Resistance Of Change Within The Workplace

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.

How bold are the employees in expressing their emotions. Few are bold enough to directly oppose the change may be verbally, physically or by their behavior. These are the ones who have no fear of losing their jobs. They are aggressive and active employees. On the other hand we have the silent movers who being aggressive are passive, although they have a strong grudge against change, they do not revolt openly. But it is seen in their behavior as employees may become lazy, tell lies, avoid work, lose the spirit of work, reduce involvement, etc. For example an organization has undergone change and an employee who is a covert resistor shall not be happy in helping the new team leader. He shall try to misguide him, give wrong dates, tell

The resistance from employees and managers is normal and can be addressed. Persistent resistance, however, can threaten a project. The change management team needs to identify understand and help their leaders manage resistance throughout the organization. Resistance manage is the process and tools used by managers and executives with the support of the change

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

People tend to oppose change, despite that the change is beneficial and will result in improvements for those affected. Staff resistance to change creates hindrances for those in managerial positions. Resistance to change is inevitable. Management must respond to it in an adept manner so it does not accelerate further into a severe problem. To effectively manage resistance to change, a manager must understand why the employee‘s initial reaction was to reject the proposal before it accelerates further and causes subpar job performance (Baker, 1989). Often time when a staff resists change, he or she is resisting coercion rather than change itself. Providing information is the most powerful approach a manager can take to assuage anxiety related to change. A manager can alleviate any fear of change by answering questions, acknowledging

Leaders within a business need to be cognizant of the signs of change resistance and develop strategies to overcome them. Individuals are averse to change for four reasons: fear of loss of value, lack of understanding regarding the modification, belief change is not warranted, and an intolerance for change (Kotter, & Schlesinger, 2008). Comprehending and addressing these concerns are crucial steps between success or failure.

The organization must implement specific strategies to identify and resolve resistance to change. O Connor (1993) stated "In an organization, resistance is opposition or witholding of support for specific plans or ideas. It can either be intentional or unintentional, covert or overt" (p. 30). Employees will likely consider how change affects them personally and that may naturally cause some resistance. One of the most important things an organization can do to minimize resistance is to address these personal concerns. It is also important to identify any potential loss or gain that comes from implementing, or not implementing, the change initiative. Leaders

The strategy to handle this resistance is to prepare employees for the changes forthcoming; managers should have an expectation of resistance to change. Engagement of the best-qualified change management team is vital to successfully address concerns. Knowing the primary concerns, change management teams have the tools to present a compelling case why change is needed (Prosci, n.d).

One of the biggest obstacles is resistance to change. People resist change because change disrupts habits, conflicts with certain personality types, cause a fear of failure, can have potentially negative impacts, can result in a potential for loss of power, and, when done too frequently, can exhaust employees. There may be key people who publicly support the change effort while silently undermining the planned changes. It is the management’s job to identify, understand, and remove these obstacles. (Kotter J. P.

Section 1: Introduction. It has been said that resistance to change can paralyze an organization. My paper will examine the reasons organizations resist change, and present one strategy an organization should consider to reduce the organization's resistance to change. The resources for this paper will come from Chapters 6 and 10 of the textbook.

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

In these instances, change is seen as evil and not "healthy". Change is not looked on as a positive opportunity and thus is rejected by the individuals in a company, which may result in incohesiveness within the organization and eventual collapse. Personal instances of resistance like those stated above often hold companies back because of their conservative views as they often result from lack of individual confidence in oneself to be creative. Stemming from personal instances of resistances is the occurrence of group resistance to change. Sources of group resistance to change include: Conformity to Norms (Inertia), Vested Interests, Sacrosanct, Rejection of Outsiders, Overdetermination, and threatened power. Vested Interests is probably the most interesting source of resistance because how can interest in being the best be a resistance? Vested Interests can be a resistance because it often promotes conformity to norms, as workers are less likely to contribute their ideas to the advancement of innovation and as a result the company suffers as past new ideas become old, and new ideas are needed to survive in the ubercompetitive business world today. Rejection of Outsiders can be looked on as positive or negative, but more negatively, thus placing it as a resistance to change. Rejection of Outsiders might cause more cohesion within a group to rely on each

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

One of the most difficult tasks for managers is to manage their employee’s resistance to changes within the organization. It is clear that change is an unavoidable element found in all organizations and one of the main reasons of stress for employees. This is why some employees experience difficulties coping and adapting to it.

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: