Rationale for Employee Resistance to Organizational Change - Coursework Example

Organizational Change Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Name and Code: University: Date of Submission: Organizational Change Introduction Change in organizations is inevitable; they are part and parcel of what manager’s as well as employees have to live with. Often organizations would counter external pressure, as well as, pressure from the internal environment, to implement some changes so that the organization can survive in today’s competitive business era. Time and experience that an organization goes through, would always make it necessary for change to be embraced in an organizations. Year in year out, organizations are involved in a number of managerial processes, aimed at reaching out towards their objectives. As organizations do this, they come to experience progress that will need to be sustained as well as improved. On the other side, they experience failures that they have to counter and embrace some changes so that there is no repetition of the same. Organizational change may encompass changing the working structure, changing how processes are managed, changing the schedules as well as scope of work (Mehdi 2001, p.37-47). It may further entail restructuring the whole managerial structure, in a manner that is thought to bring forth, positive changes that would be helpful to the organization. Organizations cannot run away from change in as much as many people are resistant to change. Change management is not an easy task because managers have to involve others in the implementation of change. Many people do not just fear, but resist change. So often the organization would face difficult times to manage change. Essentially organizational change is not a one person or manager affair, but instead often all members of an organization are involved in it. This means that the managers would have a big task to increase the involvement of other employees in the management of change. Success in change management comes when the managers and employees understand the usefulness of the changes they are fronting, to the organizations and to themselves (Cook & Macaulay 2004, p.38-49). Rationale for Employee resistance to Organizational change Organizational change often is countered by resistance from members of the organization, despite what the change entails. People are always quick to fight change of any kind. Researchers are still working on finding why man is often resistant to change. Not even in the organizational context alone, even in other spheres of life, people are found to find comfort zones when the status quo is sustained (John 2006, p.23-35). The employees associate safety to living in the way that they know instead of working towards the unknown. In organizational change management, managers would often face resistance from other members of the organization, as they try to implement change into their organization. A unique feature about organizational change is that it is all inclusive; all the members of the organization have their part to play in order to make the process successful. No one should be left out, this forms the main reasons why, managers have to work extra hard in managing change through motivating employees involvement, by explaining to them the resultant benefits that comes from the success of the change they have to be involved in. The employees will want assurances that the changes that are being implemented will not have negative consequence to them, but instead it would be of benefit to their well being in the organization. The employee’s resistance to change is rarely irrational. A number of suggested reasons that make people and employees in particular to resist organizational change are inclusive of: (a) The fear of loss of status or job security in the organization they work in. Employees as human beings are not of the nature to make the changes that they perceive would harm them in the long run. An employee(s) would want to retain a good status and be secure in his/her job therefore any effort to destroy this would be thwarted with undivided commitment (Azari 2011, p.67-78). Change management is a tricky exercise because unlike the past that is known, the changes may bring forth what is unknown. Employees would tend to be inclined to their job security first and may be fully resistant to change especially, when they perceive that the results of these changes may cause them either to lose their status or even their entire investment in the job. It is not human nature for one to make or be involved in implementing a change that one views would be harmful to his/her current status or position. This in the organizational setting would imply that employees, as well as, managers may be resistant to be involved in technological and administrative changes that are perceived to result in the reduction or elimination of their roles in the organization. In other words, from their perspective is that the change that organization fronts harmful to their place in the organization. This call for the leadership of the organization to come up with an effective and thoughtful change strategy to address this area, if this is not done then there will be high likelihood of strong resiastance, as well as, high turnover. Rewards Systems that are Non-reinforcing, from the common saying in business, managers would get what they reward; it can be seen that the stakeholders of the organization will resist change when they perceive that the change they are involved in has no reward at all. Essentially, when the reward for involvement in the change processes is lacking then the employees lack the motivation needed to support the change in the long run. This means that organizations will need to tailor make their organizational reward system so that it can support the change that