Organizational Change Management – Resistance to Change Report

This report delves into the critical aspects of organizational change management, starting with a literature review that explores workplace changes and the inevitability of change in today's competitive landscape. It defines resistance to change, highlighting its detrimental impact on change programs, and identifies various reasons for its occurrence, including fear of power loss, poor communication, peer pressure, and organizational politics. The report then emphasizes the importance of managing resistance, citing its effects on employee morale, productivity, and overall organizational success. A detailed critique follows, discussing strategies for managing resistance, such as proactive planning, employee engagement, establishing communication channels, providing clarity on the change program, implementing reward systems, fostering a learning environment, identifying change agents, and utilizing established change management models. The conclusion reiterates the importance of effectively managing resistance to change for successful implementation of change programs and overall organizational health.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT –
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Table of Contents
Introduction – Literature Review........................................................................................3
Workplace Changes......................................................................................................................3
Resistance to Change...................................................................................................................3
Reasons for resistance to change.......................................................................................3
Managing resistance to change – Critique..........................................................................5
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................8
References.........................................................................................................................9

Introduction – Literature Review
Workplace Changes
Since the spread of globalisation, the competition in the world has drastically
increased. Business organisations are at a war with each other and it is becoming
harder to survive in the market with each coming day. The fluctuating internal and
external environment factors, such as economic, social, technological, political,
environmental, etc. are forcing business organisations to implement minor as well as
major workplace changes so that they can cope up with the market trends and
remain in competition. Thus, change in the business world has become inevitable
and is considered to be one of the most challenging tasks for human resource
managers and leaders of organisations.
Resistance to Change
Resistance to change is defined as the state where stakeholders of a business
organisation resist workplace changes in case they perceive the change as a threat
to their power or position. Resistance to change is one of the prime reasons behind
the failure of change programs and dealing with resistance to change programs is a
nightmare for most of the human resource managers and leaders. Therefore,
managing resistance to change programs is becoming an important subject in the
field of business and new researches are being carried out regularly to understand
the reasons behind the generation of resistance to change and to identify strategies
that can help in managing resistance to change.
In this report, we will conduct a literature review to understand the prime causes
behind the generation of resistance to change and the impact that it can have on an
organisation. Based on this information, we will discuss certain strategies that can be
adopted by human resource managers or change agents to deal with resistance to
change.

Reasons for resistance to change
Resistance to change can occur in an organisation because of a number of reasons
and can have a great impact on the overall workplace. Certain reasons for the
occurrence of resistance to change are discussed below:
According to W. Warner Burke (2017), the prime reason for the occurrence of
resistance to change in business organisations is the fear of loss of power or status
in the workplace. At times, organisational changes can bring some major
transformations in the workplace and in the structure of the organisation on the
whole. In such cases, some employees can lose their power over their subordinates.
As a result, they can end up resisting workplace changes by having a negative
influence over others.
According to Justin Bateh, Mario E. Castaneda and James E. Farah (2013),
resistance to organisational changes also occurs when the leaders of the
organisation fail to communicate the change intentions with their employees in a
proper way. Lack of an effective communication system develops a fear in the mind
of the employees, which leads to spreading of rumours in the workplace. The
generation of fear of the unknown in the mind of the employees makes them
perceive the change program as a threat and they become more likely to resist
organisational changes.
Derya Yilmaz and Gökhan Liliçoglu (2013) in their article specified some important
factors that can lead to generation of resistance to change in business organisations.
They identified peer pressure as an important factor that leads to resistance to
change. According to them, employees are social creatures and irrespective of
introverts or extroverts, they all have a tendency to resist changes that are against
the interest of their groups. Most of the times, it is observed that employees resist
workplace changes because they are under a constant pressure from their co-
workers. They also identified that a workplace where there is a lack of trust amongst
the employees, change programs often receive a lot of resistance.
David Buchanan and Richard Badhman (2008) identified organisational politics and
bureaucracy as an important factor that leads to resistance to change. If powerful

