‘We may like change and regard it as an essential feature of living; it does not mean that we always welcome it’ ( Hughes, 2006).
1.0 Introduction
In response to environmental changes, the current organizational change has reached an irreversible trend. As Mr. M Beer ( 2003) stated, ‘Change is part of organisational life and essential for progress. Those who know how to anticipate it, catalyse it, and manage it will find their careers, and their companies, more satisfying and successful’
More than half of organizational change, however, has ended in failure. The primary reason is not a lack of capacity of the staff or the resource shortage of the enterprise , but the resistance to organizational change. In fact, resistance to change is inevitable as a primary element of change management.
David Foote (2001) once stated that ‘resistance to change is one of the nastiest, most debilitating workplace cancers.’ It makes sense in a way. The existence of resistance to change means that companies can not be all smooth sailing, which gives enterprise managers or organizers of change a realistic and serious change management task. In this sense, corporate managers must be aware that resistance to change could have a negative effect on the process of change. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the change, enterprises need to properly manage changes, identify the reasons for the formation of resistance to change and adopt the appropriate method to exclude resistances; at the same time, corporate managers should also be noted that resistance to change is not entirely destructive, it can be translated into a positive and constructive factor under a proper management. The existence of resistance to change allows business manag...
... middle of paper ...
...individual is different. Unless they have entirely convinced employees, it is unrealistic for managers to expect employees to alter the status quo and make a difference positively.
7.0 Bibliography
Dent,E & Goldberg,S.(1999). Challenging ‘resistance to change.’ Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 25-41.
Folger, R & Skarlicki, D. (1999). Unifairness and resistance to change: hardship as mistreatment. Joural of Organizational Change Management, 35-50.
http://www.hroot.com/contents/22/15145.html - accessed by 9/03/2010
http://www.lexjansen.com/pharmasug/2000/techtech/tt16.pdf - accessed by 9/03/2010
http://triadllc.com/pdf/ManagingResistance.pdf -accessed by 10/03/2010
http://qm2.org/mbriefs/92.html - accessed by 12/03/2010
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/resistance_change/sign_resistance.htm - accessed by 12/03/2010
Kegan, R. & L. Laskow Lahey. (2009). Immunity to Change: How to overcome it and unlock potential in yourself and your organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Kegan, R., & Laskow Lahey, L. (2009). Immunity to change. How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Kanter, R.M., Stein, B.A. and Jick, T.D. (1992) The Challenge of Organizational Change (New York: The FreePress).
Change is a fundamental element of individuals, groups and all sorts of organizations. As it is the case for individuals, groups and societies, where change is a continuous process, composed of an indefinite amount of smaller sub-changes that vary in effect and length, and is affected by all sorts of aspects and events, many of which cyclic are anticipated ones. It is also the case for organizations, where change occurs repeatedly during the life cycle of organizations. Yet change in organizations is not as anticipated nor as predictable, with unexpected internal and external variables and political forces that can further complicate the management of change (Andriopoulos, C. and P. Dawson, 2009), which is by itself, the focus of many scholars in their pursuit to shed light on and facilitate the change process (Kotter 1996; Levin 1947; et al).
Changing situations throughout the world affect all organizations in business today. Therefore, most organizations acknowledge the need to experience change and transformation in order to survive. The key challenges companies face are due to the advancements in technology, the social environment caused by globalization, the pace of competition, and the demands regarding customer expectations. It is difficult to overcome the obstacles involved with change despite all the articles, books, and publications devoted to the topic. People are naturally resistant to fundamental changes and often intimidated by the process; the old traditional patterns and methods are no longer effective.
When organizational change proves necessary, all people at all levels of the organization should address change as a “how,” “what,” and “why” problem in order for the change to be sustained over time.
Individuals, when faced with any major change, will be inevitably resistant and will want to preserve the status quo, especially if they think their status or security within the organization is in danger (Bolognese, 2010). Folger and Skarlicki believe that organizational change produces skepticism in employees, which makes it problematic and possibly even impossible to contrive improvements within the organization (as cited in Bolognese, 2010). Therefore, management must understand, accept and make an effort to work with resistance, since it can undermine even the most well-conceived change efforts (Bolognese, 2010). Furthermore, Coetsee states that for organizations to achieve the maximum benefits from change they must effectively create and maintain a climate and culture that does not support resistance and rewards acceptance and support ( as cited in Bolognese, 2010). Therefore, it is important to understand what resistance is and how to reduce the effects of resistance.
Implementing change in the workplace is a dynamic process. Although change itself can be controlled and limited to some degree, innovation is substantially even more dynamic. This dynamic, unpredictable process introduces vulnerability, which can lead to employee frustration. Just as the scenario addresses, many individuals become motivated at the thought of change and innovation; however, the change does not occur due to resistance or other obstacles. Much of this resistance arises from the unpredictability and vulnerability of the process. Managers must be able to prevent or manage resistance by using tools and strategies to smooth the process.
Middlebrook, B., Caruth, D., & Frank, R. (1984, Summer 85). Overcoming Resistance to Change. Management Journal, 50(3), pp. 23.
The change process within any organization can prove to be difficult and very stressful, not only for the employees but also for the management team. Hayes (2014), highlights seven core activities that must take place in order for change to be effective: recognizing the need for change, diagnosing the change and formulating a future state, planning the desired change, implementing the strategies, sustaining the implemented change, managing all those involved and learning from the change. Individually, these steps are comprised of key actions and decisions that must be properly addressed in order to move on to the next step. This paper is going to examine how change managers manage the implementation of change and strategies used
The idea of change is the most constant factor in business today and organisational change therefore plays a crucial role in this highly dynamic environment. It is defined as a company that is going through a transformation and is in a progressive step towards improving their existing capabilities. Organisational change is important as managers need to continue to commit and deliver today but must also think of changes that lie ahead tomorrow. This is a difficult task because management systems are design, and people are rewarded for stability. These two main factors will be discussed with reasons as to why organisational change is necessary for survival, but on the other hand why it is difficult to accomplish.
Reasons for change can be down to adopting new corporate strategies, structures, process and technology to assist organisations handle internal and external environmental conditions effectively (Goksoy, 2015). However, merely adopting change cannot drastically drive through change so organisations need to go through reconstructive change to realign the organisations objectives (Green, 2007). Although change can be introduced in these drastic fashions it can also be emergent within an organisation due
Individuals go through a reaction process when they are personally confronted with major organizational change (Kyle, 1993; Jacobs, 1995; Bovey & Hede, 2001). Within this process there are four phases that it consists of: initial denial, resistance, gradual exploration, and eventual commitment (Scott & Jaffe, 1988; Bovey & Hede, 2001). Resistance to change is the initial area to focus on. The issues of organizational change and resistance to change have received a lot of attention over the past decade (Macri, Tagliaventi & Bertolotti, 2002). The perceptions of individuals play a fu...
The employee reflects change in an organization as a shift of role, responsibilities and skill. However, in an organizational level its refers change as a framework structure around the changing needs and capability of an organization to perform. Both employee and organization’s perception of change are needed to ensure the change is successful. Brown (2011) reported that “the role of change as a corrective action often affect patterns of work or values, and in consequence meet with resistance” (p. 144). Once an organization and its member decide to conduct a change program, they intensify the forces that driving the change. The life cycle of employee’s resistance is necessary in accomplishing change in an organization. There are five important phases in a life cycle of employee resistance to change in an organization, namely introduce the change, forces of change emerge, direct conflict happens in an organization, residual resistance appear in an organization and lastly, establish the change. (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
Organisations as machines, political systems, organisms, and flux and transformation are particularly common assumptions that are often used by managers, writers and consultants to make sense of how organizational change works. In reality most organizations use combinations of approaches to tackle change and not just one of the above, however these provide useful insights into the process of organizational change (Cameron and Green, 2012). This essay will try to make sense out of these assumptions to understand what organisational change is. By doing so, insights will be drawn on how organizational change can be managed and led.