Report on Managing Change and Resistance in Business Management

This report delves into the complexities of managing change within organizations, particularly focusing on why individuals and businesses resist change. It highlights the impact of globalization and the resulting need for organizations to adapt to rapidly changing environments. The report examines the common reasons behind resistance, such as comfort zones, fear of the unknown, and lack of supportive organizational culture. Furthermore, it describes two key change management models: Force Field Analysis, developed by Kurt Lewin, and Lewin’s 3-Stage Model (Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze). The analysis emphasizes how these models can be used to address resistance to change and enhance workforce motivation by involving employees in the change process and rewarding them for adapting to new behaviors. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of these models in achieving successful organizational change.

MANAGING CHANGE – 960382

Organisational Change and Resistance to Change
Due to the spread of globalisation and liberalisation, the competition between rival firms has
increased beyond expectations. Almost all business organizations are feeling the impact of
globalisation in the form of rapidly changing internal and external environment trends.
Because of the changing environment, business organizations are being forced to implement
workplace changes and change has become inevitable for them (Elsmore, 2017).
Organisational change can sometimes prove to be a nightmare for human resource managers
because of the human element involved in it. Whenever there is a change in an organisation,
the stakeholders (especially employees) perceive it as a threat to their well-being and they
end up resisting the change program, which leads to its failure (Hayes, 2018). Some common
reasons that make people and organizations to resist changes are discussed below:
- Firstly, workplace changes force the employees and business organizations to come
out of their comfort zones and put in extra efforts to remain competitive. As a result,
they resist workplace changes in order to retain their comfort.
- Secondly, during a change initiative, employees develop a fear of the unknown in
their minds if the communication is not proper within the organisation. The fear of the
unknown makes them resist organisational changes (Burnes, 2015).
- Thirdly, the absence of an organisational culture that supports changes can also makes
the employees resist workplace changes. If the employees are not open to change
programs and are experiencing politics in the workplace, a negative work culture
comes into play and makes them resist workplace changes.
Models of Change Management
Force Field Analysis:
Force field analysis was developed by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s. He suggested that during a
change program, there are two types of forces that come into play. The first type of forces are
the forces that derive a change while the second type of forces are the ones that resist the
change. Kurt Lewin suggested that for a change to take place, an organisation should either
strengthen its forces of change or should weaken the forces that are resisting the change
(Shrivastava, et al., 2017).

Lewin’s 3-Stage Model of Change:
This is another change management model that was developed by Kurt Lewin. He divided the
entire change process into three different stages i.e. unfreezing, changing and refreezing. In
the first stage, the model proposes the need to create an urgency and communicate the need to
change. In the second stage, the actual change takes place i.e. a transition from one position
to another position happens (Cummings, et al., 2016). In the last stage, the model suggests
that the organisation should refreeze the changes by rewarding the employees for showing a
change in their behaviour, which also motivates other employees to accept the changes.
Both the models emphasis the need to keep the employees motivated during a change
program. According to Kurt Lewin, it is important for business organizations to involve the
employees in the change program right from the beginning, so that they feel valued and are
motivated to accept the changes. Further, the models also emphasize on the importance of
rewarding the employees for accepting a change, which leads to motivation amongst them.

Bibliography
Burnes, B., 2015. Understanding resistance to change–building on Coch and French. Journal
of change management, 15(2), pp. 92-116.
Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. & Brown, K., 2016. Unfreezing change as three steps:
Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management.. Human relations, 69(1), pp. 33-60.
Elsmore, P., 2017. Organisational Culture: Organisational Change?: Organisational
Change?. Routledge.
Hayes, J., 2018. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave
Shrivastava, S., Shrivastava, P. & Ramasamy, J., 2017. Force field analysis: An effective tool
in qualitative research.. Journal of Current Research in Scientific Medicine, 3(2), p. 139.