preview

The Affects of Workplace Change and Stress

Good Essays

Growth and organizational evolution causes change, resistance to that inevitability and stress as a byproduct. The tactics individuals and leaders adopt can cause harmful consequences if not managed with sensitivity and awareness. Change can be threatening for those experiencing job insecurity (Robbins & Judge, 2007) or develop teams and co-workers that act at cross-purposes (Huy & Mintzbereg, 2003). Change can be a source of stress, but so can workload, leadership styles, and the shuffling of roles and responsibilities (Cooper, 2006). Management of resistance and stress is largely dependent on the organizations leadership to be the bulwark of these human traits by perceiving their sources and proactively attending to them.
According to …show more content…

According to Huy and Mintzbereg (2003), dynamic change originates from organizational crisis or when power is concentrated and descends from top senior management personnel. For example, Vivendi Universal underwent a five-year buying binge in the telecommunications and media markets (Huy & Mintzbereg, 2003) in an attempt to build a media market monarchy. When the stock market bubble burst in the 1990s, Vivendi’s stock value dropped sharply, which then created an organizational crisis (i.e. dynamic change) and required guided top down management decision-making. Top down decision-making can be effective but can back fire and create covert resistance (Huy & Mintzbereg, 2003).
No less important is systematic change. Huy and Mintzbereg (2003) stated that workforce groups and consultants who handle quality improvement, work reprogramming, benchmarking, and strategic planning often promote systematic change. According to Huy and Mintzbereg (2003), systematic change can become overly formalized and technique-orientated to the point in which the initiative is stifled and resistance to change becomes implicit and deferred in the organization. While on the other hand, senior executive leaders drive dramatic change and systematic change is advanced

Get Access