Causes of Resistance to Change

Discuss about the Organizational Change Management for Literature Review.

Since the spread of globalisation, the competition in the world has drastically increased. Business organisations are at a war with each other and it is becoming harder to survive in the market with each coming day. The fluctuating internal and external environment factors, such as economic, social, technological, political, environmental, etc. are forcing business organisations to implement minor as well as major workplace changes so that they can cope up with the market trends and remain in competition. Thus, change in the business world has become inevitable and is considered to be one of the most challenging tasks for human resource managers and leaders of organisations. 

Resistance to change is defined as the state where stakeholders of a business organisation resist workplace changes in case they perceive the change as a threat to their power or position. Resistance to change is one of the prime reasons behind the failure of change programs and dealing with resistance to change programs is a nightmare for most of the human resource managers and leaders. Therefore, managing resistance to change programs is becoming an important subject in the field of business and new researches are being carried out regularly to understand the reasons behind the generation of resistance to change and to identify strategies that can help in managing resistance to change. 

In this report, we will conduct a literature review to understand the prime causes behind the generation of resistance to change and the impact that it can have on an organisation. Based on this information, we will discuss certain strategies that can be adopted by human resource managers or change agents to deal with resistance to change.  

Resistance to change can occur in an organisation because of a number of reasons and can have a great impact on the overall workplace. Certain reasons for the occurrence of resistance to change are discussed below:

According to W. Warner Burke (2017), the prime reason for the occurrence of resistance to change in business organisations is the fear of loss of power or status in the workplace. At times, organisational changes can bring some major transformations in the workplace and in the structure of the organisation on the whole. In such cases, some employees can lose their power over their subordinates. As a result, they can end up resisting workplace changes by having a negative influence over others. 

Impact of Resistance to Change

According to Justin Bateh, Mario E. Castaneda and James E. Farah (2013), resistance to organisational changes also occurs when the leaders of the organisation fail to communicate the change intentions with their employees in a proper way. Lack of an effective communication system develops a fear in the mind of the employees, which leads to spreading of rumours in the workplace. The generation of fear of the unknown in the mind of the employees makes them perceive the change program as a threat and they become more likely to resist organisational changes. 

Derya Yilmaz and Gökhan Liliçoglu (2013) in their article specified some important factors that can lead to generation of resistance to change in business organisations. They identified peer pressure as an important factor that leads to resistance to change. According to them, employees are social creatures and irrespective of introverts or extroverts, they all have a tendency to resist changes that are against the interest of their groups. Most of the times, it is observed that employees resist workplace changes because they are under a constant pressure from their co-workers. They also identified that a workplace where there is a lack of trust amongst the employees, change programs often receive a lot of resistance. 

David Buchanan and Richard Badhman (2008) identified organisational politics and bureaucracy as an important factor that leads to resistance to change. If powerful people in a company feel that a change in the workplace would undermine their authority over the others, they become more likely to resist workplace changes by having a negative influence on the employees who follow them. 

Resistance to change can occur due to a lot of reasons but finding the root cause and dealing with it is an important role of human resource managers because it can have an adverse impact on the organisational as a whole. Managing resistance to change is important because: 

According to Jeffrey D. Ford, Laurie W. Ford, and Angelo D’Amelio (2008), it is important to manage resistance to change because it can deteriorate the environment of a workplace. Not being able to deal with resistance to change programs can lower down the morale of the employees and it can become difficult for them to cope up with the negativity that spreads in the workplace. 

Alice H. Y. Hon, Matt Bloom and J. Michael Crant (2011) concluded in their research that resistance to change in a workplace can be very harmful for the overall prodcutvity of an organisation. At times, the employees become so frustrated with the change programs that they lose their concentration and become more likely to lose their satisfaction levels with their jobs. As a result, the overall productivity of a company can fail because of resistance to change programs. 

Strategies to Manage Resistance to Change

Deneed & Boud (2014) identified that managing resistance to change is important for business organisations so that they can guide their workforce throughout the transformation and prevent them from losing their motivation. Resistance to organisational change can sometimes cause failure of the change program altogether, which can be detrimental to the market position of a company. Further, such a scenario can make it impossible for business organisations to plan and implement workplace changes in the future, which can take them out of the market competition due to failure to cope up with the changing market trends. According to Higgerson (2016) managing resistance to change ensures that the transformation from one position to another can be smoothly achieved by ensuring complete support from the entire workforce. Just like workplace changes, even resistance to change is inevitable but managing resistance to change is something that is of utmost importance to the change agents and human resource managers. 

From the literature review, two things can be clearly stated. Firstly, just like workplace changes, resistance to change has also become inevitable and no matter how hard a company or its human resource managers try, there will always be resistance to change programs. Secondly, resistance to change programs can have a huge impact on an organisation and can ultimately lead to its failure in the industry. Therefore, dealing with resistance to change is really important. 

