How to Overcome Resistance to Change - Essay Example

Running head: how to overcome resistance to change 20th November Introduction Change in an organization is not welcomed by all the employees whether planned or forced by the management since most individuals fear change in the organization. Change in an organization is important in the development of the organization since change improves the working condition of employees. Additionally, if the organization is adopting technology based ideas it makes work easier for the entire organization. The work output of the organization when implementing technology based change increases and high quality output is attained. The top management is responsible for making change so that they can outline importance of the change to the employees. Change can affect the operations of the organization and thus unable to attain the goals and objective of the organization. It is important for the organization to introduce change gradually so that the output of the organization will not decrease. Change is an agent which is supposed to increase the outputs of the organization and initiate development in the firm. If change is implemented gradually then employee anxiety is reduced, wide spread resistance is also reduced which makes an entity to perform well (Anthony, 2014). The solution to change is making sure that the supervisors who guide the employees are effectively trained on change management so that incase of resistance they will help the employees. This paper seeks to discuss ten strategies that can be used to overcome resistance to change in an organization. Additionally, it will discuss theories and concepts in an organizational development (OD) analysis of a social or organization issue. Address personal concerns first Change in an organization has to do with employees how they work and how they will contribute positively to the achievements of goals. If an organization wants to remain competitive in the market it has to think about change and technology. When the management want to introduce a machine that is going to help the employees in their work it will need to communicate about how the machine is important and useful to the employees. Organization should come with forums where they justify about change in the organization counting all the advantages which will outweigh the disadvantages and thus being a perfect project. This will give all the possible benefits of change to the organization and how the organization will benefit from the project in future. Using this strategy of approach to the employees is wrong and thus it is likely that change will not be successful. The approach will not allow the employees to buy-in change since whenever employees hear about change they first react due to their concern. It is important to consider the employees or individual who are going to be subjected to change since under normal circumstances it leads to fear and loss. Each and every employee will think about it deeper and thus the main thing will be what consequences will it lead to me?, will introduction of change in the company lead to retrenchment, will it introduce a different schedule that will not allow status quo in the company, will the department be broken down for purpose of increased output in the organization among others. The kind of fear will make individuals in the organization to face change with hostility. Some workers may make efforts to ensure new strategies are not implemented by making sure that individuals in the organization will not accept change. First of all as a change agent who want change to be implemented without resistance in any organization users are supposed to be dealt with first. This means that all the employees’ personal concern should be deliberated about so that fear can be eliminated and thus allow change to take it course. The organization benefits should be the last option to mention when introducing new issues in any organization so that it can be accepted by the majority in the organization. Through the theory of first thing first which is concerned about the employees worries change will be accepted and thus resistance will not be experienced in the organization. Link the change to other issues people care about In any organization monthly and annual leaves motivates individual to work diligently. This is one of type of change that can make the workers to improve their performance. This is due to the fact that if change is linked with what most employees like most in the organization will lead to acceptance of new strategies. For example, introduction of machines which are complex in an organization will make the employees to finish their work on time. This will motivate all the employees to accept change and thus work hard to make sure that daily routines are finished in time so that one can work part time with another organization or sign for overtime sheet. This linking of change to other issues will increases the organization output and make individual to feel part and parcel of the change. It is the role of the management and change agents to consider the employees whenever they want to implement new policies in their firms so that it will benefit them and also increase the chances of organization competitive. Detailed analysis should be conducted before starting to implement a change. This means that the new program which is introduced to the organization should be in parallel with the existing programs so that if the new program fails, then the management will notice and switch to the already existing one. This is the reason why it is encouraged for change to be implemented gradually so that incase of problem then the change agent together with the management will be in a position to solve the problem and continue with the daily to day routines rather than leading to halt. If change will be connected to issues like job security, health issues which are concern to employees in the organization, then it is going to be accepted by the majority of employees in the organization. Job security should be linked with change so that workers can accept and contribute to the success and expansion of the company. Tap into people’s desire to avoid loss Loss is not an option which individual will like to be associated with and this is the reason why some individuals will not even risk in business related field to avoid incurring losses. It is normal for individual to be sensitive to loss than getting that idea of gain since individual have that nature as species. This theory is termed as negativity bias which every employee will have to think about it when change is introduced in the organization. This theory explains how individual survive as species with negativity bias since they do not want to incur loss. Negativity bias is experienced by many individuals since no one will teach another individual on how to survive and the only way to survive either in the organization or in any association is making sure that loss is not incurred. In this scenario, the employees will have to be resistance to change since change means that threats and losses are going to be experienced. The only way to curb the threat and loss is by making sure that change will not be implemented in the organization. The management together with change agent will have to explain how the employees in the organization will benefit before change is implemented so that they will accept it. But it is important to update the employees that they will lose as individuals and organization if they will not accept change. The reason behind this is to make sure that negativity bias is eliminated and thus come up with strategies that will allow change without considering fear and loss which will emanate as a result of change. This happens even to those who