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Resistance to Change:
Management’s Responsibility – Part 1
By Timothy David
In order for World
Class Organizations to survive, management must understand that change is inevitable
and that they themselves are responsible for overcoming employee resistance
through sound management and change-oriented leadership. Organizational change
is necessary due to global market competition, regulatory changes, social cultural shifts, reshaping of the business
philosophy, and rapidly changing technology. Management must understand the ill
affects not only on the employees, but the organization as well. Understanding
why employees resist change is the first step in learning how to manage this
resistance. Effective change management is necessary for the change to be
implemented successfully.
Many
challenges face organizations today such as: sharp economic swings, new
competitive pressures, globalization of the market place, complete reshaping of
the business world, new technologies, social cultural shifts, and regulatory
changes. Organizations must realize that
change is inevitable for future survival.
According
to Emerald (n.d.):
The world today is changing faster
than ever before. Technological developments, financial constraints, expanding
markets, restructuring and mergers, new philosophies, and government
legislation are all putting pressure on organizations to change and stay
dynamic. Yet the process of change is far from easy, and implementing it
successfully makes considerable demands on the managers involved. (n.p.)
Change
is cutting across all sectors of the economy, all classes of society, and all
continents. Organizations that recognize change as an opportunity remain competitive
and understand why it is so important for the future survival of the business.
According
to Pritchett & Pound (1990):
Changes that happened in this
country alone during the decade of the 80’s were astonishing: half of all U.S.
companies were restructured, over 80,000 firms were acquired or merged, several
hundred thousand companies were downsized, at least 700,000 organizations
sought bankruptcy protection in order to continue operating, and over 45,000
organizations failed. Some organizations will ride the winds of change, seizing
the opportunity to go far, very fast, and sail past the competition. Others
that are unprepared for the wind’s force, and that mistakenly think their
safety comes in bracing themselves against it, will find their rigidity a fatal
stance. (p. 2)
Organizations
must recognize that the key to survival is the ability to change and adapt as
it is necessary to meet the changing environment. The changing environment
presents a challenge for organizations, as they must adapt to these new
conditions to succeed and remain competitive. As Robbins states (2003), More and more organizations today face a dynamic and
changing environment. This, in turn, is requiring these organizations to adapt.
“Change or die!” is the rallying cry among today’s managers worldwide (p. 556).
Management
must realize that organizational change will not only have impacts on
employees, but the organization as well. As per Hoare & Cartwright (1997), change is considered to generate
high levels of uncertainty, distrust and resistance, which adversely affects
morale and leads to dysfunctional behavior, high labor turnover and stress (p.
2). Studies indicate that the most commonly cited reason for change failure is
employee resistance to change.
As
stated by Maurer (1996),
Studies estimate that up to two-thirds of all
organizational changes fail. That dismal statistic represents a tremendous cost
to companies in money, resources and time. Failed change efforts take a human
toll as well, leaving employees discouraged, distrustful and reluctant to
engage in the next round of changes. The most commonly cited reason for these
failures is resistance (p. 1).
There
are four reasons why employees resist change in an organization and each of
these four reasons requires a different response from the manager involved.
According to Woldring (1999), fundamentally, there
are four reasons why people resist change in organizations (n. p.).
Understanding these four reasons will not only establish employee’s
responsibility to resistance, but management’s as well. Management must
recognize this resistance by understanding the underlying causes.
As
per Woldring (1999), the first reason that people
resist is because they simply don’t understand what you are talking about. They
must understand where you are going and how you plan to get there. (n.p.) Employees must buy into the
change and understand the reasoning behind it. Without understanding the
reasoning for the change, it becomes quite difficult for people to accept
changes. According to Robbins (2003), changes substitute ambiguity and
uncertainty for the known. (p. 560) Managers must realize that employees fear
the unknown. Job security and threat to expertise are likely to represent
resistance to the change because it threatens their feelings of safety.
According
to Kast & Rosenzweig
(1974):
Whenever individuals do not clearly
understand the purpose, mechanics, or potential consequences of a change, they
are likely to resist it. If a person is involved in the implementation process,
it is important for him to understand why the change is being made. When the
mechanics of a change are not clearly understood, they cannot be carried out
even if the implementer is willing. (p. 584)
If
employees are given little explicit information, an environment of uncertainty
will lead them to assume the worst. An atmosphere of uncertainty will have
detrimental affects on the success of the change.
Employees
must also be given the time to focus on the change. By allowing employees the
opportunity to spend time engaging in the change, they will develop a buy-in to
the process and take ownership.
As
stated by Woldring (1999):
The second reason people resist
change is that they don’t have the time to engage with the change. They cannot
both change and handle their current accountabilities. Focusing their energy on
the change activity puts them at risk on meeting their required
accountabilities. People are smart when they are put in this position. (n. p.)
