The Resistance to Change

Think back to the first day of any class one was allowed to choose the seating of their choice. The second day, everyone decides to sit in the same seating as the previous day. The third day comes along and as one walks into the class room, one notices that someone is sitting in their seat. The sensation of being thrown off balance takes over along with being uncomfortable for the remainder of the day. The following questions then arise: “why does this phenomenon occur?” Yukl states “Resistance to change is a common phenomenon for individuals and organizations (Yuki, 285).” Let’s now turn our attention at the case study that was presented by Almah J. Joseph “Dilemma at the Public Service Department.” Being placed into a high political office or in any leadership position can be difficult to transition into when it is a new organization they are entering. The new leader placed in office already contains a new perspective as to how the organization should be run. On the other hand, the employees that are already in the organization have the cultural perspective that was placed upon them through their previous leader. Like the seating phenomenon that was previously described, there will be resistance to change, and as a leader in an organization, they must find a way to make this change occur.

Appointed for the first time as commissioner of the Public Service Department, Alex is faced with the dilemma of attempting to fixed, what seems to be a corrupt Department. In Grover Starling’s book, “Managing the Public Sector,” he describes a few “pitfalls of public-sector planning in which Alex seems to be practicing (Starling, 227). These pitfalls include under planning, trying to do too much, and ignoring unintended consequences.

First ...

... middle of paper ...

...al perspective to reassure that people internally and externally are being taken care if fairly. Patience in this case would have been helpful and allowed him more than a day to prepare for how he could have tackled the issue. Instead of tackling all three cases, he could have gone with a more realistic approach of handling the situation. One case at a time would have been more ideal than tackling them all at one. All in all, Alex made some mistakes but his actions were for the right reasons.

Works Cited

Joseph, A., M. “The Dilemma at the Public Service Department” in Public Performance & Management Review, Vol. 24, No. 3, March 2001, pp. 285-287

Starling, G. (2010). Managing the public sector. (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Pub Co.

Yukl, Gary. 2006. Leadership in Organizations, 6th edition. Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, Chapter 10.