Combatting Resistance to Organizational Change

1557 Words4 Pages

Effective organizational change requires an alteration in patterns of employee behavior (Spector, 2010). There are many reasons why stakeholders can be resistant to change including but not limited to; misunderstanding, self-interest, inability to adapt and disagreement with the change. It is management’s job to understand this resistance and effectively combat it. There are several tools that can be used to combat resistance to organizational change to increase the chances of effective organizational implementation. This paper will look at some of the essential tools and elements I would use to combat resistance to organizational change. In addition, I will discuss what elements I feel are essential in most situations and why. Mutual Engagement One of the most basic but sometimes underutilized tools is communication and education through mutual engagement. It is up to organizational leaders to help create and maintain a context that allows, encourages, and enables an open and candid dialogue (Spector, 2010). The goal of mutual engagement in a process of shared diagnosis is to unfreeze “social habits” and create a sense of dissatisfaction with the status quo (Spector, 2010). At its most fundamental level, diagnosis is about learning: learning what needs to be changed and why. The notion of shared diagnosis goes one step further. For change implementation to occur effectively many employees at multiple hierarchical levels and in varied units need to change in the same direction (Spector, 2010). It takes more than one person can facilitate change, diagnosis has to be shared by multiple individuals to effectively move toward implementation. One tool that can be used to improve mutual engagement is the force field analy... ... middle of paper ... ..., and understanding what drives resistance can be very powerful in its elimination. There are steps that can be taken to help in the successful implementation and reducing resistance is the most important. Sometimes just having a plan is not enough. It is also important to plan for resistance and develop strategies to deal with its effects. Works Cited Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2009) Managing organizational change: A multiple perspectives approach. (2 nd ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill Spector, B. (2010). Implementing Organizational Change: Theory Into Practice. (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Prosci Change Management Series. Retrieved from http://www.change- management.com/prosci_change_series.pdf Tucker, J. (2007). Resistance to Change. Retrieved from http://jantucker.suite101.com/resistance-to-change-a28593

Open Document