Employee Resistance to Organizational Change
Organizational change is usually initiated by some outside driving force, such as substantial cuts in funding, major new markets, a need for dramatic increases in productivity and/or services, or a strong new competitor in the market. Typically, organizations must undertake organization-wide change to evolve to a different level in their life cycle. Such changes might take the form of transition to a new chief executive, who can institute organization-wide change when his or her new and unique personality pervades the entire organization. Organization-wide change often goes against the values held by members of the organization—how members believe things should be done. Often, organization-wide change is difficult and provokes strong resistance because people are afraid of the unknown, they don’t share a vision of the future, or they don't understand the need for change.
The Necessity for Organizational Change in Global Business
Adapting to changing goals and demands has become less of a challenge for organizations facing global competition, but the task seems to have become more complicated in terms of ensuring in advance that employees can handle the change. In the information technology sector, global market share growth and political shifts have opened more new markets for products and services than ever before. To respond to the pace of change, organizations are adopting flatter and more responsive and agile structures and more empowering, team-oriented cultures. As a result, employees are coming to expect involvement in decisions about organizational change. Successful organizational adaptation is increasingly reliant on generating employee support and enthusiasm for proposed changes, rather than merely overcoming resistance. Top B-school in Bangalore for MBA
Mintzberg and Waters (1985) pointed out the influence of participation on a set of dimensions related to the success of the implementation of deliberate strategic change. Participation is believed to have a number of positive effects on the strategy process; most notably, the involvement of those affected by a change in strategy will reduce organizational resistance and create a higher level of psychological commitment among employees towards the proposed changes. Also, participation leads to qualitatively better strategic decisions (Kim and Mauborgne, 1998).
Why Employees Resist Change
Resistance to change has been recognized as one of the important factors that can influence the success of organizational changes, including new technology innovation, new policies, and new organizational structure. Maurer (1996) indicated that half to two-thirds of all major corporate change efforts fail, and resistance is the little-recognized but critically important contributor to that failure.
Recent studies of resistance to change have focused on behavior reaction. Brower and Abolafia (1995) defined resistance as a particular kind of action or inaction, while Ashforth and Mael (1998) defined it as intentional acts of commission (defiance) or omission. Shapiro, Lewicki, and Devine (1995) noted that willingness to deceive authorities constitutes resistance to change, while Sagie, Elizur, and Greenbaum (1985) used compliant behavior as evidence of reduced resistance. Top MBA college in Bangalore
Although the concept of resistance to change has been well discussed, the concept has limitations. Jermier, Knights, & Nord (1994) argued that the interests of managers should not be privileged over the interests of workers when processing organizational change.
Block (1993) pointed out that resistance may occur when people distrust or have past resentments toward those leading the change and when they have different understandings or assessments of the situation. O'Toole (1995) reported that resistance to change is an effort to protect established social relations perceived to be threatened. Spector (1989) pointed out that resistance occurs because it threatens the status quo or increases the fear of and anxiety about real or imagined consequences (Morris and Raben, 1995). Bryant (2006) stated that change threatens personal security and confidence in an ability to perform. Moreover, change may also be resisted because it threatens the way people make sense of the world, calling into question their values and rationality and prompting some form of self-justification or defensive reasoning. Graham (1986) noted that some employee resistance to organizational actions is motivated by more than mere selfishness such as lack of future vision, short of capability, and fear of relocation. Best B-school in Bangalore
Any manager who plans to introduce change should recognize that some employees will welcome the change, some will resist or resent it, and others will be neutral. As companies in every industry are now translating the power and possibilities of e-business, and cybernation is becoming the strategic core of the business, new approaches in change management and an understanding of the multifaceted nature of resistance are required to help organizations understand and accept the complex dynamics of innovation.
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