carry business oriented projects and thus for an individual to successes in the business he or she must risk. The risk is the loss which could be incurred while operating the business. Individual always have the tendency of avoiding to step on a dangerous thing like a snake rather they like to land on a safe and soft place which is out of danger. If the employees will not accept change the way it is designed in the organization, then the there is a likelihood of individuals and organization failing. Competition currently is very stiff and thus for the organization to be competitive with other firms there is need for change. Change need to be given time so that the employees and the entire organization will deliberate about it so as to make it effective. Tailor information to people’s expectations In an organization development of people’s expectation should be considered when the management and the change agents are focusing on competitive advantage of the organization and growth. Individuals in the organization will tend to view how the world is and how it works; they will gather information concerning another organization which has introduced change. This will give them the reality of the situation which is termed as mental model. Mental model will govern how the employees in the organization think about change and how they are going to adopt it. Some of the employees in the organization will appreciate change and they will be waiting for it. For example, for those individual who have been upgrading their education qualification they will think about change as a process which will be good in the organization and thus they will wait for it as a promotion model. Such employees will accept it and thus no significance resistance will be experienced in the organization. On the other hand, there are those individuals in the organization who want to maintain status quo and thus no significant progress will be experienced in the firm. The employees will direct their mind to a change which will be seen as a process which is bad and thus they will use all their efforts to make sure that the progress of implementing change is jeopardized. This is referred to as a prevention model where the employees focus on their energy to make sure that loss will not take part in their life. Some individuals use different logical arguments so that they will have support to make sure that change is not implemented in the organization. The worst thing about it is that if individuals are not going to be satisfied with the arguments of the prevention model they will assume that the change will collapse. Individuals always hold their beliefs, desire and feelings so that they will like to be associated with change. If the change will not have current beliefs, desire and feelings, it will be hard to implement a new strategy. Change must appeal to individuals that it will touch their current beliefs, desire and feelings which they consider a lot in an organization. Group your audience homogeneously It is important and beneficial for the employees in the organization to work together so as to attain the goals of the organization. Teamwork is always encouraged for the benefit of the organization and to fulfill customer requirement which is easily achieved through group work. This always works the same as how the management will get a message from the employees who share the same opinion concerning change. This will be difficult if the same message of change is communicated to the management by a group of individuals who will have diverse options. Working through homogeneous groups will easily convince workers to accept change in the organization. It will always be easier for a change agent to convince employees about change if they are asked to do something in different groups (Anthony, 2014). For example, about a climate change where they are going to be directed to use different channel of television which provide climate updates. The groups can be divided into two and thus when it will come to a time of presenting; their information will be tailored differently. This will be the best method which can be used to explain and convince different groups on the implications of a change. This way the change agents and the management are smart on how they justify change and be able to convince individuals in the organization. The theory used will be the best and thus any threat and fear will be discussed by the management and so that change will be accepted in the organization without resistance. When dealing with employees, it is important to show them a concern whenever the management want to introduce change since change is a threat to many individuals. If individual are going to loss their job then it is best to look for alternatives and thus be offered with other opportunities to make sure that whatever the management have brought in is implemented. Failure to provide opportunities to those who are going to be affected negatively by change will mean that it will be experienced with resistance. Take advantages of people’s bias- buy now, pay later It is obvious that individuals in an organization tend to concentrate more on things that will happen now rather than those which will happen in the future. This tendency is termed as discounting the future. For example, an individual many be provided with an option of being given $100 at now or $200 at the end of the year. Individual will opt for $100 which is being provided right now. It is important to persuade individuals that change is necessary in the organization for competition purpose and development. Change is associated with threats of unemployment and loss which is greater than the advantages, but it is important to emphasize to the individual in the organization that if it is postponed it will still postpone the threats and loss in the future (Anthony, 2014). The solution of achieving change in the organization may be agreed by the employees now but the implementation be postponed. People tend to believe that they will have gone to further education due to change or they will be better and organized in the future than now. Additionally, individuals tend to think that they are going to be prepared for a change. This is not true since if postponing will keep on happening then the possibility of achieving the present and future goals will never be attained. This is the reason why the employees will accept change but they need it to be implemented on the future (Connor, 1993). This strategy of overcoming resistance to change can be explained in complexity theory since the future is incomprehensible and thus likely to be interfered with which will result to change not being effective. This means that chances of stagnant and thus change will not take place at instant and sometimes if the organization will not introduce strategic plan then it will be impossible to manage and thus likely not to function in the specified deadline. Make the change local and concrete It is true that even those who are at the top management still experience threats and thus the employees are likely to have resistance to change since they are the ones who are in the ground to work. For example, a new system which is digital is introduced and thus the employees need to be trained, this may increase the likelihood of resistance in an organization. It is important if the employees are equipped with the knowledge of change earlier so that they can be prepared fully. It is the role of the management to make sure that the employees will demonstrate the concrete ideas and threats that are local. This means that the management will impress the employees the important of change to them and how it will be beneficial to the organization. This implies that change should be persuaded to all the individuals so that