How do managers manage resistance to change - Research Paper Example

Managing Resistance to Change Organizations today are faced with severe competition, technological development, economic pressures, social and demographic shifts force organizations to implement change. Change is usually a reaction response to changes in the business environment. Some of the changes include job design, structural changes, and changes in the business operations. Change needs to be welcomed because it brings positive benefits to individuals and organizations. This attracts opportunities for new challenges, personal development (Pham, 2005). Unfortunately, change is usually accompanied by resistance from employees. It is crucial form managers to anticipate and plan for strategies that will help deal with resistance to change. Body Change is crucial in the success in any organization. Barriers to change include failure to accept that there is need for change, fear and insecurity, preference to the current arrangements, inability to perform better under the new situation, a breakup of teams and groups, and difference in people’s ambitions. Other factors include, lack of understanding of the need for change and its benefits among employees, poor introduction of change to employees by management (Harvey, 2010). Change can also be negatively affected by poor employee-management relationship, lack of employee involvement in the process, and lack of management support in terms of providing training to its employees. Resistance to change takes a number of forms, the most obvious form being active refusal, resistance, and objection to cooperate when change occurs. Resistance can be seen in an individual or a team. This can also be passive where people agree to change but are unable or unwilling to implement what is required from them. For example, employees can agree to implement a new procedure, but after sometime, the management discovers that it is yet to be implemented. The moment change is introduced in the organization many employees usually come up with tactics aimed at protecting themselves and their place in the company. Managers have a duty to manage resistance to change so that it can be successful. The first way of doing this is to involve employees in the process. Managers need to convince employees to consider the idea and give their suggestion in the process. The leadership team also needs to show commitment to the process so that employees can be encouraged to accept change. Notably, some leaders resist change by denying resources needed for the process, avoiding meetings, and withholding feedback from employees. This can lead to failure in the process. While there is no one who is considered to be a perfect change agent, managers can be great models is implementing successful change. These people have the characteristics of creating a positive environment and conditions that would encourage interest in improvement. Managers need to show how change would improve the employees’ circumstances. Another way of overcoming change resistance is through education and communication. Normally people resist something they are not sure about or for which they have inaccurate information. Educating people beforehand is crucial because this helps employees know the logic behind the change effort. They need to understand that change is neither good nor bad. This also reduces the risk of incorrect rumors related to the effects of change to employees and the organization. Managers should actively seek employees’ reactions and thoughts to change. People resist change because of problems related to poor rate of adjustment. Managers can manage this risk by being supportive to their employees. This can be morally as employees deal with anxiety and fear during the transition period. This can also be through the provision of special training, especially when new technology is introduced in the company. Counseling and time off work can also be provided to support employees during difficult times. Resistance to change is usually caused by loss of benefit, especially when employees feel pressured when implementing change (Hultman, 1998). They are likely to interpret this as a loss in individual security. Some changes also come with threat in position power where some employees lose face and authority. Managers need to consider these groups and look for agreements and negotiations. They need to tackle resistance by giving incentives to these employees so that they do not resist change. Employees who are considered to be change resistors can be given incentives to exit the company through early retirement and buyouts to avoid experiencing the change efforts. This is especially useful for employees who are in position of power. Whether effective or not, managers try to manage resistance to change through manipulation and co-option. An effective manipulation technique is cooperating with resistors to understand their concerns with change. This will help them accept, appreciate, and own the change because their concerns will have been considered. Co-option involves a patronizing gesture in encouraging a person in involving a person in a change management group for appearance rather than their contributions. This usually involves leaders from the resisting group participating in the change. They are offered a symbolic role in making decisions while avoiding threats to the change effort. However, this strategy is risky because if these leaders suspect that they are being tricked, they are likely to increase their resistance further than if they were not included in the process. Implicit and explicit coercion is usually used as the last resort and when speed is crucial. In this situation, Managers implicitly and explicitly force employees to accept the change by threatening them that resistance would lead to lose of job, transferring, lack of promotion, and firing (Palmer, 2004). An effective change process has three basic steps including planning, implementation, and evaluation. For a successful process, resistance to change needs to be dealt with in the planning and early stages of implementation. During the planning process, managers need to consider how and when change is required, and how this needs to be communicated to employees to secure their support. During the implementation stage, managers need focus on signs of resistance among employees early enough and come up with ways to eliminate them. Conclusion Resistance to change is stressful and disruptive to organizations when they want to implement change. However, this is unavoidable because employees are diverse and react differently to change. For this reason, managers, and agents of change have a crucial role in encouraging employees to accept change (Burke, 2009). Managers need to reduce the risk of resistance by implementing change in a healthy, meaningful, and effective way without negatively affecting the sentiments of employees. This is by giving them support, time, information about change, incentives, and by involving them in the process. However, in some cases managers need manipulate and use implicit and explicit coercion to make sure that employees accept change. To effectively manage resistance, managers need to deal with signs during the planning and early stages of implementation. Bibliography Pham, T. T. B. (2005). Organizational Barriers and Employees' Resistance in Strategic Change Processes. Munich: GRIN Verlag GmbH. Hultman, K. (1998). Making change irresistible: Overcoming resistance to change in your organization. Palo Alto, Calif: Davies-Black Pub. Burke, W. W., Lake, D. G., & Paine, J. W. (2009). Organization change: A comprehensive reader. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Harvey, T. R., & Broyles, E. A. (2010). Resistance to change: A guide to harnessing its positive power. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Education. Palmer, B. (2004). Making change work: Practical tools for overcoming human resistance to change. Milwaukee, Wisc: ASQ Quality Press. Read More