Resistance To Change Analysis

Even though organizational change can be a valid solution to many problems commonly experienced in the current structure of an organization. One of the primary challenges all organizations incur during implementation is change resistance. This would imply that the plan for change should consider issues associated with resistance in order to eliminate or reduce the associated risk factors. An article featured by the Harvard business review by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (2012) identified the most common (10) reasons change is met with resistance:

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.

The most dramatic example of resistance to change that I have encountered has been the change to an electronic medication administration record (MAR) and electronic treatment administration record (TAR). In response to some major systems issues with the paper MAR/TAR system, the corporate team for our skilled nursing facility (SNF) decided that our facility would transition to an eMAR/eTAR system. However, this was not communicated to the facility until the Monday prior to the anticipated Friday rollout. The facility was also in our survey window and State was expected any day. Understandably, staff was unhappy and even angry, mostly of the unknown and how it would impact their workflow.

Change is inevitable within every organization. The amount of change could be small or it could be large. However big the change, resistance can be minimal or massive. The organization should look inwards toward the potential obstacles to that change. These obstacles may include resistance to two sources: individuals and the organizational structure. Both sources need careful consideration and planning. Haphazard change can be disastrous to an organization. Planned changed is always the best course.

Change is part of every organization and is required in order to compete with today’s competitive business environment. Acceptance, implementation of a change can be challenging and painful process. Change within an organization can cause tense situation which can be disturbing to the employees. Under such circumstances, employees have low morale, and demonstrate resistance to change. Change can fail, not because it’s worth failure but because how well that change is accepted by the people who are most affected by it. Resistance is anything that slows and stops the movement from happening. In business terminology, a resistance can be defined as a dysfunctional behavior triggered by an emotional or belief

For many years, the world of business has experienced an increasing rate of change. Alvin Toffler (1970) predicted the trend several decades ago. Toffler also noted that people exhibit a natural tendency to resist change. This resistance to change is a major organizational challenge that organizations must learn to manage. As individuals respond to change in different ways, and as variations in responses produce different outcomes the recognition of this resistance to change is an essential step in the development and implementation of effective change management strategies. Change, positive or negative, is unsettling because people seek stability. Certain individuals are more resistant to change than

In today’s world changes are relevant because of multiple factors forcing organizations to change faster than ever before. Factors both internal and external include; increased competition, globalization, technological changes, financial upheaval, political uncertainty, and changing workforce demographics. Resistance is an inevitable response to any major change. If management does not understand, accept and make an effort to work with resistance it can undermine the best intentional change efforts.

Organizational changes are changes that are made in the overall framework of a company, such as restructuring in departments, changes in policies, or changes in culture.  It directly affects all departments, from the entry level employee to management. Any business in today 's fast-moving environment that is looking for the pace of change to slow is likely to be sorely disappointed. In fact, businesses should embrace change. Change is important for any organization because, without change, businesses would

Businesses are driven by market diversity. Such variety, allows businesses to adapt and make changes in order to compete. Stakeholder can predict an increase in revenue due to the growing needs of a diverse market. However, a business plan that warrants an organizational change which aims to compete in the changing market demands can only be successful if and when it is executed with full cooperation from the overall organization. Hence, resistance to change must be eradicate, if not minimized. Realistically, change is constant but some changes are uncomfortable (Bridges, 2000). For this reason some employees tend to resist change. According to (Haslam et al., 2004) majority of business organizations performs poorly in executing large- scale changes because of the resistance within the organisation. In a study of 288 companies by Tim Creasy as cited in (Haslam et al., 2004) found out that resistance to change in all levels of the organization is prevalent which is an indication the resisting to change is a natural response.

Nevertheless, individuals are afraid of change because they do not know that to expect. When a particular practice has been in place for a long period of time and people have been doing the same thing to get the same results, it’s sometimes hard for individuals to believe that anything else would work for them. Many external factors affecting an organization can be controlled. The following are a few internal factors that might contribute to change within an organization: Managing structure, staff, and the inside décor. External factors may be government regulations, and new innovations. In a world where business is ever changing, people are still resisting change in some aspects.

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.

Change is in our life. In your working life, a new manager can change the way you have worked all of your working life. In your dairy life, just raining can make you change your all day plan. Organisations also cannot escape from change. Organisations are forced to change by both internal factors such as a new person in managerial position, the desire to develop the employees’ performance, and external factors such as technology, globalisation, the desire of clients, and the business competition (Alvesson and Sveningsson, 2008, p. 14, Hodges, 2016, pp. 15-20). An organisation seems to be as a small society where consists of many people in different tasks of jobs and these people are from different background. However, all these people have to work together and they are important mechanisms that drive the organisation to achieve the organisational goals. Thus, organisational change inevitably involves people in all level of the organisation. The organisational change always comes along the employees’ resistance. The employees tend to think about the impact of change on them. Will they get benefits or troubles from the change? Will the results of the change be the same as the managers inform? Understanding why the employees resist change will lead to the successful organisational change.

In light of current situations, change is essential for an institute to remain on top of its competition in the marketplace and it makes to be a fundamental part of business tactics. Usually, it is redesigning the organisation or a specific department where changes are needed (Lunenburg, 2010, p.127). While change is not always meant to act to the detriment of employees, many are occurrences where the employees are uncooperative or hold a highly negative attitude and opinion towards the change in progress. Often an understanding is presented, as though change will bring about amplified pressure and stress to employees (Armenakis & Bedeian, 1999, pp. 56). However this appears from a lack of knowledge and communication between executives and their subordinates. Management should consequently not disregard the importance of all environmental factors in an execution of organisation change (Judge and Douglas, 2009).

Resistance is a normal and a perfectly natural reaction to change. Each person has their own amount they can take, but the reasons behind why employees resist in the first place may be surprising.  According to these experts, the fear of moving into an unknown future state creates anxiety and stress, even if the current state is painful (Eroke, 2013). A complete understanding of the unique ways that resistance can be apparent is still needed because resistance to change has been acknowledged as an organizational difficulty for many years. If and when employees react to change in different ways, and if discrepancies in response result in

An organizational change disturbs the structure of organizational life in terms of interpersonal relationships, reporting lines, group boundaries, employee and work unit status. (Paulsen et al., 2005; Terry and Jimmieson, 2003). Although change is implemented for positive purposes (like to adapt the changing environmental conditions and to remain competitive as well), its is observed that employees often respond negatively toward change and resist the overall efforts. This negative reaction is largely because change brings with it increased pressure, stress and uncertainty for employees (Armenakis and Bedeian, 1999; McHugh, 1997).