people in a company feel that a change in the workplace would undermine their
authority over the others, they become more likely to resist workplace changes by
having a negative influence on the employees who follow them.
Resistance to change can occur due to a lot of reasons but finding the root cause
and dealing with it is an important role of human resource managers because it can
have an adverse impact on the organisational as a whole. Managing resistance to
change is important because:
According to Jeffrey D. Ford, Laurie W. Ford, and Angelo D'Amelio (2008), it is
important to manage resistance to change because it can deteriorate the
environment of a workplace. Not being able to deal with resistance to change
programs can lower down the morale of the employees and it can become difficult
for them to cope up with the negativity that spreads in the workplace.
Alice H. Y. Hon, Matt Bloom and J. Michael Crant (2011) concluded in their research
that resistance to change in a workplace can be very harmful for the overall
prodcutvity of an organisation. At times, the employees become so frustrated with
the change programs that they lose their concentration and become more likely to
lose their satisfaction levels with their jobs. As a result, the overall productivity of a
company can fail because of resistance to change programs.
Deneed & Boud (2014) identified that managing resistance to change is important for
business organisations so that they can guide their workforce throughout the
transformation and prevent them from losing their motivation. Resistance to
organisational change can sometimes cause failure of the change program
altogether, which can be detrimental to the market position of a company. Further,
such a scenario can make it impossible for business organisations to plan and
implement workplace changes in the future, which can take them out of the market
competition due to failure to cope up with the changing market trends. According to
Higgerson (2016) managing resistance to change ensures that the transformation
from one position to another can be smoothly achieved by ensuring complete
support from the entire workforce. Just like workplace changes, even resistance to

change is inevitable but managing resistance to change is something that is of
utmost importance to the change agents and human resource managers.
Managing resistance to change – Critique
From the literature review, two things can be clearly stated. Firstly, just like
workplace changes, resistance to change has also become inevitable and no matter
how hard a company or its human resource managers try, there will always be
resistance to change programs. Secondly, resistance to change programs can have
a huge impact on an organisation and can ultimately lead to its failure in the industry.
Therefore, dealing with resistance to change is really important.
To ensure success of change programs, it is important that change agents and
human resource managers are efficient in managing resistance to change. Certain
strategies that can help them in successfully managing resistance to change are
discussed below:
First of all, human resource managers need to start planning to deal with resistance
to change right from the very beginning. During the planning phase of a change
program, human resource managers and change agents should bring it to
everyone’s awareness that resistance to change is inevitable and identify points that
could lead to resistance (Carol O′Connor, 2013). Further, they should build on these
points and should be ready with mitigation measures if one of the points actually
results in generation of resistance to change in the future. It is also important that the
root cause of resistance is identified by the managers and dealt with because most
of the times, managers waste their time on lesser important issues rather than trying
to deal with the root cause.
Secondly, employee engagement can be a great strategy to minimise resistance to
change. As studied above, fear of the unknown in the mind of the employees can
lead to spreading of rumours and resistance to change (Agboola & Salawu, 2011).
Therefore, by involving the employees in the change program, right from the
planning phase, can guarantee their engagement and a decreased tendency to
resist workplace changes.

