P a g e|1 Introduction Resistance to change can be defined as an inevitable response made towards any major change taking place in an organization. The response can be attributed to the notion that individuals will rush to defend their traditional status quo if they find that their status or security is threatened(Sorre, 2016). Organizational change may develop scepticism among employees which makes them resistant towards change, sometimes making the change process impossible or complicated to integrate organizational improvement moves. In this sense, it can be said that resistance to change tends to be viewed negatively and makes it difficult for organizational managers to manage change. This essay will herewith compare and contrast three different views on managing change along with identifying how managers can manage change positively. Discussions The current understanding on resistance to change suggests that new scopes of investigations are possible and therefore, Ford and Ford break the current notion on resistance to change in three views of resistance including mechanistic, social and conversational views. Under the mechanistic view, resistance to change is neutral and takes place due to some kind of resistance. Accordingly, more resistance means change is bigger. From an organizational perspective, common signs reflecting resistance to change include being late to meetings, complaining, damaging equipment's, etc which might delay objectives behind the change (Waddell, Creed, Cummings, & Worley, 2017, p. 105). Similarly,Daniel (2019) argues that employee resists changing mostly when they feel change is unnecessary or are unaware of the reasons behind the change. A lack of knowledge concerning how the change will affect their work further makes employees resist to change. Specifically, employees with superior posts
P a g e|2 and personalities find change more difficult as their processes and work-life reliability is also affected. Alternatively, the social view of resistance to change suggests that resistance to change differs from organization to organization and different facts of them such as perception towards culture and its effects on organizational performance. Unlike the mechanistic view, social view posits that resistance can either be exceptional or detrimental or remains omnipresent in the employees due to some of the existing factors. Under the social view, resistance to change can be a response to those factors also which are not a part of the change at all. It can be noted that under some situation’s individuals can show resistance not because of change but because of their complaining attitude or for showing a response towards it(Waddell, Creed, Cummings, & Worley, 2017).Change process in every organization is unique in its way because of differences in business and organizational nature, value and culture, leadership and management style and finally, employee’s behaviour and attitude. Mansor, Mat, Abu, & Johari (2013) indicated that a person's attitude reflects the way he/she think or perform negatively or positively. Complex attitude can comprise three tendencies such as affective, cognitive and behavioural where any kind of attitude may induce person support or resist organizational change management. However, the conversational view states that change perspectives shared with an organizational group can act as a catalyst or perpetrator to resistance to change. Conversational view of resistance to change recognises conversation and change effects on an organization which can be based upon factors like sequential, simultaneous and recursive conversations adopted by different networks in the workplace. This makes difficult for a change agent or a manager to establish a common communication network besides the creation of unwanted misinterpretations of key messages. The conversational view can be compared to a mechanistic view to some extent as both the views recognises individual
P a g e|3 boundaries. Every individual behaves differently and can hold different meaning regarding resistance to change. Moreover, comparing oneself with other individuals can also become a reason behind resistance which brings in declarations and assertion about resistance (Waddell, Creed, Cummings, & Worley, 2017). During the change process, many tough decisions are taken by change agents or managers which need to be communicated to the employees. New opportunities and possibilities though may prove intimidating to the employees as they have to live with change effects(Jain, Asrani, & Jain, 2018). From the mechanistic and conversational viewpoint, a single decision made regarding change can bring forth insecurity, apprehension and fear, making the entire change process viewed negatively. Resistance to change is one of the complicated issues facing organizations in ever- evolving business trends today. Since the change process is ubiquitous and resistance to change has been identified from several viewpoints as discussed above, it is critically significant that managers make a well-conceived effort and planning before initiating change in an organization. To manage resistance to change, managers must look at the negative effects from employees perspective along with examining individual behaviour to ensure that every employee alters according to the new status quo(Sorre, 2016). Therefore, Waddell, Creed, Cummings, & Worley (2017) recommends undertaking at least three important measure which includes empathy and support, communication and employee participation and involvement. Empathy and support can be the first step that can help in overcoming resistance to change by understanding employee’s perspective towards change. The communication process is one of the most critical part in entire change process where managers are required to ensure that every data and fact is shared and accessed by different departments and any informal rumours are avoided to impact the change process negatively. Hasanaj & Manxhari (2017) argues that one of the most effective ways to manage change positively and actively is
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P a g e|4 by informing people about the change in advance. Employees must be made aware of the change that will take place and how it might get implemented, who need to anticipate it and how their jobs will be affected. Besides communicating change requirements, managers must also motivate employees and assure that their work environment will not be compromised. Another possible method that can be adopted is to substitute change information to normal operating systems deliberately. By embedding the need for change within organizational policies and processes, a key message will be communicated regarding employee’s active participation significance for change(Waddell, Creed, Cummings, & Worley, 2017). Participation and involvement are regarded as one of the most powerful strategies which help managers in overcoming resistance to change by involving organizational members in planning and change implementation. This will make employees participate in the decision-making process, share idea and facts to contribute to implementing innovative change ideas. Martin Luther King's four-step model can also help managers in understanding and solving issues related to resistance to change. His four steps include a collection of facts so that existing injustice can be determined, negotiation to analyse existing paradigms, self- purification for analysing people’ motive behind resistance to change and direct action to respond to change issues patiently and understandingly(Waddell, Creed, Cummings, & Worley, 2017). EvenZafara, Butt, & Afzal (2014) claims that with thoughtful application of employee involvement techniques, organizations can overcome change resistance issues and turn them into positive action. Conclusion Resistance to change is a phenomenon which slows down or delays the change process, hinders or obstruct change implementation and increases overall change management costs. The above essay identified that resistance to change can be viewed from
P a g e|5 three perspectives: mechanist, social and conversationalist views. While mechanistic and conversationalist views share similar view by referring more to individual behaviour and reasons behind the change, social view differs from them as it analyses group performance that acts as a catalyst in resistance to change phenomenon. The above essay recommends managers to adopt three crucial measures that can mitigate resistance to change: empathy and support, communication and participation and involvement. This will make employees feel that their perception and feelings are being noticed and taken care of and they will help managers in establishing a problem-solving way rather than showing resistance towards change.
P a g e|6 References Daniel, C. O. (2019). Effects of Change Management on the Performance of Firms in Nigeria.International Journal of Advances in Scientific Research and Engineering, 5(1), 59-64. Hasanaj, R., & Manxhari, M. (2017). Importance of Communication During Change: A Case of the Municipality of Vlora.European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 4(1), 15- 19. Jain, P., Asrani, C., & Jain, T. (2018). Resistance to Change in an Organization.Journal of Business and Management, 20(5), 37-43. Mansor, M. F., Mat, N., Abu, N. H., & Johari, A. N. (2013). Factors influencing intention resistance to change: A study of a service organization in Malaysia.Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 9(4), 2620-2630. Sorre, B. M. (2016). Resistance to Organizational Change.International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering & Research, 2(11), 22-28. Waddell, D. M., Creed, A., Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2017).Organizational Change: Development and Transformation(6 ed.). Sydney: Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited. Zafara, F., Butt, A., & Afzal, B. (2014). Strategic Management: Managing Change by Employee Involvement.International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research, 13(1), 205-217.
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