The Importance of Organizational Change Management

Advice on Resistance to Change.

The trends of changing work pattern and requirements in the market has led every organization to keep a system that evolves with time and incorporates changes that are effective and lead to better growth and employee productivity (Samnani & Singh, 2014). For the same, every organization undergoes change eventually. Change refers to the switch in the work style of a company or organization. This change can mean changes in the resource distribution pattern, budgeting techniques or changing the organizational policy (Cummings & Worley, 2014). Change is something that is spontaneous for a company to meet the demands of the market that is constantly evolving. Changes are incurred in a company to counter a specific situation that needs attention from the company (Benn, Dunphy & Griffiths, 2014).  According to Wincek et al. (2015), the subject that deals with the organizational change is the Organizational change management or the OCM. The OCM manages the employee angle of a change that is about to be implemented in the company. The OCM manages effectively the workforce so that the change is accepted and if any resistance is shown then that is correctly evaluated and dealt so that everyone related to the company can gain a advantage from the change. The organizational change may also include change in the organizations work culture, business strategy or even technology.

Concepts of resistance

When a change is planned in an organization there are various sides to the process that are to be thought out by the management. Resistance to the change is one such idea that emerges when an idea is put forward to bring about some change in the organizational structure. Resistance to change can be of various kinds; these can range from subtle denial from huge protests and rebellions against the proposed change. The basic cause of resistance remains the fact that human beings are afraid of the consequences that could be resultant due to the change. The employees fear that the change may create problems for them; they do not trust the organizational head and feel that they are not well communicated about the change that is planned (Bateh, Castaneda & Farah, 2013). Poor communication often leads to such resistances towards change. It is not the change that is resisted by the individuals but it may be the loss of status, position or incentive pay and salary that initiates the resistance. Employees feel they may miss the comfort that they are currently enjoying after the change is brought (Rider & Negro, 2015). There are two kinds of common concepts that are associated with resistance.

• Demonizing resistance- Such resistance is occur when the people strongly reject a change and they unwelcome any new idea by holding protests against it (Thomas & Hardy, 2011). Such resistance hampers the entire change program that the managers plan to execute (Zhao, Hwang & Pheng Low, 2014). The employees reject the change and it leads to loss because that particular change has brought about many successful results in other organizations in the same field.
• Celebrating resistance- This is a rather new concept that has emerged in the domain of organizational change. The company sees the resistance as a part of successful change. The negative reactions that are held against the change can be converted into positive motivation when the proper communication is held between the employees and the managers (de Souza, White & Springer, 2016). The resistance can sometimes show a better way for putting the change in practice and hence it should be evaluated and then worked upon if found viable (Thomas & Hardy, 2011).

Resistance to Change and Its Causes

Concept of Power

The idea of power is a very important factor in an organizational structure and it deters the way in which people behave in a given organization. Power is the factor which is used to conquer resistance and make people work in a desired way (Clegg, 2013). Though power and influence are similar kind of concepts, they are lot different from each other. Power does not necessarily mean influence or authority. Power is a coercive action that includes the both authority and influence. The legitimate action of making people work to benefit the organization by not hurting any sentiments is known as the proper utilization of power (Nicolson, 2015).  According to Luthans (2015), power is classified into 5 categories and they are-

• Reward power- This outcomes from one individual’s capacity to repay another for consistence.
• Coercive power- This originates from the conviction that a man can rebuff others for resistance.
• Legitimate power- This originates from the conviction that a man has the formal appropriate to make requests, and to anticipate that others will be consistent and submissive.
• Referent power- This is the aftereffect of a man’s apparent engaging quality, value and appropriate to others’ regard.
• Expert power- This depends on a man’s elevated amounts of ability and learning.

Relationship of Power and Resistance

The dynamic of power in an organization is important as the main working of the organization depends on how he power is being used. The managers must use the power in a way that the employees are not threatened and left feeling low due to their position. The resistance that shall come up should be dealt with in a sensible way so that the organization and its working are not affected. The ones in power should use it to communicate with the people under them so that is a change that comes in the future will be understood by everyone without any resistance (Castells, 2013). Power and resistance are very much related to each other and hence the proper use of power will lead to organizational changes being incorporated much easily and with better outcomes.

