For most, resistance to change inevitable, for some it is their personality and others it is fear of the unknown. Organizational structure may change through downsizing, outsourcing, acquisitions, or mergers. In this paper, I will be examining resistance to change during a merger and how to manage this type of stressful and many times unclear change in an organization. There are three key strategies for managing resistance to change; communication, participation, and empathy and support. Throughout this paper I will discuss the three strategies above as well as some other contributing factors to change in an organization.
People often resist change based on fear of the unknown, fear of loss, fear of failure, disruption of interpersonal relations, personality, politics, and cultural assumptions and values. However, there are numerous other reasons people resist change. Many of these center on the notion of reactance, that is, a negative reaction that occurs when individuals feel that their personal freedom is threatened. Some of the major reasons for resisting change are fear of the unknown, fear of loss, fear of failure, personality, politics, and cultural assumptions, and values. The reasons for resistance are as diverse as the workforce itself and vary with different individuals and organizations. The challenge for managers is introducing change in a positive manner and managing employee resistance. Traditionally, resistance is seen as a barrier or negative which can increase resistance. However, many strong leaders today are looking at resistance as a learning tool and form of feedback. If feedback is used correctly it can be used to manage the change process productively and positively.
Communication about the impending me...
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...ace culture values worker health and psychological needs, there is enhanced potential for high performance and improved well-being. Employees who feel valued will work harder, motivate others, and help increase support throughout the merger. Those in the organization tasked to lead employees through a merger should be transformational leaders and understand what causes change, why individuals resist change, how to decrease dysfunctional conflict, emotionally support their employees, provide transparent and consistent information in a timely manner, and build trust and support. This is no easy task but can be accomplished with effective planning and development of strategies to deal with these issues early in the change and increase synergy among the employees.
Works Cited
Nelson, D. L. and Quick J. C.(2013) Organizational Behavior. Mason, OH: Cengage-Learning
Leadership succession in a merger of equals is an article, which examines the implications of leadership succession in an extreme form of mergers, a merger of equals, can yield important findings to better understand what allows some mergers to succeed while others fail (Cheng, 2012). Mergers and acquisitions are much more common these days and only a few of them end up being successes. Even though mergers and acquisitions do not result in much success rate, many organizations still prefer it because, it is used as a cooperative strategy but nowadays it is used for cooperative development. Cultural differences and merger integration can be considered as an important factor in the failure rate, but this study mainly focused on the choice of leadership succession and merge of equals. Mergers of Equals Mergers of equals is the combination of two organizations of similar size to form a single organization.
Mariana, P., Daniela, B., & Nadina, R. (2013). Forces that enhance or reduce employee resistance to change. Annals of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 22(1), 1606-1612.
A merger is a partial or total combination of two separate business firms and forming of a new one. There are predominantly two kinds of mergers: partial and complete. Partial merger usually involves the combination of joint ventures and inter-corporate stock purchases. Complete mergers are results in blending of identities and the creation of a single succeeding firm. (Hicks, 2012, p 491). Mergers in the healthcare sector, particularly horizontal hospital mergers wherein two or more hospitals merge into a single corporation, are increasing both in frequency and importance. (Gaughan, 2002). This paper is an attempt to study the impact of the merger of two competing healthcare organization and will also attempt to propose appropriate clinical and managerial interventions.
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.
That brings a great challenge to succeed, and lets the leadership work in new and innovative ways to make such a merger successful. McClelland’s theory states, in regards to the need for achievement, that people strive “To excel one’s self.to rival and surpass others. to increase self-regard by the successful exercise of talent” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010, p. 215). By this definition, the merger would motivate leadership to excel in the face of a challenge, and to increase their professional self-regard in their success in doing so. On an individual level, you are asking the performers and employees to recognize both economic and social climates, and to come together in action to save both their careers, as well as their passion for life....
In today’s ever changing world people must adapt to change. If an organization wants to be successful or remain successful they must embrace change. This book helps us identify why people succeed and or fail at large scale change. A lot of companies have a problem with integrating change, The Heart of Change, outlines ways a company can integrate change. The text book Ivanceich’s Organizational Behavior and Kotter and Cohen’s The Heart of Change outlines how change can be a good thing within an organization. The Heart of Change introduces its readers to eight steps the authors feel are important in introducing a large scale organizational change. Today’s organizations have to deal with leadership change, change in the economy,
Changing situations throughout the world affect all organizations in business today. Therefore, most organizations acknowledge the need to experience change and transformation in order to survive. The key challenges companies face are due to the advancements in technology, the social environment caused by globalization, the pace of competition, and the demands regarding customer expectations. It is difficult to overcome the obstacles involved with change despite all the articles, books, and publications devoted to the topic. People are naturally resistant to fundamental changes and often intimidated by the process; the old traditional patterns and methods are no longer effective.
In business, when we approach change, whether it is about cost reduction, merger or supporting a new technology we need to treat it as a seriously disruptive and stressful activity for all involved especially those leading the change.
“Thought processes and relationship dynamics are fundamental if change is to be successful.” (Lynco Assoc.) People fear change because it pushes them out of their comfort zone. One of the greatest fears in the world is the fear of the unknown. Although fear can create a large amount of energy in a person, you can choose to use that energy in a positive manner and take control of the situation. Focus on your convictions; be confident in your abilities and be proud of the work that you do. Do not allow insecurities to damage your focus. Only you can set your moral compass.
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.
Prevention of resistance is most effective when implementing change. Preventing the weight of inertia in a workplace allows the change to happen in a timely manner with minimal problems. As Lee (2004) emphasizes, leaders have the ability to effect change and performance. If someone is accountable for outcomes and poor habits, outcomes will improve. The manager must show a caring attitude over the process of change and welcome any positive innovation. This caring attitude will become contagious to the employees working under him and become a priority to them as well. Approaching the change in an accepting, open-minded manner can decrease the vulnerability and frustration associated with change. How the change is presented can make the biggest difference in the outcome of the change. The manager must show that blaming will be avoided at all costs. One will only ask why, not who, to avoid the feeling of belittlement. This can allow employees to become comfortable with voicing their opinions and mistakes, which can allow an even greater range of improvement. The manager must also encourage...
Change in an organization occurs when an organization identifies an area of where necessary change must be undertaken, examines it thoroughly and adapts to it. This may lead to gaps where employees may not adapt to a certain change and therefore it is important that an organization takes into considerati...
Middlebrook, B., Caruth, D., & Frank, R. (1984, Summer 85). Overcoming Resistance to Change. Management Journal, 50(3), pp. 23.
Transformational leaders and managers who have strong lines of open communication with their employees have been shown to lessen stress and resistance during organisational change (Nging & Yazdanifard, 2015). Heckelman (2017) outlines four tools that best equip managers for dealing with organisational change:
There are many aspects in change leadership and people’s fear is one of them. Working as team member in a company takes a long time to adapt to other team members and work productively. Those employees who cannot accept changes fast and adapt to new team members may have troubles to work effectively and may be causing stagnation of other workers and a...