Resistance to Change management Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Resistance to Change management. Answer: Introduction Organization change managementis a significant process for the growth of a company. It is the process, by which an organization renews its structure, capabilities and direction to fulfill the changing needs of its external and internal stakeholders. There are some researches that defined that change is a feature which is always available in the life of organization. In todays business environment, it is very essential to implement the changes for its growth, but it is very tough to implement the change successfully. There may be some barriers, which can create issues in change management, like; lack of communication, employee resistance to change, competitive forces, complex process, changes in the corporate culture etc. Organizations need to implement different and effective strategies to overcome these barriers. This paper examines one of these barriers, i.e. employee resistance to change. It reviews a literature on managing the resistance to change with its related aspects. Furthermore, in part 2, it critically analyzes the concept of organizationalchange management and resistance to change with different perspectives in an organization. Literature Review In an organizational environment, resistance to change can be seen as one of the obstacles to the growth and expansion of organization because of its adverse consequences. According to Boohene Williams (2011), organization change refers to the comparatively on-going alteration in the present state of the organization. It also includes managing all the elements and interrelationships among its people and functions in order to attain great identity in the current and expected future environment (Boohene, R. Williams, 2011). In addition, the author defined resistance to change as the behavior of employees, which strives to challenge or disturb the fundamental assumptions and power relations. The article of Bouckenooghe, Schwarz and Minbachian (2014), Herscovitch and Meyer defined the resistance to change as the actions or inactions of employees, which are intended to ignore the changes and inhibit the effective and successful implementation of change in its current organizational cult ure (Bouckenooghe, Schwarz Minbashian, 2014). There may be different types of behaviors and factors, which affect the change implementation and cause resistance to change. In this context, Oreg (2007) defined resistance to change that includes a tri-dimensional approach towards organizational change that consists of cognitive, affective and behavioral components. The definition of Oreg indicates that each and every negative reaction, force and opposition, which inhibits and prevents the organizational change is known as resistance to change. Thus, such resistance needs to be eliminated and overcome (Oreg, 2007). In the year 2012, Kumar Singal stated that employees in an organization are vital components of effective organizational change. There may be some people, who resist the change and they did not accept the new changes. CIPD (2009) defined that it is very essential to consider this significant aspect of changemanagement, i.e. resistance to change (CIPD, 2009). According to famous business magazine, resistance to change may be in different forms, such as; strikes, sabotage, jokes, sarcasm, whistleblowing, productivity restriction etc. Lussier (2009) defined some reasons that force the people to resist the change. These reasons are like; insecurity among employees, level of uncertainty, wrong perception towards change objectives and lack of effective communication among managers are team. All of these reasons force the employees to resist the change. If the changes are managed effectively, then it will help to challenge and improve the action and strategic plans of organization (Lussier, 2009). The organizations need to develop and implement some effective strategies to manage the resistance to change. According to Seuss (2017), there are so many ways, which assist the organizations in managing and reducing the resistance to change. These effective ways can work as change implementation strategies in the organization. First, the leaders and managers should give some tie in understanding the resistance and reason behind resistance. Further, they should understand the feelings of employees. In his article, Seuss (2017) has stated some ways or strategies for reducing the resistance to change, such as; the organization should involve the employees and other related parties in the change planning by asking about their opinions, suggestions and incorporate their idea. It is very important to clearly define the requirements and needs for change by communicating the decisions orally and in written form (Seuss, 2017). Furthermore, the top management should address the needs of people, who are involved in the change process. There should be flexibility in the change by phasing it in where, it is possible. It will allow the employees to make current efforts and adapt new attitudes and behaviors. In addition, the management should allow the employees to redefine their roles and responsibilities during the process of change implementation. In this context, Hayes (2014) stated that first, the organization should understand that why people are resisting the change in organization. After understanding the reasons, it can adopt different ways and strategies to make the change implementation successful. The management should encourage and motivate the people to express their feelings and thoughts regarding change plan (Hayes, 2014). Jacoby (2011) identified six classic strategies for handling the change resistance and using then in change action plan. One of the best strategies is to educate the people about the reasons behind change efforts. Effective communication and education assist the employees to see the logic behind change in the systems and processes. If the employees will be clear about the positivity behind the change implementation, then it will be easier to implement the change plan. Managers can manage the resistance by being helpful to the employees during their tough times. This assistance helps the employees to deal with the anxiety and fear in the period of change implementation (Jacoby, 2011). Additionally, the managers can decrease the resistance to change by providing bonuses and incentives to the people. It will motivate them and keep them engaged to work. For successful implementation of change process, Kurt Lewin has given a change model in 1947. In order to explain this model, Cummings, Bridgman Brown (2016) reflected that this model of change is known as 3-steps model also. Lewins model primarily consists of three stages, i.e. unfreezing, moving and refreezing, in which the changes occur in an organization. Lewin reflected change as originating from different forces; one is internal forces and others, which are imposed by environment. In this framework, unfreezing step includes the process of encouraging the people to adapt the change. Second step, moving includes getting the employees to adopt new and desired organizational state. At the end, third step is refreezing, which targets at developing new behaviors and practices (Cummings, Bridgman Brown, 2016). For attaining the organizational change, the change agents and managers must attempt to each to the refreezing step. Along with this model, Lewin has also given a force-field theory. It states that there may be two types of forces, i.e. forces, which promote the changes and forces, which resist the changes in organization. The situation, in which these forces are balanced, that is called equilibrium. Thus, this theory states that organization needs to balance both the forces. It makes easier to manage the resistance