To ensure success of change programs, it is important that change agents and human resource managers are efficient in managing resistance to change. Certain strategies that can help them in successfully managing resistance to change are discussed below: 

First of all, human resource managers need to start planning to deal with resistance to change right from the very beginning. During the planning phase of a change program, human resource managers and change agents should bring it to everyone’s awareness that resistance to change is inevitable and identify points that could lead to resistance (Carol O′Connor, 2013). Further, they should build on these points and should be ready with mitigation measures if one of the points actually results in generation of resistance to change in the future. It is also important that the root cause of resistance is identified by the managers and dealt with because most of the times, managers waste their time on lesser important issues rather than trying to deal with the root cause. 

Secondly, employee engagement can be a great strategy to minimise resistance to change. As studied above, fear of the unknown in the mind of the employees can lead to spreading of rumours and resistance to change (Agboola & Salawu, 2011). Therefore, by involving the employees in the change program, right from the planning phase, can guarantee their engagement and a decreased tendency to resist workplace changes. 

Thirdly, establishing efficient communication channels can also help in managing resistance to change. Communication of information and data is of utmost importance during change programs because all stakeholders become hungry for information and data (Heath & Heath, 2011). Communicating the status of the change program to the employees on the right time and in the right way can help human resource managers or change agents in winning their trust, which can help in managing resistance to change. 

Fourthly, providing a clarity to the employees about the change program, the role that they have to play in it and also about the factors that are forcing the management to introduce a change can be one of the best ways to deal with resistance to change. Human resource managers or change agents leading a change program need to understand that it is not the fear of changing that makes employees resist changes but is the fear of a loss that worries them and makes them resist changes (Peccei, 2011). It becomes a moral duty of change promoters to explain the urgency to the employees and ask for their support. 

Fifthly, attaching a system of reward with the change program is an essential strategy to minimise resistance to change. Reward can help in keeping the employees motivated to transform from one work operation or practice to another. Further, managers can reward those employees who help in promoting a change or have successfully accepted the transformation. This would help in having a positive impact on the other employees and reinforcing a change in the behaviour. 

Sixthly, developing a learning environment in the workplace can help business organisations in keeping their workforce prepared for workplace changes. Human resource managers should try their best to enhance learning, creativity and innovation in the workplace and also ensure that the employees do not develop a comfort zone of their own. The employees should understand that learning is a part of their job and that they would have to evolve with the evolution of the industry in which they operate. By making the employees understand the importance of change and its inevitability, it can become easier for business organisations to manage resistance to change in the longer run. 

Seventhly, identifying change agents amongst leaders of the organisation is another strategy that can help in winning the trust and confidence of the workforce. Change agents can be selected from those managers who have the power and influence of others and whom the workforce loves to follows. They can act as a voice for the company and can help in promoting the change program whenever and wherever necessary. Thus, it can become easier to manage resistance to change. 

Lastly, when in doubt, it is always useful to stick to traditional theories of change management, such as Kurt Lewin’s Unfreezing-Changing-Refreezing model, Kotter’s 8 step change process, etc. These models were developed by pioneers in the subject and are still reliable today. They can help human resource managers in planning their actions while implementing a change program and in ensuring successful implementation by dealing with resistance to change programs.

Conclusion

Just like market change and organisational changes, resistance to change is also inevitable but because a lot of resources are at stake during the implementation of a change program, it becomes crucial to manage resistance to change in an effective manner. 

From the literature review, it can be clearly identified that resistance to change can occur due to a number of reasons and can have a huge impact on the morale of the workforce, their level of motivation, overall productivity and profitability of an organization and its position and competitiveness in the market, etc. Therefore, it is important that human resource managers should carefully device strategies that would help them in managing resistance to change right from the very beginning of a change program.

References 

Burke, W. W., 2017. Organization change: Theory and practice. s.l.:Sage Publications. 

Bateh, J., Castaneda, M. E. & Farah, J. E., 2013. Employee Resistance To Organizational Change. International Journal of Management & Information Systems, 17(2). 

K?l?ço?lu, G. & Y?lmaz, D., 2013. Resistance to change and ways of reducing resistance in educational organizations. European Journal of Research on Education, 1(1), pp. 14-21. 

Buchanan, D. & Badham, R., 2008. Power, politics, and organizational change: Winning the turf game. s.l.:Sage .

Jeffrey D. Ford, L. W. F. & D’Amelio, A., 2008. Resistance to Change: The Rest of the Story. Academy of Management Review, 1 April.33(2). 

Deneen, C. & Boud, D., 2014. Patterns of resistance in managing assessment change. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education , 39(5). 

Higgerson, M. L., 2016. Managing Resistance When Hired to Lead Change. The Department Chair, 27(1). 

Hon, A. H. Y., Bloom, M. & Crant, J. M., 2011. Overcoming Resistance to Change and Enhancing Creative Performance. Journal of Management , 2 August. 

Carol O′Connor, 2013. MANAGING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE. MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, 6(4). 

Agboola, A. A. & Salawu, R. O., 2011. Managing Deviant Behavior and Resistance to Change. International Journal of Business and Management , January.6(1). 

Heath, C. & Heath, D., 2011. Overcoming Resistance to Change. School Administrator, 68(3), pp. 28-32. 

Peccei, R., 2011. The role of organisational commitment in the analysis of resistance to change: Co?predictor and moderator effects. PERSONNEL REVIEW, 40(2), pp. 185-204.