Preview

Real Reason People Wont Change

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1933 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Real Reason People Wont Change
INTRODUCTION OF THE ARTICLE
"The real reason people won't change" is an article by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey. The article was first published in November 2001 in Harvard Business Review. The article describes and summarize about the personal immunity of people that resist them from being changed.
The real reason people wont change is not due to lack of skill and deep commitment within them but it is due to hidden competing commitment followed by big assumptions. For some, the need is confidence-building, for others it's behavior change or skill development. But sometimes, no matter how hard a person tries, their progress remains inexplicably stalled. The situation can be as frustrating to bosses, colleagues, and family members as it is to the individual.
Organizational psychologists Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey developed the theory of a "competing commitment" to explain what they term "personal immunity to change." Competing commitments are long held belief that has become an integral part of their make up so that it is difficult to change. When these beliefs are uncovered, change is possible. And it is still true that some people opt not to disrupt their immunity to change, choosing instead to continue their fruitless struggle against their competing commitments.
The competing commitments cause even the valued employee to behave in inexplicably and irremediable way. It is a subconscious hidden goal of the people that conflicts with their stated commitments. Many of these 'competing commitments' are based on long-held beliefs that are an integral part of their make-up so they can be difficult to change.
Some examples of competing commitments are: * Dragging one's feet on an assignment because one wants to avoid a next tougher assignment or future lack of work. * Avoiding teamwork or meetings because one wants to avoid the conflict that is associated with it. * Using sarcastic disruptive humor to keep oneself at a distance from a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    ZHANG Yuanli Mgts1601 Essay

    • 2246 Words
    • 10 Pages

    This paper is conducted to explore the main problem of employee resistance to change and motivating factors that lead to employee resistance. This essay will also propose recommendation of appropriate solutions to this problem. Organisations in the 21st century have to strategise and establish effective competitiveness by undertaking transformational change initiatives. Transformational change requires organisations to make…

    • 2246 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Hrm 587 Final Project

    • 6455 Words
    • 26 Pages

    Ford, J., Ford, L., &D’Amelio, A. (2008). Resistance to change: The rest of the story. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 362-377.…

    • 6455 Words
    • 26 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Identify the potential sources of resistance to change and develop strategies to manage resistance to change.…

    • 601 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Managers and employees may be resistance to change because it disrupts their comfort level with their processes, procedures, and daily tasks. People become experts in their area with the software programs they use, tasks they complete, and the service they provide. Changes that touch any or all of these areas can be unsettling and can contribute to the negative behavior associated to change. Other factors that contribute to resistance is that some employees are uncomfortable with…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Weekly Notes

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages

    According to Yukl (2010), people resist change for many reasons. Choose one reason listed within Leadership in Organizations and provide an example from your past or current employment of this type of resistance to change. How was this obstacle managed? What actions would you now recommend and why?…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bshs 311

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Stages of Change models shows that most people display change gradually starting from being unaware of a change needed or being unwilling to make a change (precontemplation stage) to considering a change (contemplation stage). At the contemplation stage a person will show willingness and open minded behavior that allows the necessary steps for change to take place. During this long process relapses may take place but to be considered part of the changing processing and not overshadow the growth that has been achieved, and to know that eventually the change becomes permanent.…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Organizational Change Plan

    • 1877 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Wynn, G. (2005). Managing Resistance to change, A change in employee attitude IS possible. Retrieved from Change Management: http://www.managingchange.biz/index.html…

    • 1877 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Change Management Plan Paper

    • 2603 Words
    • 11 Pages

    References: Atkinson, P. (2005, Spring). Managing resistance to change. Management Services, 49(1), 14-19. Retrieved September 1, 2006, from EBSCOhost database…

    • 2603 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Resistance to change comes along quite a bit in all organizations; and individuals are comfortable with what he or she knows. Organizations are constantly struggling with combating resistance to change, and all the while keeping individuals ideas and concerns in mind. In order to make things a little easier Lewin’s theory can be used, to make this transition to change a little easier. There is also organizational and individual resistance, and what major factors can cause resistance to change. Resistance to change can be managed, and how it does solely relies on the organization. Organizations have a lot to cope with on a daily basis, and when changes are made this impacts the company as a whole. Many things can contribute to resistance to change, and listed below are factors organizations face when changes are implemented.…