This
is easily understandable as employees do not want to jeopardize their assigned
responsibilities. Ignoring current responsibilities in any employee’s mind is a
good way to lose one’s job. Not having time to develop to the change is hard
for good employees as their work ethics ensure that their current
responsibilities are carried out. Current work responsibilities and change
therefore become competing commitments for an employee.
As
stated by Dessler (2004):
Sometimes, employees say they want
to change (and may actually mean it), and yet they resist the program. What
accounts for this? Two organizational psychologists recently suggested that
this resistance may be the result of “competing commitments.” In other words,
the employees say they want to change (and may even think they do), but in fact
a competing commitment makes them resist it. (p. 203)
As per
Woldring (1999):
The third reason that people resist
is because they do not have the competencies to do what they have to do in the
new world. It makes sense for people to resist under those circumstances when
participating in the new process simply serves to demonstrate that they are not
competent. (n.p.)
No
one likes to demonstrate their weaknesses as they feel embarrassed or threatened
by not knowing how to accomplish a task. The employee may feel that they do not
have the ability to acquire the new competencies. This in itself can be
threatening to the employee as they realize that their lack of competency may
cost them their job. Lack of competencies requires the employee to develop
skill levels that will meet the demands of the change.
As
per Robbins (2003):
Employees in organizations hold the
same dislike for uncertainty. If, for example, the introduction of quality
management means production workers will have to learn statistical process
control techniques, some may fear they’ll be unable to do so. They may,
therefore, develop a negative attitude toward a quality-management program or
behave dysfunctional if required to use statistical techniques. (p. 560)
Employees must share the same value as to why the
change is important. If an employee believes that management is wrong in
implementing the change, the change may become highly resistive and difficult
to implement successfully.
As
stated by Woldring (1999):
The last reason people resist is
because they don’t share the values driving the change. This essentially means
that they think you are wrong to initiate the change in the organization. The
employee believes that they have no choice but to resist you strongly in order
to preserve their self-esteem. (n.p.)
If
an employee understands the necessity of the change and still resists, they
must understand that this could very well be the end of their career working
for the organization. Employees must also understand that by ignoring the newly
assigned responsibilities, their career with the organization may be
jeopardized.
As
per Pritchett & Pound (1990):
Some people cling desperately to the
past. They hang on to what’s familiar, snuggling ever deeper into their
comfortable routines to avoid the chilling thought that they might have to
change. Change always means giving up something and the greater the personal
sacrifice the more you feel like dragging your feet. (p. 4)
Employees
must realize that resisting change does more harm than good. As an employee
resisting change, you could be accused of impeding progress, which could easily
lead to a fatal stance and organizational decline. Successful change requires
teamwork and resistance demolishes the team concept of success. Whetten & Cameron state (2002), unproductive roles
inhibit the team or its members from achieving what they could have achieved,
and they destroy morale and cohesion. (p. 467) Whetten
& Cameron (2002), also relates resisting to a blocking role, by blocking
all attempts to change, to improve, or to make progress; being disagreeable and
negative about virtually all suggestions from other team members. (p.p. 467-468)
As an employee, one
must seek to understand, and then be understood. Employees have a
responsibility in change management as well. Understanding the reason for the
change should be a priority for the employee, as they must realize without this
understanding, the change cannot be implemented successfully. Understanding the
reason for the change in itself becomes partially a responsibility for the
employee. If management has not done their part in communicating the reason
effectively, the task of understanding becomes a more difficult task to accomplish
for the employee.
Properly
managing the change is crucial to successful implementation. Without proper
managed implementation, the change will fail, as employee resistance will
prevail. Employees are not alone in
resisting this change as leaders are like everyone else. The thought of change
brings uncertainty and security as well. It is, however, the leader’s
responsibility to see that the change is implemented successfully.
According
to Adubato (2003):
Change
helps keep us on our toes and ready to turn obstacles into opportunities.
However, many organizational leaders don't understand how hard it is and
therefore become highly impatient. Leaders often become frustrated with their
people and let them know it. This only makes change harder to implement. Think
about it. Employees are the people that change is happening to. Successful
change agents know they must understand the position of their employees and
communicate accordingly. Further, sometimes it is not made clear that change
has to take place. The key is for those leading change to communicate that the
status quo is more dangerous and risky than the change. Until that's done,
people have little or no motivation to "buy in" to the process.
People are naturally resistant to change and therefore changing is unnatural.
This fact of life cannot be ignored. (p. 1)
Implementing
the change in itself is the easy part for managers and leaders. For example if
management wanted to make a process or structural change to a manufacturing concept,
the change can be implemented immediately. This type of change however opens
itself to failure as the focus was on the change and not the process of the
change. Communicating the reasons to the employees for the change establishes a
buy in to the concept. Without proper change management to gain employee buy
in, the change has a much higher chance of failure. Management must realize
that the employees are the focal point of making the change a success.
