Managing Strategic Change: Evaluating Resistance to Change

This essay explores the concept of change management, focusing on the resistance employees often exhibit towards organizational changes. It evaluates how a nuanced understanding of this resistance can aid in effectively managing employees through periods of transition. The essay critically examines change management strategies, drawing upon scholarly sources and various change management and leadership models like Kurt Lewin's three-step model, the Change Equation, Kubler Ross model and McKinsey 7s model. It discusses the importance of identifying the reasons for resistance, such as fear of job security loss or unwillingness to adapt to new processes. Furthermore, it emphasizes the role of communication, trust, and employee involvement in overcoming resistance, referencing practical examples like Netflix's successful adaptation to streaming. The essay concludes by highlighting the significance of managing change and resistance effectively for organizational success and goal achievement.

Managing Strategic Change
PART 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Evaluating how a nuanced understanding of resistance to change may be useful in managing
employees through change..........................................................................................................3
Critically evaluating the topic under investigation making effective use of the evidence and
scholarly sources..........................................................................................................................5
Evaluating using examples and demonstrating practical application of theoretical concepts.....6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Change can be defined as a process or general transition in which something or someone
becomes different in terms of state or condition, or is altered or modified, it can also mean a
variation or deviation or replacement of something with the other. To successfully operate and
grow in the ever changing business environment, an organisation has to be ready to adapt to
these changes and make necessary arrangements to avoid the negative impacts of the change.
Though, change is unavoidable, many people and employees in the organisation tend to be
resistant to change. Resistance to change in the employees is their opposing behaviour and
unwillingness to adapt to the alterations and modifications made in the circumstances. The
report will be made in context of the employees’ resistance to change in the organisation, its
consequences and various methods of managing change in the organisation. In this report, how
nuanced understanding to change is useful in managing employees will be evaluated to identify
the problems related to change management. Then, a critical evaluation of change management
will be done using the different change management and leadership styles with the help of
evidences, scholarly sources and literatures from journals and books. Also, the outcome of
intervention to change will be discussed. Furthermore, an evaluation of the application of these
theories will be done demonstrating the practical application of the theoretical concepts. Lastly,
an effective summary containing all the relevant key points will be presented.
MAIN BODY
Evaluating how a nuanced understanding of resistance to change may be useful in managing
employees through change.
Several internal and external factors influence the dynamics of the organisation. Change in
organisational structure, leaders, goals, people, objectives or the culture can lead to change in
the internal dynamics of the organisation. The Political, Economic, Socio-cultural,
Technological, Legal and Environmental (PESTLE) factors, changes in the industry or changes
made by the competitors, etc. that act as external forces of the organisation lead to change in its
external dynamics(Metz, 2021). The pressure to keep up with the demands and expectations of

customers, changes in cost or competitive pressure leaves no choice with the organisation other
than to accept and adapt the required changes to remain successful. Therefore, it can be said
that change is natural and inevitable. But, the employees are generally resistant to change as it
may seem to be a threat to them. There are several reasons that can make the employees
resistant to change, some of which are the fear of losing the status or the job security as no
employee likes to lose control or power; unwillingness to possibly work extra to implement the
change; the fear of failure or the unknown; peer pressure or mistrust in the organisation; poor
communication; anxiety issues as changes can sometimes lead to stress due to uncertainty or
anxiety; lack of knowledge among the employees; the unwillingness to let go of the past things
or habits as they are now accustomed to the familiar, etc. In the rapidly changing environment
and new technologies, the employees might have to come out of their comfort zones and be
unwilling to learn new things adapt to these new changes in processes(Angelini and et.al.,
2021).
Organisations in which the employees have resistance to change tend to struggle more as it
makes the innovations and implementation difficult and also the makes the responding to
challenges and utilising the opportunities slower and less effective. Resistance can derail the
implementation and management of change. The managers have to deal with such resistance
by making sure that the employee has a clear and nuanced understanding about the change and
sees the change as fair, is encouraged enough to be committed and engaged in the change
implementation, has provision of good attitude, complete information, support from the
superiors and all the required resources, and is consistent in the implementation process. They
should be provided with the required incentives like monetory, perks, motivation, status,
benefits, recognition, etc.(DU Jing, 2019) Managing the resistance to change can be very
challenging for the management for which a deep understanding of the various resistance
theories and models of change is necessary. Organisations that overcome this challenge can
grow successfully like Netflix, which in the starting years offered monthly subscriptions to
customers that can have movies posted to their doors. Though it was disruptive from the
beginning, it realised the future needs and trends where no DVDs would be needed as
streaming started. It grabbed the opportunity and implemented the changes successfully and
became one of the most successful businesses worldwide.

