Overcoming Resistance to Change in Oracle Corporation

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Organizational Behavior
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Abstract
Oracle Corporation is one of the leaders in computer technology and software
solutions. The organization is driven by the values of providing trusted support to the clients
and maintains high quality of its products and services that can set them apart from their
competitors. The organization has grown significantly since its inception in 1977 and has
become the second biggest company in the industry. However the large workforce employed
in the organization, the stability of the company as well as external factors such as need for
higher quality of products and services and emergence of hi tech competitors have resulted in
a need for changing the organizational culture so that it can keep pace and maintain its
position as the leader in the industry. However, implementing change in the organization has
been found to be challenging which needs to be addressed to ensure effective change
management process. The study aims to understand the best approaches towards the
reduction of barriers to change and improve openness to change. The objectives of the study
are to understand the factors that are causing resistance to change, develop strategies that can
overcome those resistors and understand how to facilitate the implementation of change in
the organization. The study used a mixed method approach where qualitative data was
gathered from structured interviews with the management and employees at Oracle and
identifies theoretical models and framework from academic literature to analyze the problem
based on the data gathered from the interviews. The models identified for the study included
Lewin’s force field model, by Kotter and Schlesinger’s Six Change Approaches and Lewin’s
Change Theory Model. The force field model could be used to understand the factors
causing resistance to change, the six change approach model was used to develop a plan for
overcoming the resistance to change and the change theory model was used to understand
how the change can be implemented in the organization.

2ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................1
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
-Title.......................................................................................................................................3
-List of Organizational background and problem definition/Rationale figures:....................3
-Research Questions...............................................................................................................3
-Research Objectives..............................................................................................................4
-Methodology.........................................................................................................................4
Theoretical Framework:.............................................................................................................4
Findings, Discussion and Analysis:...........................................................................................8
Factors influencing change:...................................................................................................8
Approaches to overcome resistance to change:...................................................................10
Planning and implementing change:....................................................................................11
Conclusion and Recommendation:..........................................................................................13
Synopsis:..............................................................................................................................13
Major Findings:....................................................................................................................14
Answer to research question:...............................................................................................14
Recommendations:...............................................................................................................15
References:...............................................................................................................................16
Appendix 1: Interview Questionnaire:.....................................................................................20

3ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

4ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Introduction:
-Title
A Critical investigation into change resistance in Oracle Corporation
-List of Organizational background and problem definition/Rationale figures:
Oracle Corporation is an American company that has multinational presence and they
specialize on computer technologies like cloud computing, database software, networking
solutions and enterprise software. As of 2018, it was the second biggest producer of software
in terms of its revenues placing it after Microsoft (Oracle.com 2018b). The company had a
total income of 3.83 billion USD and has employee strength of 138,000 (reuters.com 2018).
The organization was established in 1977 with the name “Software Development
Laboratories” (dsp.co.uk 2018). The company’s vision is to be the trusted advisors for their
clients and its mission is to help the clients to achieve greater success by helping them to
move ahead to the future (Oracle.com 2018a).
The large size of the organization and its long standing history and success has
resulted in a resistance towards change due to which the organization struggles to maintain
pace with the changing environment (Fox 2014). The organizational culture in Oracle even
though is very positive shows resistance towards an organizational change that can help the
company to keep pace with the emergent technologies and work processes (Oracle.com
2018c). This has resulted in an increased stress on the work culture and has adversely
impacted performance of the organization (oracle.com 2018d). It is therefore necessary to
understand the factors that have caused resistance to change and develop strategies to
overcome such barriers and improve openness to change.
-Research Questions

5ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
How to reduce the barriers of change at Oracle Corporation
-Research Objectives
 To understand the factors that have caused resistance to change in the organization
 To develop strategies that can help to overcome resistance to change and facilitate
openness to change
 To facilitate effective change management in the organization
-Methodology
The study would utilize a mixed method approach in which primary data would be
collected using in depth structured interview questionnaire conducted over the telephone and
secondary data would be collected to develop a theoretical framework to assess the problem.
For the questionnaire a non standardized format would be used that would be conducted over
the telephone and for the secondary data research would be done of academic journal articles
in order to identify framework and models that can be used for the assessment of the problem
and identify solutions. The mixed method can help to develop a greater understanding of the
situation (Morse 2016).
Figure 1: Qualitative data for the study (source: self work)