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Discuss the main sources of resistance to change as perceived by managers. Essays
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I. Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the plan to implement a major change within the department of an organization. The change will involve a substantial change to the departmental structure, the department’s processes, personnel responsibilities and the reporting lines of the individuals within the department.
Studies have shown the majority of change initiatives have failed over the last several decades (Kotter, 1995, p. 59) with some researchers findings that over two-thirds have failed (Szabla, 2007, p. 256). Kotter suggests the primary reasons for these failures include a lack of urgency, guiding coalition, vision, communication, unremoved obstacles, lack of recognition of successes, and not institutionalizing the change within the organization (1995, pp. 60-67). Szabla (2007, p. 256) suggest there are other causes such as political and internal organizational conflicts that have also been shown to prevent success. Further, Szabla (2007, p. 526) suggests there is evidence that resistance of the organizational members is also a major factor in the failure of organizational change. However, Dent and Powley suggest that not all change is resisted by organizational members and in fact some people actually embrace change (2003, pp. 40-42).
Leaders are responsible for promoting organizational change (Bass, 1985, p. 27). Effective leaders allow participation of their teams and establish the environment for their organizations to succeed (Eisner, 2011, p. 51-52).
Lewin, a leader in the field of change, provides a change model that includes the three steps that change agents must lead their organization through to achieve a successful change in his seminal article Group Decision and Social Change (1958, pp....
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.... Images of organization (pp. 149-206). Thousand Oaks, CA US: Sage Publications, Inc. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=1997-08197-000&site=eds-live&scope=site
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership, fourth edition (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, c2010.
Simon, H. A. (1997). Chapter V. the psychology of administrative decisions. Administrative behavior: A study of decision-making processes in administrative organization. (4th ed) (4th ed., pp. 92-139). New York, NY US: Free Press.
Szabla, D. B. (2007). A multidimensional view of resistance to organizational change: Exploring cognitive, emotional, and intentional responses to planned change across perceived change leadership strategies. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 18(4), 525-558. doi:10.1002/hrdq.1218
Spector, B. (2013). Implementing organizational change: theory into practice. (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ
Change is a double-edged sword (Fullan, 2001). Change is a word that might inspire or put fear into people. Leadership is challenging when it comes to dealing with change and how individuals react within the organization to the change. Marzano, McNulty, and Waters (2005) discuss two orders of change in their book School Leadership that Works; first and second. Fullan (2001) also adds to the discussion in his book Leading in a Culture of Change, with regard to understanding change. In Change Leadership, Keagan and Wagner (2006) discuss many factors of change and the systematic approach to change. Change affects people in different ways. Leaders need to be able to respond to the individuals throughout the change process.
Every organization will experience a change of leadership at some point or another. CEO’s of organizations will move on to take on different challenges in their lives or many of them will retire. There are few changes that can occur in an organization that could have a larger impact than a change at the top of the management chain. According to Firoozmand (2014) resistance from employees is an occurrence that is a part of the natural process of change. This is no different in the event of a change of leadership. New leaders will bring in a new vision, culture, and expectations that employees may not be ready or willing to accept.
Change is the only constant in life. And therefore it should be understood as part of a continuing work in progress that calls for a much broader canvas that seeks out competing voices, and works with the resulting ambiguities, contradictions and tensions of messy reality (Graetz, F. & Smith, A., 2010). In this submission I try to show that organizational change is majorly based on the environment surrounding it much more than the desire of the members or change agents working in that organization. This view diverts from that of Lippitt, (1958) who suggests that implementing planned organizational changes successfully depends on premeditated interventions intended to modify the functioning of an organization. It also diverts from the traditional approaches to organizational change that generally follow a linear, rational model in which the focus is on controllability under the stewardship of a strong leader or ‘guiding coalition (Collis, 1998). In this discussion therefore, comparison made between the different philosophies of change and I try to show that successful change implantation largely depends on an organizations appreciation of what goes on around it rather than what they have planned as a strategic direction.
This paper will be broken down into six sections profiling each critical part of implementing and managing change in an organization. The sections included are; outline for plan creating urgency, the approach to attracting a guiding team, a critique of the organizational profile, the components of change, and how to empower the organization.