Thirdly, establishing efficient communication channels can also help in managing
resistance to change. Communication of information and data is of utmost
importance during change programs because all stakeholders become hungry for
information and data (Heath & Heath, 2011). Communicating the status of the
change program to the employees on the right time and in the right way can help
human resource managers or change agents in winning their trust, which can help in
managing resistance to change.
Fourthly, providing a clarity to the employees about the change program, the role
that they have to play in it and also about the factors that are forcing the
management to introduce a change can be one of the best ways to deal with
resistance to change. Human resource managers or change agents leading a
change program need to understand that it is not the fear of changing that makes
employees resist changes but is the fear of a loss that worries them and makes them
resist changes (Peccei, 2011). It becomes a moral duty of change promoters to
explain the urgency to the employees and ask for their support.
Fifthly, attaching a system of reward with the change program is an essential
strategy to minimise resistance to change. Reward can help in keeping the
employees motivated to transform from one work operation or practice to another.
Further, managers can reward those employees who help in promoting a change or
have successfully accepted the transformation. This would help in having a positive
impact on the other employees and reinforcing a change in the behaviour.
Sixthly, developing a learning environment in the workplace can help business
organisations in keeping their workforce prepared for workplace changes. Human
resource managers should try their best to enhance learning, creativity and
innovation in the workplace and also ensure that the employees do not develop a
comfort zone of their own. The employees should understand that learning is a part
of their job and that they would have to evolve with the evolution of the industry in
which they operate. By making the employees understand the importance of change
and its inevitability, it can become easier for business organisations to manage
resistance to change in the longer run.

Seventhly, identifying change agents amongst leaders of the organisation is another
strategy that can help in winning the trust and confidence of the workforce. Change
agents can be selected from those managers who have the power and influence of
others and whom the workforce loves to follows. They can act as a voice for the
company and can help in promoting the change program whenever and wherever
necessary. Thus, it can become easier to manage resistance to change.
Lastly, when in doubt, it is always useful to stick to traditional theories of change
management, such as Kurt Lewin’s Unfreezing-Changing-Refreezing model, Kotter’s
8 step change process, etc. These models were developed by pioneers in the
subject and are still reliable today. They can help human resource managers in
planning their actions while implementing a change program and in ensuring
successful implementation by dealing with resistance to change programs.
Conclusion
Just like market change and organisational changes, resistance to change is also
inevitable but because a lot of resources are at stake during the implementation of a
change program, it becomes crucial to manage resistance to change in an effective
manner.
From the literature review, it can be clearly identified that resistance to change can
occur due to a number of reasons and can have a huge impact on the morale of the
workforce, their level of motivation, overall productivity and profitability of an
organization and its position and competitiveness in the market, etc. Therefore, it is
important that human resource managers should carefully device strategies that
would help them in managing resistance to change right from the very beginning of a
change program.

References
Burke, W. W., 2017. Organization change: Theory and practice. s.l.:Sage
Publications.
Bateh, J., Castaneda, M. E. & Farah, J. E., 2013. Employee Resistance To
Organizational Change. International Journal of Management & Information
Systems, 17(2).
Kılıçoğlu, G. & Yılmaz, D., 2013. Resistance to change and ways of reducing
resistance in educational organizations. European Journal of Research on
Education, 1(1), pp. 14-21.
Buchanan, D. & Badham, R., 2008. Power, politics, and organizational change:
Winning the turf game. s.l.:Sage .
Jeffrey D. Ford, L. W. F. & D'Amelio, A., 2008. Resistance to Change: The Rest of
the Story. Academy of Management Review, 1 April.33(2).
Deneen, C. & Boud, D., 2014. Patterns of resistance in managing assessment
change. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education , 39(5).
Higgerson, M. L., 2016. Managing Resistance When Hired to Lead Change. The
Department Chair, 27(1).
Hon, A. H. Y., Bloom, M. & Crant, J. M., 2011. Overcoming Resistance to Change
and Enhancing Creative Performance. Journal of Management , 2 August.
Carol O′Connor, 2013. MANAGING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE. MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, 6(4).

Agboola, A. A. & Salawu, R. O., 2011. Managing Deviant Behavior and Resistance
to Change. International Journal of Business and Management , January.6(1).
Heath, C. & Heath, D., 2011. Overcoming Resistance to Change. School
Administrator, 68(3), pp. 28-32.
Peccei, R., 2011. The role of organisational commitment in the analysis of resistance
to change: Co‐predictor and moderator effects. PERSONNEL REVIEW, 40(2), pp.
185-204.