Critically evaluating the topic under investigation making effective use of the evidence and
scholarly sources
Managing the resistance to change has been one of the key elements in the success of the
organisation. Identifying the problem and the reasons to resistance of change by the employees
is a crucial step to make the management of resistance to change more effective as without
knowing the reasons, one cannot find the solutions to it. As outline by Grace (2018) the Kurt
Lewin was not just one of the first to discuss resistance to change but also is a very powerful
and effective source to understand change management. The Kurt Lewin developed a model
consisting of three steps unfreezing, changing and refreezing. In the first step of unfreezing,
planning is done and the employees are provided necessary information about the need for
change, they are also motivated in order to handle and reduce the negative impacts of change.
The second step is the change phase where the change in implemented and the final step is
refreezing, where the change is solidified as the new norm to bring stability and acceptance in
the change process. As DuBose and Mayo (2020) depict, Change Equation is also another
popular method which has elements like dissatisfaction, vision, first steps and resistance.
According to this model, to overcome the resistance to change, the vision for better future, the
first step towards the new vision and the current level of dissatisfaction related to status quo
should be higher than the resistance. Managers should know the ways to create conditions so
that the employees feel a need to change the status quo to be able to manage the resistance.
The Kubler Ross has also designed one of the most significant models that can be applied to
change management. According to Weldearegay (2018), this model enables the managers to
understand and manage the psychological and emotional stages that the employees go though.
The beginning is the denial phase where the employees are in disbelief at the change, next
phase is anger where they question about the need for change which is followed by the
bargaining phase in which they do not want to feel uncertain or lose control. Then, comes the
depression phase where they consider themselves as helpless and victims and then the last
phase is of acceptance where they embrace and accept the inevitable. For complicated
organisational changes, Schweiger, Stouten and Bleijenbergh (2018) state a complex model
that was developed by McKinsey called the 7S model that described seven elements that
should be assessed to understand how they affect each other in order to identify the
weaknesses. The 7S contain three ‘hard’ elements that can are relatively easier to identify and

can be influenced directly, these are- Strategy, in terms of organisation plan to have
competitive advantage over the competitors; Structures like organisation charts and how teams
and departments are structured; Systems like IT system and daily procedures and activities of
the staff to do their jobs. The other four ‘soft’ elements are Shared values, which are the core
values of the organisation; Staff, as in the employees and their capabilities; Style, in terms of
the leadership style adopted; Skills, which are the competencies and actual skills of the
employees of the organisation.
Evaluating using examples and demonstrating practical application of theoretical concepts
Managers are better able to manage change and resistance after they have deeper and thorough
understanding of the psychology of employees, dynamics that affect change, concepts and
reasons of resistance to change, various change management tools and other relevant
guidelines, theories and frameworks. There are several ways that the managers could learn by
understanding these models and theories that could help him in making the employees
understand the need to change and effectively leading them to accept the change and avoid
negative impacts. The theories present various leadership styles that could be used to manage
the change and resistance. The leadership style that should be adopted is depended on the need
of the situation and circumstances and the complexity of the change and the stages of the
process of change. In practicality, transformational leadership style has often been seen to be
the most effective style as it involves open and clear communication with the employees that
can help them to understand the need for change, guides and collaborates with the employees
and is a facilitative approach(Peng and et.al., 2021). Communication is the key to all the
problems and mastering the right communication skills and strategies is very essential to
motivate the employees and provide guidance, remove fears and uncertainties from their mind
to control them effectively, and also to make sure that they have understood the process
properly. The managers and leaders should motivate the employees to ensure they have feeling
of involvement so that they act more responsibly. Trust and transparency among the employees
and the management is very essential to remove the resistance of change among the employees.
Managers and leaders should also understand the power of their authority and make sure to use
it at its best and also know how to use their coercive power effectively in a way that the
employees do as they are asked to and stop resisting to the change(Imran and Iqbal, 2021).

