese, A. (2002). Employee Resistance to Organizational Change. Retrieved December 2, 2006 from Internet, http://www.newfoundations.com/OrgTheory/

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:

In order to accept the change and contribute to making the change successful, people need to understand how the changes will benefit them. Not everyone will fall in line just because the change is necessary and will benefit the company. This is a common assumption and pitfall that should be avoided.

NASA had a firm hierarchy and this brought about a lot of resistance to change from people. NASA could have gotten more of the people involved in the changes. I find that by getting people involved and having some key people or champions to support the change, there is less resistance. People want to feel involved and a part of decisions, especially if it impacts them directly. When it comes to successful change management, get people involved earlier, which will contribute to greater buy in and acceptance. Keep in mind that this should not be the sole solution for employee resistance; successful change management is about understanding the true nature of the resistance.

Internal thoughts or feelings provide motivation for people to behave in a certain manner (Spector, 2012). In the work environment, attitudes can indicate an employee’s feelings towards coworkers, superiors, and position within the organization or a desire to realize a goal (Rodell, 2013; Spector, 2012). Although attitudes are internal, they can affect how an individual behaves. Therefore, behavior, whether good or bad, is often the way in which an employee responds to his attitude toward his position in the company (Rodell, 2013). There are different viewpoints of motivation. One perspective considers direction, that is, choice of specific behavior, intensity, or amount of