    • 1428 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Although change has become commonplace in modern organizations, the reported failure rates of change implementation range from 40% to as high as 70% (McKay et al., 2013). Considering our global economy and technological innovation, this rate is alarmingly high. It is no surprise that these statistics have prompted researchers to investigate the causes underlying change failure in modern organizational settings (McKay et al., 2013). Employee resistance has been identified as a primary source of change implementation failure across a range of organizations and industries worldwide (McKay et al., 2013). Change is a situation that interrupts normal patterns of organization and calls for participants to enact new patterns, involving interplay of deliberate and emergent processes that can be highly ambiguous for everyone involved (Ford et al., 2008). Employees resist change for a variety of more or less logical reasons (Baack, 2012). These reasons will be explored to understand the external and internal factors of change within organizations. In addition, a scenario will be presented to analyze how change was introduced, perceived, and implemented at a real life organization.…

    • 1621 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    The No Asshole Rule Summary

    • 3274 Words
    • 14 Pages

    “The No Asshole Rule” by Robert Sutton effectively illustrates the multitude of detrimental effects abusive staff members can have on fellow employees. Sutton discusses in detail how to identify both certified and temporary assholes, how to deal with and reform these assholes, and how to keep from becoming an asshole oneself, supplemented with anecdotal examples and studies that reinforce his opinion that the removal of these types of destructive people will maximize workplace productivity and relieve the workplace of asshole poisoning. For employees that cannot leave their current job situation, he offers advice on how to survive these kind of people and how to negate their damaging influence. By primarily focusing on how…

    • 3274 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Best Essays

    escalation of commitment

    • 2084 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The theoretical background to this paper is devided into several part in the main body. Drummond (2012), Bazerman &Moore(2009), Staw & Ross (1987) Escalation of commitment is the tendency that decision maker continue to invest a negative feedback or unpredictable project in oreder to persist previous decision.(self-justification explanation) Shepherd, D.A., Zacharakis, A. L., Cable,D.M. and Shane, S. . Etc., stated Escalation of commitment is an difficult situation that require decision maker to make a right decision for next course of action when received negative feedback about previous decision because there are too many factors can influence decision making. Staw B.M., Koput K.W. & Barsade S.G.,. (1997) that there are e 4 main causes of escalation of commotion, Psychological, Social, Economic and Organizational.…

    • 2084 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    For many years, the world of business has experienced an increasing rate of change. Alvin Toffler (1970) predicted the trend several decades ago. Toffler also noted that people exhibit a natural tendency to resist change. This resistance to change is a major organizational challenge that organizations must learn to manage. As individuals respond to change in different ways, and as variations in responses produce different outcomes the recognition of this resistance to change is an essential step in the development and implementation of effective change management strategies. Change, positive or negative, is unsettling because people seek stability. Certain individuals are more resistant to change than others, at times there can be situational characteristics such as a lack of trust in management contributing to this resistance to change. Often this resistance to change is out of self interest, at stake can be factors such as income, job security, prestige, power, and personal convenience. Low tolerance for change, lack of trust in management, and self interest are all factors which result in resistance to change. However my experience suggests that lack of understanding of the need for change can be the single greatest contributing factor and is the factor which the organization has the greatest control over.…

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jick (1993) defines change as "a planned or unplanned response to pressure and forces. Change is inevitable and organizations, which do not respond to change, are likely to struggle and may eventually, die. Change however can be painful and therefore needs to be managed, as the empirical evidence points to approximately 66% of major changes as failures. Fortune 500 executives claim that this is not because of a lack of resources but resistance to the change. Managing change will facilitate the achievement of strategic goals of the organization, which is its primary focus.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Escalation Of Commitment

    • 3105 Words
    • 10 Pages

    A report to the Chief Executive about the dangers of escalation of commitment and measures that organisation can take to curb escalations…

    • 3105 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays

Related Topics