Hrm 531 Resistance To Change
Resistance to Change Paper
Organizations initiate change efforts for countless reasons. Failure to properly manage these changes can cause an organization to decline or even fail. Most organizations are faced with ongoing changes due to internal and external pressures. These pressures can lead to strategic changes that affect the entire organization or incremental changes that have a direct impact on a specific area. Given the economy today, organizations must continually scan their external business environment to maintain their competitive advantage by making internal adjustments.
Change is one of the biggest challenges organizations face. In today’s environment, …show more content…
change often occurs as a result of internal and external pressures. Internal pressures for change are often linked with external pressures. By this I mean the pressures often originate from the impact of external changes. Most often, changes in technology, development of new products and services, increased competition and consumer preferences drive change. Other pressures that cause organizational changes are new requirements in the regulatory environment, need to increase profitability, reorganization to increase efficiencies and the need to change organizational culture. With today’s ever-changing environment, organizations will continue to see an increase in external pressures that lead to continuous changes. Most of the times, these changes will be disruptive to the organization causing people fear and uncertainty, which leads to resistance.
Resistance to change may develop from the individual, the organization or from both. Many organizations tend to be good at planning and orchestrating the technical and structural aspects of change, but poor at guiding and supporting the human side associated with change. Organizations are so intent on pushing forward with the new they sometimes forget to help employees let go of the old. When people can’t let go, they often hold on sometimes by resisting change [ (Demers, Forrer, Leibowitz, & Cahill, 1991-2001) ].
Moreover, resistance often shows up in different and unexpected ways. According to the book Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior, they have identified seven reasons for individual resistance to change [ (Carrell, Jennings, & Heavrin, 1997) ]:
1. Fear of the unknown or uncertainty – they may fear their job security is threatened or have concerns about meeting new job requirements.
2. Self-interest – they may believe they will lose power, status or influence.
3. Habit – they prefer the old way of doing things.
4. Personality conflicts – not getting along with others in the organization may limit their ability to accept change.
5. Differing perceptions – they may differ in respect to how change may affect them (good for some and bad for others).
6. General mistrust – they may understand the arguments for change, but may not trust the motives of those advocating the change.
7. Social disruptions – they may fear that change will disrupt existing traditions.
Many change models have been developed in an effort to effectively manage and drive change. Most models have components that focus on the people-side of change that deal with resistance. This paper will describe three models and their relation to change resistance.
The Lewin change model developed by Kurt Lewin is a three-stage model known as the “unfreezing-change-refreezing” model.
This model is based on the theory that planned organizational change can occur by changing the behavior and attitudes of employees. These changes occur from three distinct stages. The first stage of this model is about getting ready to change. It involves getting to a point of understanding that change is necessary and getting ready to move away from the status quo. The second stage is to change what needs to be changed. This is a challenging stage because people are unsure and fearful of making the actual change. The third stage is about making the change permanent once the changes in stages one and two have been made. Within stage one of this model, Lewin developed a tool called the force field analysis to help organizations analyze certain aspects of changes that may lead to resistance [ (Kurt Lewin Change Management Model, 2008-2010) …show more content…
].
The Kotter change model developed by John Kotter is a three-phase, eight-step model that helps organizations create a climate for change, engage and enable the organization and implement and sustain the change. This model focuses on the people aspect of change and creates energy and enthusiasm around the change which is important for engaging employees, which is needed to reduce the likelihood of employee resistance.
The ADKAR change model developed by Prosci is a goal-oriented change management model that allows change management teams to focus their activities on specific business results. This model is based on two basic principles 1) it is people who change, not organizations and 2) successful changes occur when individual change matches the stages of organizational change (Warrilow, 2010). It describes five required steps that people need to move through in sequence in order for change to be implemented and sustained (Prosci, 1996-2010). Each part of this model gives change manager’s a role, which allows them to use this as a tool to diagnose employee resistance to change [ (ADKAR: Simple, Powerful, Action Oriented Model for Change, 2008-2010) ].
At any time during this communication process, misunderstandings or potential problems can occur such as message overload which results from too much information, message distortion resulting from problems sending or receiving messages or message ambiguity meaning the information was not specific enough. All of these things can increase the chances of employee resistance. Change managers should try to lessen the frequency of problems at each stage of the communication process, with clear, concise, accurate and well-planned communications [ (Introduction to Communication Skills, 1995-2010) ].
Educating employees at all levels on the change process is critical when preparing for change resistance. People operate under different assumptions of how they think change process works. To increase the success of a change initiative, organizations must get people operating under the same assumption. The best way to do this is through education. In this step, it is assumed that top management fully understands the change initiative since they are the ones responsible for developing the organization’s vision. Top management, as well as middle-line manager’s need to be educated on the model change managers will use to guide their organization through the change process. Understanding each phase of the change process and the impact to employees will allow them to effectively communicate and prepare front-line managers for change. In turn, front-line managers will have the knowledge to successfully educate employees on how they will be impacted and ways in which they can support the change. The bottom line is that education will allow management to coach employees through transition phases, challenge them and build buy-in at all levels.
Given the rapid and continuous changes organizations face today, it is without a doubt that change managers have one of the most challenging roles of managing change. The best way they can cope with resistance is to first anticipate it and then take action to actively involve employees at the onset of a change initiative. By doing this, they immediately begin to build excitement, motivation, support and commitment around the change. There is no better way to minimize resistance than to involve those directly affected by it. If change managers do encounter employee resistance, they can try to gain support by encouraging feedback on their thoughts and feelings about the change, actively engaging them in the change process and listen carefully and show empathy towards any concerns or fears they may have.
References
ADKAR: Simple, Powerful, Action Oriented Model for Change.
(2008-2010). Retrieved July 27, 2014, from Change-Management-Coach: http://www.change-management-coach.com/adkar.html
Atkinson, P. (2005). Managing Resistance to Change. Business Source Complete , pp. 49(1), 14-19.
Carrell, M., Jennings, D., & Heavrin, C. (1997). Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Change Management. (1995). Retrieved July 26, 2014, from Team Technology: http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/changemanagement2.html
Demers, R., Forrer, S., Leibowitz, Z., & Cahill, C. (1991-2001). Change Management: To Change. American Society for Training & Development , Issue 12; ISSN: 1055-9760, pp. 23-26.
Introduction to Communication Skills. (1995-2010). Retrieved July 27, 2014, from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/CommunicationIntro.htm
Kurt Lewin Change Management Model. (2008-2010). Retrieved July 26, 2014, from Change-Management-Coach: http://www.change-management-coach.com/kurt_lewin.html
Prosci. (1996-2010). Using ADKAR to Manage Change. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from Change Management Learning Center: http://www.change-management.com/Tutorial-ADKAR-series-1.htm References
(cont)
Sherman, W. S. (2005). Leading Strategic Change. Graziadio Business Report , Volume 08, Issue 1.
Warrilow, S. (2010). Ezinearticles. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from Ezinearticles: http://ezinearticles.com/?ADKAR-Change-Model---An-Evaluation-of-Its-Strengths-and-Weaknesses&id=3164961
Organizations initiate change efforts for countless reasons. Failure to properly manage these changes can cause an organization to decline or even fail. Most organizations are faced with ongoing changes due to internal and external pressures. These pressures can lead to strategic changes that affect the entire organization or incremental changes that have a direct impact on a specific area. Given the economy today, organizations must continually scan their external business environment to maintain their competitive advantage by making internal adjustments.
Change is one of the biggest challenges organizations face. In today’s environment, …show more content…
change often occurs as a result of internal and external pressures. Internal pressures for change are often linked with external pressures. By this I mean the pressures often originate from the impact of external changes. Most often, changes in technology, development of new products and services, increased competition and consumer preferences drive change. Other pressures that cause organizational changes are new requirements in the regulatory environment, need to increase profitability, reorganization to increase efficiencies and the need to change organizational culture. With today’s ever-changing environment, organizations will continue to see an increase in external pressures that lead to continuous changes. Most of the times, these changes will be disruptive to the organization causing people fear and uncertainty, which leads to resistance.
Resistance to change may develop from the individual, the organization or from both. Many organizations tend to be good at planning and orchestrating the technical and structural aspects of change, but poor at guiding and supporting the human side associated with change. Organizations are so intent on pushing forward with the new they sometimes forget to help employees let go of the old. When people can’t let go, they often hold on sometimes by resisting change [ (Demers, Forrer, Leibowitz, & Cahill, 1991-2001) ].
Moreover, resistance often shows up in different and unexpected ways. According to the book Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior, they have identified seven reasons for individual resistance to change [ (Carrell, Jennings, & Heavrin, 1997) ]:
1. Fear of the unknown or uncertainty – they may fear their job security is threatened or have concerns about meeting new job requirements.
2. Self-interest – they may believe they will lose power, status or influence.
3. Habit – they prefer the old way of doing things.
4. Personality conflicts – not getting along with others in the organization may limit their ability to accept change.
5. Differing perceptions – they may differ in respect to how change may affect them (good for some and bad for others).
6. General mistrust – they may understand the arguments for change, but may not trust the motives of those advocating the change.
7. Social disruptions – they may fear that change will disrupt existing traditions.
Many change models have been developed in an effort to effectively manage and drive change. Most models have components that focus on the people-side of change that deal with resistance. This paper will describe three models and their relation to change resistance.
The Lewin change model developed by Kurt Lewin is a three-stage model known as the “unfreezing-change-refreezing” model.
This model is based on the theory that planned organizational change can occur by changing the behavior and attitudes of employees. These changes occur from three distinct stages. The first stage of this model is about getting ready to change. It involves getting to a point of understanding that change is necessary and getting ready to move away from the status quo. The second stage is to change what needs to be changed. This is a challenging stage because people are unsure and fearful of making the actual change. The third stage is about making the change permanent once the changes in stages one and two have been made. Within stage one of this model, Lewin developed a tool called the force field analysis to help organizations analyze certain aspects of changes that may lead to resistance [ (Kurt Lewin Change Management Model, 2008-2010) …show more content…
].
The Kotter change model developed by John Kotter is a three-phase, eight-step model that helps organizations create a climate for change, engage and enable the organization and implement and sustain the change. This model focuses on the people aspect of change and creates energy and enthusiasm around the change which is important for engaging employees, which is needed to reduce the likelihood of employee resistance.
The ADKAR change model developed by Prosci is a goal-oriented change management model that allows change management teams to focus their activities on specific business results. This model is based on two basic principles 1) it is people who change, not organizations and 2) successful changes occur when individual change matches the stages of organizational change (Warrilow, 2010). It describes five required steps that people need to move through in sequence in order for change to be implemented and sustained (Prosci, 1996-2010). Each part of this model gives change manager’s a role, which allows them to use this as a tool to diagnose employee resistance to change [ (ADKAR: Simple, Powerful, Action Oriented Model for Change, 2008-2010) ].
At any time during this communication process, misunderstandings or potential problems can occur such as message overload which results from too much information, message distortion resulting from problems sending or receiving messages or message ambiguity meaning the information was not specific enough. All of these things can increase the chances of employee resistance. Change managers should try to lessen the frequency of problems at each stage of the communication process, with clear, concise, accurate and well-planned communications [ (Introduction to Communication Skills, 1995-2010) ].
Educating employees at all levels on the change process is critical when preparing for change resistance. People operate under different assumptions of how they think change process works. To increase the success of a change initiative, organizations must get people operating under the same assumption. The best way to do this is through education. In this step, it is assumed that top management fully understands the change initiative since they are the ones responsible for developing the organization’s vision. Top management, as well as middle-line manager’s need to be educated on the model change managers will use to guide their organization through the change process. Understanding each phase of the change process and the impact to employees will allow them to effectively communicate and prepare front-line managers for change. In turn, front-line managers will have the knowledge to successfully educate employees on how they will be impacted and ways in which they can support the change. The bottom line is that education will allow management to coach employees through transition phases, challenge them and build buy-in at all levels.
Given the rapid and continuous changes organizations face today, it is without a doubt that change managers have one of the most challenging roles of managing change. The best way they can cope with resistance is to first anticipate it and then take action to actively involve employees at the onset of a change initiative. By doing this, they immediately begin to build excitement, motivation, support and commitment around the change. There is no better way to minimize resistance than to involve those directly affected by it. If change managers do encounter employee resistance, they can try to gain support by encouraging feedback on their thoughts and feelings about the change, actively engaging them in the change process and listen carefully and show empathy towards any concerns or fears they may have.
References
ADKAR: Simple, Powerful, Action Oriented Model for Change.
(2008-2010). Retrieved July 27, 2014, from Change-Management-Coach: http://www.change-management-coach.com/adkar.html
Atkinson, P. (2005). Managing Resistance to Change. Business Source Complete , pp. 49(1), 14-19.
Carrell, M., Jennings, D., & Heavrin, C. (1997). Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Change Management. (1995). Retrieved July 26, 2014, from Team Technology: http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/changemanagement2.html
Demers, R., Forrer, S., Leibowitz, Z., & Cahill, C. (1991-2001). Change Management: To Change. American Society for Training & Development , Issue 12; ISSN: 1055-9760, pp. 23-26.
Introduction to Communication Skills. (1995-2010). Retrieved July 27, 2014, from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/CommunicationIntro.htm
Kurt Lewin Change Management Model. (2008-2010). Retrieved July 26, 2014, from Change-Management-Coach: http://www.change-management-coach.com/kurt_lewin.html
Prosci. (1996-2010). Using ADKAR to Manage Change. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from Change Management Learning Center: http://www.change-management.com/Tutorial-ADKAR-series-1.htm References
(cont)
Sherman, W. S. (2005). Leading Strategic Change. Graziadio Business Report , Volume 08, Issue 1.
Warrilow, S. (2010). Ezinearticles. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from Ezinearticles: http://ezinearticles.com/?ADKAR-Change-Model---An-Evaluation-of-Its-Strengths-and-Weaknesses&id=3164961