Change usually comes with resistance in any workplace because change disrupts the employees’ sense of safety and control (Lewis, 2012). Kurt Lewin (1951) created a three step process for assisting employees with organizational Change (Lewis, 2012). The three stages are Unfreeze, Change and Refreeze. These are the steps to a smooth transition for change within organizations. Further, these steps are not possible without good communication from upper Management through line staff. Communication was consistently listed as an issue in surveys conducted by the department.
A solid theoretical foundation is required to lead and manage change. For efficient and effective change to take place it must be intentional. Leadership set the tone and the direction of an organization allowing it or hindering it to change and adapt. Leader can use tactics and skills to create an organic change environment with the right change models and interventions when the organization is most ready for change.
Change is a fundamental element of individuals, groups and all sorts of organizations. As it is the case for individuals, groups and societies, where change is a continuous process, composed of an indefinite amount of smaller sub-changes that vary in effect and length, and is affected by all sorts of aspects and events, many of which cyclic are anticipated ones. It is also the case for organizations, where change occurs repeatedly during the life cycle of organizations. Yet change in organizations is not as anticipated nor as predictable, with unexpected internal and external variables and political forces that can further complicate the management of change (Andriopoulos, C. and P. Dawson, 2009), which is by itself, the focus of many scholars in their pursuit to shed light on and facilitate the change process (Kotter 1996; Levin 1947; et al).
Resolving resistance to change is essential. If resolving resistance to change is not effectively addressed, resistance can be a hinder and the process of healthy change can be misrepresented. In addition, resistance can negatively influence the followers and interfere with effective implementation of healthy change and the change leader initiatives. Therefore, it is vital for organizational leaders to be alert of and observe the cause of employees ' resistance and defense mechanisms (Module 4 Summary, 2016).
The transformation of a company requires hundreds, sometimes thousands of employees to adopt a new view of its future, a future they must regard as essential. Change management involves managing the process of achieving this future state. Change can be viewed from two vantage points, that of the people making the changes and that of the people experiencing the changes. In the top-down, or strategic viewpoint associated with management, the focus is on technical issues such as the investment required, the processes for implementing the change, how soon the change can be realized, and the outcome. In the bottom-up viewpoint of the employee, the focus is on what the change means to the ...
Individuals, when faced with any major change, will be inevitably resistant and will want to preserve the status quo, especially if they think their status or security within the organization is in danger (Bolognese, 2010). Folger and Skarlicki believe that organizational change produces skepticism in employees, which makes it problematic and possibly even impossible to contrive improvements within the organization (as cited in Bolognese, 2010). Therefore, management must understand, accept and make an effort to work with resistance, since it can undermine even the most well-conceived change efforts (Bolognese, 2010). Furthermore, Coetsee states that for organizations to achieve the maximum benefits from change they must effectively create and maintain a climate and culture that does not support resistance and rewards acceptance and support ( as cited in Bolognese, 2010). Therefore, it is important to understand what resistance is and how to reduce the effects of resistance.
Middlebrook, B., Caruth, D., & Frank, R. (1984, Summer 85). Overcoming Resistance to Change. Management Journal, 50(3), pp. 23.
After reading chapters one through four of the book Leading Change by Kotter, a better understanding of the eight steps of creating major changes in an organization has been gained by the author. Change is always happening in some shape or form. Competition drives change within organizations. Companies drive each other; they can challenge each other to compete. A good example of that is Ford and Chevy; they have been battling each other for decades on who can make the nest sports car in America. Competition is good for both the consumer and the organizations: it can lead to numerous great ideas.
The change process within any organization can prove to be difficult and very stressful, not only for the employees but also for the management team. Hayes (2014), highlights seven core activities that must take place in order for change to be effective: recognizing the need for change, diagnosing the change and formulating a future state, planning the desired change, implementing the strategies, sustaining the implemented change, managing all those involved and learning from the change. Individually, these steps are comprised of key actions and decisions that must be properly addressed in order to move on to the next step. This paper is going to examine how change managers manage the implementation of change and strategies used
One of the first scholars to describe the process of organizational change was Lewin (1974). He described change as a three-stage process that consists of unfreezing, moving and freezing stage. During the unfreezing stage the organizations become motivated to change by some event or objective. The moving stage is like implementation when the organization actually makes the necessary change. Furthermore the freezing stage is reached when the change becomes permanent. Organizational change has also...