they are going to buy-in the change and later be implemented. When people think of change they consider that it will affect other individuals and other places. It is important for the organization to make sure concrete examples are provided to the employees showing them how the change will be important to the organization and to them. This in return will lead to necessary changes being adopted and thus it will be simpler to implement new versions of doing things in the organization without any resistance from the employees. The theory that can be used is action planning so that individual will have the issues of change addressed in length and thus any clarification can be obtained from agents of change. The management of the organization is supposed to come up with strategic action which will involve a documented feasibility so that implementation will impact positively in the firm. The management and other leaders are supposed to be open to the employees so that if the employees are not satisfied with what they are going to attain, then change can be stressed and thus leading to successful implementation. Appeal to the whole brain Change is a process which is supposed to be a gradual process and thus even change agents need to try and think it in terms of phases which it will be implemented to any organization. It is obvious that change agents should be individuals who need to use charts, tables and numbers so that they can carry analysis to ensure that the figures and the facts which are generated will appeal to the brain. This means that they will have a picture in their brain which is supposed to depict the original process after being implemented. A human being has two sides of change which is in the brain, the first side is concerned with analytical part and thus it will process all the information that tends to be quantitative. The right side on the other hand, is concerned with experimental information and thus emotions tend to be experienced by human being in this side of brain. For example, the engineers are concerned with the facts and figures though if experimental part does not exist, it will mean that change will not be successful. Similarly, customer will not buy the Apple Iphone because of a change in valuable functionality which many people takes as a phone which performs best in the industry of communication. Rather they will consider the appealing emotion which is given the priority. This means that the valuable functionality that individual will associate the phone with is in left analytical brain while emotions of a well designed and appealing Iphone is on the right brain. Using the theory above it is important to make sure that emotional responses which individual tend to use under normal circumstances are supposed to be eliminated and thus emphasize relevant experience which is personal to each and every person. Thus, in terms of change in an organization, employees are not supposed to be emotional on change but rather they should wait for that period of accepting change and implementing it so that they will have the experience required. In fact, it is a matter of brain which is concerned with real analogies which are concrete in nature and analytical so that the organization can have that image of change which will lead to acceptance of change. Change should not be associated with emotions but rather with experience which is the real analogies. Beware of overloading people Emotions must exist when connecting to individual and thus even to organization where employees are going to intermingle the possibility of discussing change is high. Thus emotions will emanate from this perspective due to change which post threat and loss to every individual in the firm. Individuals in the organization are aware of their daily today routines and thus they are used only to a limited activities which they conduct each time. This can be termed as a finite pool of worry for example it can be explained using the following theory. When an individual pours water on a sponge, the sponge will take all the water at instant but when one continues to add water to the sponge it will not adsorb any more. This means that the sponge is full and thus any water that will be poured on the sponge will run off. This will mean that the finite pool of worry is already full and thus it will not take any thing else. This applies even to change since individual have been communicating on change in each and every day and thus they will not think about change any more. It is important for management not to keep on reminding the employees about the change that will be introduced in an year to come but rather it is wise to remind them when it is remaining two or three months to come. This will give them enough time to prepare about change but when it is a year to come it will be only finite pool of worry which will be full as time goes on. This increases the chances of negative emotions on change and thus likely to face resistance from the employees since it is obvious that each and every person is fears change due to the threats and loss which it is associated with. It is the role of the top management to make sure that the employees who are not aware of the change will be updated on. On the other hand if training is going to be conducted should be done in groups so that individual will have time to discuss about the change and how it will be beneficial to the organization and to the employees. Know the pros and cons of your change In an organization, a change is different from any other change since some can be beneficial while on the other hand some can cause inconvenience which will cause a lot of pain to the individuals. Change can be simple which will mean that it is not complex but relatively simple and thus it will not cause a lot of fear since all the employees understand it. Compatibility is another way which will make the employees to reduce their anxiety since if it is compatible with what they are used to will mean it will not have resistance to implement. If change is better compared with what the organization performance and have advantages it will not face resistance when implementing it since it will include the status quo which many employees like to. Adaptability is important to change and thus if individuals will adapt change without being prescribed what is to be done will be beneficial since it will be assumed that they are okay with the change. Painful way to make change effective will be associated with fear and thus likely to be faced with resistance. For example when the entire system will be changed, individuals being changed how they operate, employees daily activities among others will make change not to be effective and thus resistance. If change is divisible then it can be implemented in phases which is most recommended. It will be implemented a whole will need a lot of training and time to make sure that the employees will be compatible with change. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is clear that given the ever changing business operations as managers aim at improving their sales and workers performance, changes are inevitable. The current business atmosphere is characterized with changing technology, new management policies, new taxation, new posts, and changes in working ethics among others. This implies that change agents must be prepared to deal with the resistance that may emanate among the employees by adopting the 10 discussed techniques in the paper. References Anthony, M. (2014). Boise state university. 10 strategies you can use to overcome resistance to change. Available from https://opwl.boisestate.edu/wp-content/uploads/news-A_Marker_Handling_Resistance_to_Change_v4b.pdf Connor, D. (1993). Managing at the speed of change. New York: Random House. Read More