Organizational Change Management: A Literature Review on Resistance

This literature review examines the critical issue of resistance to change within organizational contexts. It begins by highlighting the negative impacts of resistance on efficiency and effectiveness, framing it as a source of conflict. The review synthesizes various causes of resistance, including increased managerial control, misunderstandings about the change process, perceived weaknesses in proposed changes, and increased workloads. It then explores strategies for managing resistance, such as implementing change management models (e.g., unfreeze-change-refreeze), providing employee training to facilitate understanding and skill acquisition, and fostering effective communication to encourage employee input and address concerns. The analysis critiques the literature by emphasizing the role of managers and top management in addressing resistance through the outlined methods, ultimately aiming to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

Organizational change management

Organizational change management
Resistance to change “Literature review”
Resistance to change is considered as a barrier in the workplace. According to Deneen
and Boud 2014, managers should be aware about the fact that there will be the employees who
resist the proposed changes. When they resist the changes it directly impact on the overall
efficiency and effectiveness of process of change. Resistance to change gives negative impact on
the organizational operations. It can be considered as a source of functional conflict.
There are various causes related to resistance to change. According to Palthe 2014,
increasing the control of the workers in the workplace can be one of the causes of resistance to
change. It has been examined that organizational changes can enhance the managerial control of
the workers and this method can enhance the resistance in context to the given proposals.
According to Rezaei and Haghani 2016, misunderstanding the entire process is also the
major cause of resistance of change. It has been seen that employees resist change when they do
not consider the actual reason related to the changes that take place in the workplace. When
employees don’t consider process, they resist the change. Also it has been investigated that the
changes which are proposed possess weakness that can be seen by the employees. So, the
employees who can analyze the weakness will resist at the time of implementing the process to
remove the weakness. Therefore, in this scenario, it is important for the mangers to clear
employee’s doubts so that operations can be completed with efficiency.
According to Jabri 2017, in the entire process of organizational change, the workload of
the employees enhances which is not acceptable for them. The workload which is enhanced
gives impact on the productivity level. So, this can be one of the causes of resistance to change.
Therefore, it is important to manage resistance to change to that in right direction the
activities can be conducted with overall efficiency of the employees. According to Sinelnikov
and Wells 2017, it is important to focus on change management model so that resistance to
change can be minimized. It has been seen that in this model there are three stages on which
managers should emphasize. The first stage is related with unfreeze in which it is important for
the company to accept the change which consists of minimizing the status quo. The next stage is
related with change in which individuals start to believe and act in a supportive way. People take
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Organizational change management
time to consider the change and then participate in proactive manner. The last step is related with
refreeze. When changes take place and people are ready then company is ready to refreeze. This
stage also assists the people and company in managing the change. With sense of proper stability
the confidence level of the employees enhances. Therefore, this model should be considered so
that activities can be managed.
According to Bompa and Buzzichelli 2018, resistance to change is considered as one of
the necessary factor on which managers should emphasize. To manage resistance to change it
has been seen that there are various methods that should also be considered by the managers.
Training is the best method that should be considered by the managers to manage change in the
workplace. By offering proper training to employees, the process of change can be easy to accept
as it shows them direction to complete the activities. By giving training, employees can have
proper understanding of the change which is taking in the workplace. Also they can complete
their task according to the steps mentioned at the time of giving training. Also the management
should give training to employees so that they can know about the issues faced by the employees
at the time of accepting the change. So, it is simple for them to complete the activities and also to
accept changes.
According to Karanges et al., 2015, resistance to change can be managed by considering
effective communication process in the workplace. It has been analyzed that if process of
communication is followed in the workplace then resistance to change can be reduced.
According to Russell and Reimer 2015, by having proper communication the employees can
easily share their views and opinions which motivate them to accept the change. Therefore, it is
considered as one of the best technique that can help to control resistance of the employees
towards change.
Critique of literature
By analyzing the entire paper, it has been seen that that there are many researchers who
have different opinions in context to manage resistance to change. Also many researchers stated
the causes that take place for resistance to change. Therefore, it can be critiqued that to manage
the change in the workplace is the responsibility of the managers or the top management. The
change can be managed by them if focus is given on the methods like change model, training and
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Organizational change management
communication channels. It is necessary to consider these methods so that employees can accept
the change in the workplace. By considering the change model, the managers or the top
management can implement change in a proper manner which is accepted by the employees. in
context to training, it has been seen that it is a platform that offers chance to employees to share
their views and opinions.
Through training it can be easy for the employees to acquire new concepts and skills that
will help to accept the change. The last method is related with communication. It is important for
the managers to focus on managing the entire communication process so that if employees face
difficulty at the time of implementing change it can be resolved immediately.
Therefore, these concepts or methods given by the researchers are helpful for the
company as it motivates and helps the employees to accept the change. These techniques are
useful as it provide clarity of information and also generate curiosity within the employees to
acquire new skills. So, to manage resistance to change it is important to focus on these strategies
so that goals and objectives can be attained.
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Organizational change management
References
Bompa, T.O. and Buzzichelli, C., 2018. Periodization-: theory and methodology of training.
Human Kinetics.
Deneen, C. and Boud, D., 2014. Patterns of resistance in managing assessment
change. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39(5), pp.577-591.
Jabri, M., 2017. Managing organizational change: Process, social construction and dialogue.
Palgrave.
Karanges, E., Johnston, K., Beatson, A. and Lings, I., 2015. The influence of internal
communication on employee engagement: A pilot study. Public Relations Review, 41(1), pp.129-
131.
Palthe, J., 2014. Regulative, normative, and cognitive elements of organizations: Implications for
managing change. Management and organizational studies, 1(2), p.59.
Rezaei, H. and Haghani, F., 2016. The Causes of Resistance to Change and Solutions to
Overcome It: A Review of Literature. Iranian Journal of Medical Education, 16, pp.440-453.
Russell, T. and Reimer, T., 2015. Communication in Workplace Teams. The International
Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Communication, pp.1-5.
Sinelnikov, S. and Wells, B.M., 2017. Distracted driving on the job: application of a modified
stages of change model. Safety science, 94, pp.161-170.
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