Managing Resistance to Organizational Change

This assignment examines the complexities of organizational change, specifically focusing on Asda supermarket as a case study. It delves into how guiding coalitions can effectively manage resistance to change by leveraging expertise, credibility, and proven leadership. The document also analyzes how organizational change can violate psychological contracts between employers and employees, leading to distrust and challenges in managing expectations. Furthermore, it explores the potential for distrust between managers and staff during periods of change, highlighting the importance of clear communication and addressing employee concerns.

Organizational Change
Management
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
1. How and why can a guiding coalition help to manage resistance to change?..................................3
2. How and why does organizational change cause psychological contract violation?.......................4
3. How and why does organizational change cause distrust between managers and their staff?.........4
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................5
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ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Figure 1: John Kotter's eight step model.........................................................................................4
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INTRODUCTION
In the present scenario of increasing economic pressure as-well-as changing political
factors, there also results tremendous change in various organizational activities and operations
(Senior and Swailes, 2010). However, initiating change is one of the key needs of every business
firm in order to drive organization towards attaining the success. In the contemporary volatile
environment, organization who successfully manages the strategic change will succeed in
gaining the advantage over their rival company. The current report generally focuses on how
guide coalition can support the Asda supermarket in managing resistance to change. Asda is the
supermarket retailer chain founded by British. In UK, this is the second largest supermarket
chain (Asda Stores Limited, 2016). Furthermore, it may also covers all the three patches related
with resistance to change, psychological contract violation and trust relations in management of
change.
1. HOW AND WHY CAN A GUIDING COALITION HELP TO MANAGE
RESISTANCE TO CHANGE?
In order to manage resistance to change within the Asda supermarket, organization must
focuses on effective change management model that would support the senior manager in
supervising and resisting the external change in the effective manner. John Kotter's eight step
model is considered as an effective model that support in managing the change in the
supermarket.
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Figure 1: John Kotter's eight step model
(Source: From start up to grow up, 2014)
The first step of this model is that senior manager requires creating a sense of urgency
within the organization in order to acquire cooperation so that they can supervise change (Searle
and Kirstie 2004). Second step of this change model is guiding coalition. It refers to developing
team that may lead to manage the change in the effective manner. A successful guiding coalition
within the organization generally focuses on four essential elements. These are; an alliance must
possess individual with proper position power as-well-as person within the team who must be
expertise to take intelligent decision for the firm. However, personage must also possess right
creditability within the organization that results in resisting the change in proper manner. Lastly,
the guiding alliance also ensures that group must also have proven leaders who are quite valuable
in driving the change successfully in the entity.
However, guiding coalition assists in facilitating the change process within the
organization at each and every level by crafting talented and diverse team in managing the
change.
2. HOW AND WHY DOES ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE CAUSE
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT VIOLATION?
The outcome of organizational change mainly results in causing the violation of
psychological contract among the employer and employees at the workplace. Change
interventions within the organizations have significant affect on the psychological contract as-
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well-as on employment relationships between the employer and employee. The transformation in
organization results in changing the offering by the employer and in return it further impacts the
expectation of employees (Lundy and Morin, 2013).
Therefore, psychological contract plays significant role in Asda as it results in managing
and resisting the change in an effective manner. For instance; with the mergers and acquisition
change in organization, working employees often considers it as threat for their job. Therefore,
change within the organization directly causes the violation of psychological contract among the
employees and their employers.
3. HOW AND WHY DOES ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE CAUSE
DISTRUST BETWEEN MANAGERS AND THEIR STAFF?
It has been reviewed that change within the organizational activities and operations
causes distrust among their managers and staff for example; management of Asda focuses on
implementing technical equipments in the supermarket to improve their performance and
reducing the queuing system (Thomas and Hardy, 2011). But the staff members or employees
within the supermarket have measured the change in negative sense as it may result in removing
the surplus manpower from the organization. Therefore, organizational change causes suspicion
between the employees. However, with the low resistivity to change among the staff may also
result in causing distrust between the manager and staff as positive change within the
organization is also reviewed in the negative sense by the staff and employees that directly
impact the performance of the organization.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Lundy, V. and Morin, P. P., 2013. Project Leadership Influences Resistance to Change: The Case
of the Canadian Public Service. Project Management Journal. 44 (3). pp. 45–64.
Searle, H. R. and Kirstie S., 2004. The development of trust and distrust in a merger”. Journal of
Managerial Psychology. 19(7). pp.708 – 721.
Senior, B. and Swailes, S., 2010. Organizational Change. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall.
Thomas, R. and Hardy, C., 2011. Reframing resistance to organizational change. Scandinavian
Journal of Management. 27(3). pp. 322-331.
Online
Asda Stores Limited. 2016. [Online]. Available through:< http://www.asda.com/ >. [Accessed on
7th March, 2016].
From start up to grow up. 2014. [Online]. Available through :<
http://fromstartuptogrowup.com/the-8-steps-of-successful-change-management/>.
[Accessed on 7th March, 2016].
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