management intends to implement. The change implementation process does not have to be very costly; the management just needs to ensure that there is motivation to the members of the organization (Oliva 2008, p.45-52). Rewards will sustain the change management process for it will give the employees the motivation that can keep them going and focused in implementing the change, to a point that it becomes successful. Fear of the Unknown and Surprise: The members of the organization will become more and more fearful of to the change that is to be implemented, based on the knowledge they have about the change to be implemented and the impact that the change has to them. For organizational change to be successful, it needs that it is not done through springing surprises to the members of an organization. The members of the organization need to be prepared in advance for the change that is to be implemented (Minoli 2010, p.23-33). When the two way communication lacks between leadership and other members of the organization, then the organization will be filled with so many rumours, which ultimately would sabotage the efforts made towards realizing success in effecting organizational change. Employees Peer Pressure: Employees are first human beings then employees of an organization. As human beings then they have feelings, emotions, beliefs and this affects how they perceive things. All these can be influenced by the people around them (their fellow workers and other persons). The employees whether introverted or extroverted they are all social beings (Hiatt & Timothy 2011, p.37-44). The stakeholders of the organization may go forth to resist change so that they can protect the interests of their group members. For instance, employees may adversely resist change so that they can protect the interests of their co-workers. On the other side, managers would resist change so that they can protect their work group. The attitude of collective responsibility in the protection of the interests of the workers will make a number of them to resist organizational change particularly, if the change is perceived to have negative implication to the work of the workers or members of the organization. Climate of mistrust: This is one of the key reasons why members of an organization can resist change. The existence of mistrust between the leadership of the organization and the members will make members to resist the change to be made; with little regard to if it has good or bad consequence to them. Often the climate of mistrust is created by the past experiences that the members of an organization have gone through. For instance, if in the past the organization leadership has consistently not been honouring its promises then the employees may be reluctant to trust the leadership even if good promises are made with respect to the changes that they are to implement (Stranks 2007, p.23-32). If in the past, there were other organizational changes were made and employees were victimized by those changes; the current employees would be unwilling to go through the same experience no matter the rewards they are given; instead they would resist the change. Essentially, there can never be meaningful organizational change where climate of mistrust is existent. Trust in this context involves, employees having faith in the intentions of the leadership towards what they want to achieve from the organizational change they intend to implement. Existence of mutual mistrust dooms an otherwise planned change initiative and makes it to fail. Managerial Behaviours in Change Management One key factor in the effective implementation of organisational change is the style of managerial behaviour. How management do manage their employees and behaviours they portray, really affect the success levels of effecting organizational change. For instance, managerial behaviours that are bureaucratic in nature may work in the short run, but may not bring forth good results, because the employees will tire off from implementing the change. Observing rules and regulations by employees may be perceived to be some form of harassment, and thus, may make organizational change not to be realized. Managerial behaviours that are contingent in nature may be effective in change management, though they may need to be coupled by some control measures, so as to minimise the risks that may come out from change management process. The risk of application of contingency managerial behaviour in managing change is that it may lead to loop hole of laxity among the employees to work towards implementing the change (Kotter 1996, p.43-56). Application of contrasting styles of managerial behaviour may work out to be the best way to manage organisational change. This implies that a manager should be able to apply a certain managerial behaviour in the specific times that are required, while managing change. For instance, from my experience it may be relevant for bureaucratic managerial behaviour to be applied to the cases that are sensitive, and if a mistake is made it would be costly to the organization. In the other situation; it may be prudent to apply contingency managerial behaviours, so as to motivate employees. However, it should be coupled with targets, so as to avoid laxity of the members of the organization in process of implementation of the change (Brown & Vessey 2011, p.41-57). Features in the successful implementation of organisational change There are a number of features in the successful implementation of organisational change; a number of such features are outlined as follows. The first feature is ‘motivation in Change Management’; where there is successful implementation of organizational change; motivation is evident. Management always would portray its readiness for overcoming the resistance to change. They do this through motivating their members by enlightening