Employee Resistance to Organizational Change - Assignment Example

The paper “Employee Resistance to Organizational Change” is an intriguing example of a business assignment. Employee psychological resistance to change is an inevitable occurrence in an organizational setup and comes with adverse implications on an organization’s plans and objective realization ( Oreg S., 2003). Most importantly, unplanned change is more prevalent in facing employee psychological resistance, as employees will feel insecure about their situation (Pardo and Martinez, 2003). However, psychological resistance to change can be reduced through various ways that include employee participation in planning change and implementing it in accordance with Dam’s (2008) suggestions.

Most employee's resistance to change is for the simple reason that most of them have the feeling that organizational change is not the right way for an organization to go but if need be, then application of force may be necessary (Oreg, 2003). Most employees also have the feeling that organizational change is likely to cause some unforeseen uncertainties since they come with some ambiguities in employees' areas of jurisdiction. Furthermore, employees believe that can cause anxiety over their situation and employment and can only be overcome by organizational managers through good leadership coupled with good communication for the need of change.

Employee resistance to change comes with adverse negative effects on the organization. Employee resistance to change can make any organization lose money and time. Management mat at times take much time formulating strategies for change and in the event of resistance, it will use even more time to convince employees on the importance of change. It can also increase an organization’s turnover to levels that may not be favorable to the organization. Additionally, resistance to change can jeopardize the organizational realization of the objectives and predefined goals (Pardo Del Val. and Martinez, 2003). In summation, employee resistance to change affects organizational productivity, makes profitability very low, and other adverse impacts.

According to Dam (2008), the most influential sources of resistance to change include deep-rooted values, capabilities gaps, and communication barriers. The study on employee resistance to change showed that resistance was higher in strategic changes than in evolutionary ones. This is because strategic changes concentrate mostly on long-term planning while at the same time trying to incorporate a strong orientation towards external factors. On the other hand, evolutionary change entails setting direction, responsibility allocation, and establishing reasonable schedules for achieving organizational objectives (Dam, 2008).

Employee resistance in any organization is a daily encounter that needs everyday consideration. Organization’s managers need to consider and foresee employee resistance to change in order to attain the best benefits of change. These benefits include low turnover, high profitability, minimized time, and money wastage among other benefits. Unplanned change is also more likely to face resistance and therefore, management should involve employees during the initial stages of planning as well as the implementation stages of change.