According
to Brown (2003):
Leaders
often seem to be more comfortable focusing on implementing a change
rather than attending to the process of change.
Few leaders are aware that when managing complex change, the leadership's attitude and behaviors should be
addressed first. Because complex change
involves a variety of organizational
levels, it is important that an organization's culture and structure be set up
to deal with change. Change management should be viewed as
a core competency to be mastered by the leadership team, not as a reactive or
defensive action. (p. 2)
As
stated by Stewart & Kringas (2003):
Implementation highlights the
problem of resistance to change, particularly where a "big bang"
approach is taken and the organization undergoes rapid reductions in staffing,
or a major cultural transformation (Ellis 1998; Osborne and Plastrik
1997). Other studies report a more incremental approach, with staff and
managers learning as they go along. In their study of change experiments in HM
Customs and Excise, Colville, Dalton, and Tomkins
(1993) found that continuing, small efforts at improvement were worthwhile, not
only in themselves, but as ways of gradually focusing attention on the need to
reframe problems. (p. 3)
As
stated by Heracleous (2002), effective change
management is not just about the hard structural aspects of organizations; it
requires an in-depth appreciation of the cultural, human aspects of
organizations, and taking actions based on this understanding. (n. p.) Management must inform the employees as to why, when,
where, and how the change is to take place.
Listening and addressing the employees’ concerns encompasses a team
atmosphere that builds employee ownership and buy in to the change. A great
deal of employee resentment develops when management mandates the specifics of
a change, without facing and dealing with the human pain of the implementation.
Leaders need to effectively communicate what must happen and discuss the
implementation process with the employees.
This then illustrates the importance of effective communication in a
leadership role.
According
to Adubato (2003):
Team
leaders need to create an opportunity for their team to discuss a specific
change in an open forum. People need to have the opportunity to express their
concerns, issues or questions about the change. If management doesn't allow for
that, people will become frustrated and resist the change even more. They may
say they are on board, but their actions will show that they are not. Smart
managers create an environment that is conducive to an honest dialogue. This
can be created in forums, employee meetings, interactive e-mail and employee
newsletters. (p. 1)
Many
managers fail to recognize or understand what obstacles must be overcome in
order for the change to be successful. These obstacles must be addressed
immediately as they will get in the way of the change and become extremely
harmful. To ignore obstacles is to invite failure.
As
per Adubato (2003):
One
major obstacle is failing to make clear what the change will produce. Change
for the sake of change has little value. Too many people push for a change but
do a poor job of explaining where the change will take the organization. What
is the vision? How does the change connect to the big picture? Too many
organizations try to sell the change through detailed standard operating
procedure manuals or highly detailed descriptions of the steps needed to
implement the change. The problem is, people aren't
convinced that change will produce a good thing. (p.p. 1-2)
While many managers talk about the need for change in
the organization, few actually understand what it takes to make it successful.
Change management is vital and it is the most important contribution that can
decide success or failure of the change.
According to Stewart & Kringas
(2003):
Whatever management's intentions, change "changes" as it
diffuses through, or is imposed on, the organization (Coe 1997). This suggests
to us that comparing attitudes toward the change program from different levels
of one organization would be a good way of tapping into not only the success of
implementation, but also the dynamics of the process itself. (p. 3)
Communication lies at the heart of successful
organizational change as it becomes the most important and valuable tool a
manager or leader can utilize. Presenting facts, figures and flow charts as the
only basis for the change will overwhelm and confuse the employees. This is why
effective communication becomes essential to achieving employee acceptance to
the change.
According to the Supervisor’s Network (2002):
Keep the following tips in mind when informing your
group about an organizational change. Explain the reasons for the change as
people are more receptive to change when they understand the reasons and
thinking behind it. Tell people why the change is necessary and provide as much
background as possible. Talk to the people in person rather than through a memo
or e-mail, as this is not an effective way to inform people about important
changes. This type of communication allows them to respond to the news openly.
Ask for reactions by listening to what employees have to say as this will help
them feel more involved in the change process. This also brings forth any
concerns or misunderstandings about the change. Utilize open-ended questions to
stimulate discussion. Open-ended questions require more than a yes or no answer
from the employee and may surface any hidden concerns or resistant issues. Ask
for support and commitment rather than demanding it. This request will
establish a binding understanding between the leader and the group even when
people are not one hundred percent in agreement with the change. Be open and
honest as the more informed people are, the less anxious they will be.
Unanswered questions are fuel for the rumor mill. If you don’t have an answer,
tell them so as this establishes a believable leader relationship called trust.
(p. 2)
Part 2 of this article will be published in
the November 2004 issue of weLEAD Online Magazine.
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About
the author:
Tim L. David is the Maintenance
Superintendent at Tyco Healthcare in