The case study of Oti-Yeboah Complex Limited can be taken as an example. To refocus on and
reframe the plywood production through sawmilling, the company undertook a change process
of two years and used to run on three shifts. The employees caused lockouts and strikes to
hinder the production and resist to change. The behaviour and perception of the employees
were studied in context to the change. One of the key factors found to reduce resistance was
their active participation which was possible by motivating them and adopting a clear and open
communication.
CONCLUSION
As change is unavoidable and natural, the organisations are left with no choice but to accept
and implement the change in order to recreate themselves to be successful, profitable and
achieve their goals. Employees’ resistance to change is natural as it causes the fear of unknown
and failure, uncertainty and many other insecurities among the employees about their jobs or
working environment. The resistance to change can be managed by effectively communicating
the important and relevant information to the employees, building trust and motivating them to
have participation in the process. There are various practical examples and case studies that
clearly show that resistance to change is a very complicated issue and is also one of the most
important key factor of managing and implementing the change successfully. To effectively
implement the change in the organisation, management of the change and the resistance of the
employees is a very crucial aspect. There are several models for the management of change and
its resistance like Lewin model, Kubler Ross, Change Equation, McKinsey 7s model, etc. that
can be used to understand various aspects of change management and reduce the resistance to
change among employees. Additionally, many guidelines and frameworks should be tried to
understand to deal with the behaviour and perception of the employees that can help in
reducing their resistance. There are various leadership styles that can be analysed and the most
suitable to the situation and stages of change among them can be selected. Some of the
effective leadership styles are transformational leadership, collaborative leadership, etc.
Ineffective change implementation and inefficient management of resistance to change can
cause serious consequences for the organisation and can also hamper its growth and success.
Hence, having a nuanced understanding of resistance to change is prominent for pushing the
organisation towards a successful execution of the change and the organisation’s growth.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Angelini, E. and et.al ., 2021. The impact of implementing a person-centred pain management
intervention on resistance to change and organizational culture. BMC health services
research. 21(1). pp.1-11
DU Jing, C. U. I., 2019. Take precautions: Impact of informal information before organizational
change on employee resistance to change. Acta Psychologica Sinica. 51(2). p.248.
DuBose, B. M. and Mayo, A. M., 2020, November. Resistance to change: A concept analysis.
In Nursing Forum (Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 631-636).
Grace, R. C., 2018. Preference, resistance to change, and the cumulative decision model. Journal
of the experimental analysis of behaviour. 109(1). pp.33-47.
Imran, M. K. and Iqbal, S. M. J., 2021. How change leadership affects change adaptability?
Investigating the moderated mediation effect of cognitive resistance and change
efficacy. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences (PJCSS). 15(1). pp.94-117.
Metz, M., 2021. Overview of Change in Organizations. Resistance to Change. A Literature
Review. Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series. 21(1). pp.611-620.
Peng, J. and et.al ., 2021. Transformational leadership and employees’ reactions to organizational
change: Evidence from a meta-analysis. The Journal of applied behavioral
science. 57(3). pp.369-397.
Schweiger, S., Stouten, H. and Bleijenbergh, I. L., 2018. A system dynamics model of resistance
to organizational change: The role of participatory strategies. Systems research and
behavioral science. 35(6). pp.658-674.
Weldearegay, D. H. G., 2018. The determinants of resistance to change management process: the
case of CBE, Addis Ababa district. American Research Journal of Business and
Management. 4(1). pp.2379-1047.