Change Management-Resistance to Change

2170 Words5 Pages

‘We may like change and regard it as an essential feature of living; it does not mean that we always welcome it’ ( Hughes, 2006).

1.0 Introduction

In response to environmental changes, the current organizational change has reached an irreversible trend. As Mr. M Beer ( 2003) stated, ‘Change is part of organisational life and essential for progress. Those who know how to anticipate it, catalyse it, and manage it will find their careers, and their companies, more satisfying and successful’

More than half of organizational change, however, has ended in failure. The primary reason is not a lack of capacity of the staff or the resource shortage of the enterprise , but the resistance to organizational change. In fact, resistance to change is inevitable as a primary element of change management.

David Foote (2001) once stated that ‘resistance to change is one of the nastiest, most debilitating workplace cancers.’ It makes sense in a way. The existence of resistance to change means that companies can not be all smooth sailing, which gives enterprise managers or organizers of change a realistic and serious change management task. In this sense, corporate managers must be aware that resistance to change could have a negative effect on the process of change. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the change, enterprises need to properly manage changes, identify the reasons for the formation of resistance to change and adopt the appropriate method to exclude resistances; at the same time, corporate managers should also be noted that resistance to change is not entirely destructive, it can be translated into a positive and constructive factor under a proper management. The existence of resistance to change allows business manag...

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...individual is different. Unless they have entirely convinced employees, it is unrealistic for managers to expect employees to alter the status quo and make a difference positively.

7.0 Bibliography

Dent,E & Goldberg,S.(1999). Challenging ‘resistance to change.’ Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 25-41.

Folger, R & Skarlicki, D. (1999). Unifairness and resistance to change: hardship as mistreatment. Joural of Organizational Change Management, 35-50.

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http://www.lexjansen.com/pharmasug/2000/techtech/tt16.pdf - accessed by 9/03/2010

http://triadllc.com/pdf/ManagingResistance.pdf -accessed by 10/03/2010

http://qm2.org/mbriefs/92.html - accessed by 12/03/2010

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/resistance_change/sign_resistance.htm - accessed by 12/03/2010

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