Change and its kinds

In this age of globalization, organizations in order to progress and achieve success need to constantly change their working style and arrangement (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015).  A change is something new that is incorporated in the working of the company so as to ensure growth and development. The change is planned by the managers and the top level executives of the company and then it is implemented in the working process by the employees. In the case of Victor, who has served the industry for past 15 and more years, his confidence on his experience is very high and hence his level of acceptance for any new input by the younger recruits is low.

It is seen that the new staffs in the organization are much informed about the new technology and new means that can be used to get the work done in a better and faster way. Victor has ideas that are genuine and will lead to development but they are old fashioned because of his thinking style that has not evolved with time hence making it backdated. Those ideas would create wonders if used a decade back maybe but at in this era of technological advancement , the viability of those are ideas are under scanner. Victor is faced with resistance in most of the changes that he wishes to impose in the work style but the younger members are not supporting him because they have better ideas that use modern technology. Here the decision taken by victor will lead to employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction because they wish to work with modern technology and Victor plans to work on his set of ideas. The resistance is absolutely justified as the ideas of Victor are not updated and they will never fetch benefits the way those faster and newer ideas will. It will be unethical on his part to force his decision in order to satisfy the ego which is due to his experience in the field.  The communication between the employee and managers deters whether ac change will be successful or not in the long run and the level of resistance will be decided based on that equation. There are basically two kinds and theoretical aspects of change. They are as follow-

Objectivist approach	Social constructionist approach
Change is a phenomenon that is independent of the people involved in it.	Change results from social interaction and hence is a relational process.
It is a universal and unavoidable phenomenon that makes it predictable and rational in nature of occurrence.	Change involves power and it has many stakeholders within any given context, be it social or institutional.
Change can be managed and planned by an individual with power and observational skills.	Change is chaotic in nature and can be understood by proper examining the practices. Many interpretations can be done of the change because of the complexity it has.
Change is regarded as positive and mandatory for evolution (Carraher, 2015).	According to Burr (2015), change is based on the concept of power and relational.

Understanding Power Dynamics in Organizations

Table 1 – Objectivist and Social Constructionist

Source- (Author)

Ethical considerations of change

Change in an organization should always be ethical in nature so that the best result is gained. If the proposed change is ethical and perceived in the same way by the other employees working in the organization then it is the combined effort will lead to success in the organization. A change in the organization should never be backed with any personal claims or intention (Slade & Prinsloo, 2013). Personal claim will lead to bigger resistance because the employee will find it hard to trust their employee. The benefit of the employee base should also be kept in mind when putting up a change or planning it. In the case study provided, Mrs. Garcia is faced with similar problem as her most trusted employee Mrs. Moreno behaved in an authoritarian way in the management. Mrs. Moreno did not use modern amenities and preferred serving her interest and ignoring the demands of the staffs. This resistance on her part to change will lead to downfall of the entire organization and that will incur great losses to Mrs. Garcia. Hence, the decision to fire Mrs. Moreno was absolutely justified as her further employment will harm the working and the service that is being provided by the organization.  If the employee is base is left unhappy due to the change then the company will never reap the needed benefits as the production quality will decrease due to the unhappy state of the employees engaged in production for the organization. The losses of the company has to be kept in mind and any change if it benefits the company in the long run then should be implemented so that the business develops strongly in the market and better growth is achieved.

Conclusion

To conclude, change is one of the most important dynamic that is constantly under practice in all organizations. Change allows organizations to move away from stagnation and achieve growth. However the fact remains that every change is faced with some amount of resistance. The resistance can sometimes be very violent and rebellious in nature and hence the management has to look after the needs of the employee before bringing on a change in the entire work procedure. The resistance can be overcome by proper communication with the employee base so that they are well informed about the changes and various policies that the organization works with. The resistance should not always be ignored as the employee may at times have logical reasons to resist the change and those reasons can benefit the organization too. The evaluation of each of the resistance is very important so that the change will be effective when applied and free from any faults. In this modern age, the management is the toughest job role that one can be assigned with and the duties assigned to the position are very responsible. The operation of the company are completely based on them and they must keep in mind all the various concepts and theories so that they can evaluate a situation accordingly and manage the changes to make them successful.

References

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Nicolson, P. (2015). Gender, power and organization: a psychological perspective on life at work. Routledge. ISBN 1317537300, 9781317537304

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