them on the need for change, the current state and the direction the organization is taking, describing to them the realistic steps on how the change will be accomplished. After doing this, they listen to the concerns of the employees and ensure that people feel that the approach taken has taken care of their concerns. The second feature is ‘creation of vision’. Successful implementation of change is characterised by leaders of the organization articulating a clear vision that outlines what the change effort aims at (Morgan 2006, p.35-43). The vision ought to depict how the achievement of the vision will improve the organization. In other words it should be relevant and realistic to the members of the organization. Organizations that succeed in implementing change, often strive to change make employees feel respected enough to be involved a vision that is realistic, and promising. The third feature is such organizations often develop Political Support; this is because lack of this is what often stops successful change from being realized. Politics in organization is often about power and power is vital among members of the organization. Especially, when pursuing for organizational resources and influence that is necessary to successful performance of their jobs. Power is also central in the job security of the employees. Change often implies a shift in power across all management functions, levels and groups. This is what successful organizations in change management are characterized by; for they to recruit the support of all key power players during managing change. The forth feature is ‘the management of transition’; successful organizations in organizational change arte characterized by the smooth transition in how they manage change. This may involve creation and/or modification of the major processes and structures of the organization. The final feature looked at is ‘sustaining momentum’; this is the most difficult aspect that managers in this organisations face. Change efforts even in the successful organization can encounter a variety of obstacles, for instance strong resistance from employees, a dramatic sales reduction. This needs strong and ongoing support top leadership top as to propel the momentum to grow even as the change is being implemented. Additionally, Change management has to be applied so as an organization can achieve competitive advantage over its competitors (Dehning & Stratopoulos 2011, p.34-46). Conclusion In conclusion, management is the engine that runs change in any organization. The management processes, procedures and behaviours are so critical for the implementation of any change in the organization to be successful. It defeats all odds to assume that organizational change will be successful without the key input that management plays to make it be a success; it is so obvious that without existence of proper management in an organization, organizational change will fail because the resistance that the employees will front will not be overcome and thus the change will not be brought to fruition. Notably, the failure of the implementation of organizational change leads to uncertainty in the efficiency of management that the organization has. This is because it is the managers who are tasked with the responsibility to provide efficient implementation of organizational change. It is the managers to go forth to persuade the employees to accept certain changes that the organizations front through interpreting to them the usefulness of the change to the organization and to their own success in their careers (Singh 2004, p.51-59). In other words success in organizational change is made feasible when there is proper management that is based on the mutual understanding of the employees, managers and other key stake holders who are involved in the process of managing the change. In apt terms, it can be said that successful organizational change is evidenced when the change management processes involve successful change agents who understand the real position of the employees about the change and they communicate with them so as to develop good will towards the implementation of the change and this results to success in managing such changes. References List Azari, R. 2011, Current management & ethical issues of technology and change management, Idea Group Inc (IGI), London, p.67-78 Brown, C. & Vessey, I 2011, Managing the Next Wave of Change Management in Enterprise System, MIS Quarterly Executive, 2(1), p.41-57. Cook, S. & Macaulay, S, 2004, Change management excellence: using the four intelligences for successful organizational change, Kogan Page Publishers, New York, p.38 Dehning, B & Stratopoulos, T 2011, Determinants of a Sustainable Competitive Advantage Due to Change management Strategy, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 12 (1), 34 John, G 2006, Emerging trends and challenges in management of change, Idea Group Inc (IGI), Chicago p.23-35 Hiatt, J & Timothy, J 2011, Change management: the people side of change.Prosci publisher, Chicago, p.37 Kotter, J. P 1996, Journal on Leading change, Harvard Business School Press, New York, NY, p.43-56. King, W 2005, Journal on Ensuring change implementation success," Information Systems Management, 19(1), 23-98. Morgan, D 2006, Changing The Thinking, Wiley Publishers, London, p.35 Minoli, D 2010, Risk Management in Enterprise Environment, Wiley-Interscience Publishers, Texas, p.33 Mehdi, K 2001, Success and pitfalls of management of change, Idea Group Inc (IGI), Chicago, p.37-47 Oliva, L. (2008). Change management and technology security, advice from experts. London: Idea Group Inc (IGI), p.45 Singh, M. (2004). Business innovation and change management Journal. London: Idea Group Inc (IGI), p.51-59. Stranks, J. (2007). Human Factors and Behavioural Safety. Chicago: Butterworth-Heinemann pub.p.23 Read More