to change in the organization. Critical Analysis From the above literature review, it can be said that it is very difficult to manage the resistance to change in an organization. Different authors have given different opinions regarding managing employee resistance to change. There are some issues, but a part of problem is that there is little agreement on what are the factors, which most impact the change initiatives. Some authors have emphasized on some soft issues, like; leadership, culture, motivation etc. But managing these factors only is not enough to implement the change plan (Aiken Keller, 2009). For implementing change in the organization, managers generally prefer to adopt theory and model of Kurt Lewin. Although, the frameworks of Lewin are effective for the organization, but there are some disadvantages of implementing these models. The major strength of force field theory is that it provides a visual description of different factors, which are supporting and resisting the ideas behind change. Moreover, this theory expands the analysis beyond the facts to consider the qualitative factors, which may have effect on the success or failure of decision making process (Bridges and Bridges, 2017). Apart from these strengths, the theory may impact the organizational change efforts. Field force theory needs the participation of each and every person, who is involved in giving the correct information needed for effective change implementation. It is the major weakness as it is not possible to involve everyone in the change process (Burke, 2017). Moreover, one of the major disadvantages of this theory is that it may cause a separation between groups, i.e. group that supports the change decision and another one that opposes the change decision. Lewins three steps model is considered as most effective model of organizational change management. The model defines three steps for implementing the change, i.e. unfreezing, moving and refreezing. But, an article on organizational change management wrote that Change model of Lewin is too rational, plan and goal oriented. The change seems good on paper, because it develops a rational sense. But when it is applied, human experiences and feelings may have negative effects, if management did not consider them (Dawson and Andriopoulos, 2014). In implementation of model, there may be situations, when people get too much excited about the new approaches that they start to avoid the attitudes, feelings and past experience of other colleagues. Therefore, they may find themselves confronting the change resistance and less excitement. So, sometimes Lewins model may cause the resistance to change in the organization. In contrast to the Lewins model, some organizations adopt Kotters 8 step model to implement the change and manage resistance to change. This model takes so much time, as it includes 8 steps and company cannot skip any of the stages. In Lewins model, third step, i.e. refreezing has faced too much criticism from many Human Resource practitioners and authors (Hechanova Cementina-Olpoc, 2013). Now, it is argued that todays business environment is changing with the fast pace that provides no time to settle and to refreeze after a process of change has been adopted. There are some authors, who believe that resistance to change sometimes good in the organization, as it prevents some of the positive intentions and aspects (Kumar Singhal, 2012). If the resistance to change is managed effectively, it will assist in challenging and refining the action and strategic plans of the organization. It improves the decision making quality in organization. Moreover, organizational change management can be a productive force to know about the unethical actions and it can develop the learning and education among organizational people. According to my view and perspective, implementation of change is conclusively a difficult action to attain requiring the genuine support and contribution of all the people in the organization; not keeping them in the state to find out what is going on in the organization and to some level and to cheer the positive results of the previous efforts will be the reason behind increasing disaffection with the change plan and processes. It will contribute to strengthen the challenging power of resisting factors (Small, et al, 2016). By looking at different articles and researches, I realized that Lewins model of change is still valid in modern business world along with the Field Force theory. Both the frameworks can enable the organizations to effectively plan and implement the change in working environment. This model not only works in valuable structured environment, but also because this can assist the top management to keep track of the attainments related to change processes. Conclusion Thus, the literature review states that change is necessary but it will be more successful without resistance for both the organizations and its employees. The organization may face some challenges, when employees resist accepting the change. These issues influence the process of change implementation and it lowers the speed of change process. Furthermore, it examines that organizations should adopt some effective strategies to deal with these opposing forces. Part 2 of the paper critically evaluates the literature review and Kurt Lewins three step model. At the end, it includes the self-thoughts and opinions regarding change implementation. It results that Kurts model and theory is still valid and used by the organizations. References Aiken, C., Keller, S, 2009, The irrational side of change management. McKinsey Quarterly. Pp.100-109. Retrieved from https://web.ebscohost.com/ehost. Bouckenooghe, D., Schwarz, G.M. Minbashian, A., 2014, Herscovitch and Meyers Three-Component model of commitment to change: Meta-analytic findings, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 24, Issue: 4. Boohene, R. Williams, A.A., 2011, Resistance to Organizational Change: A Case Study of Oti Yeboah Complex Limited, International Business and Management. Bridges, W. and Bridges, S., 2017.Managing transitions: Making the most of change. Da Capo Press. Burke, W. W., 2017, Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications. CIPD, 2009, Change Management. Retrieved from: https://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/changemmt/chngmgmt.htm?IsSrchRes=1. Cummings, S., Bridgman, T., Brown, K. G., 2016, Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewins legacy for change management.human relations,69(1), 33-60. Dawson, P. and Andriopoulos, C., 2014.Managing change, creativity and innovation. Sage. Hayes, J., 2014, The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan. Hechanova, R. M., Cementina-Olpoc, R., 2013, Transformational leadership, change management, and commitment to change: A comparison of academic and business organizations.The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher,22(1), 11-19. Jacoby, J., 2011, Strategies for Managing Resistance to Change, Emergant Journal: Organization, People and Change. Kumar, P. Singhal, M., 2012, Reducing change management complexity: aligning change recipient sensemaking to change agent sensegiving. International Journal of Learning and Change. Lussier, R.N., 2009, Management fundamentals, concepts applications, Skills development: (South-Western Cengage Learning). 4th Edition. Oreg, S., 2007, Personality, Context, and Resistance to Organizational Change, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15(1), 73-101 Seuss, 2017, Managing Resistance to Change, Retrieved from https://bia.ca/managing-resistance-to-change/. Small, A., Gist, D., Souza, D., Dalton, J., Magny-Normilus, C., David, D., 2016, Using Kotter's Change Model for Implementing Bedside Handoff: A Quality Improvement Project.Journal of nursing care quality,31(4), 304-309.