Any change is complicated by the fact that it does not produce a direct adjustment.
Sources of Resistance to
Change
Any change is complicated by the
fact that it does not produce a direct adjustment. Instead, it operates through employees attitudes to produce a response that
is conditioned by feelings towards change. The following chart known as
Roethlisberger’s x-chart explains how attitudes affect the response to change.
From the above chart, it is
obvious that how people feel about change ultimately determines the response to
change. People as individuals interpret change with attitudes in the back
ground. The response is expressed through the group behavior. All changes have
some costs, economic, psychological and social costs. Because of these costs
associated with change, initiatives for change require analysis to determine
their usefulness. Hence, cost benefit analysis of change is required. The goal
of any organization is to maximize the benefits. Organizational members are
affected in different ways by a change. Some may benefit while others suffer
losses. This is the reason why employees tend to resist work change because of
the associated costs. The following are reasons for, and consequences of,
resistance to change.
Three Types of Resistance to Change
They are
Logical, psychological and sociological
Logical: arises from the time and effort needed to adjust to change. It is
also due to new job duties to be learnt. These are short run costs to be paid
by employee, though in the long term they are benefited by change.
Psychological: may arise due to attitudes and feelings of individuals about
change. They fear the uncertainty, mistrust the management and feel insecurity.
Therefore prefer status quo.
Sociological: political conditions, opposing union values, narrow outlook, vested
interests, and desire to retain existing friendship are some of the reasons for
resisting change.
Alternatively, resistance to change can also be
studied under individual resistance and organizational resistance.
Individual
resistance: The source of resistance resides
in basic human characteristics,
which are presented hereunder in a summary form: Habit: To cope with life complexity, human beings rely on habits or programmed
responses. Confronted with a change, the tendency to respond in habitual ways
is a source of resistance. Security: persons with high need for security resist change. In technologically
intensive society, people perceive threats to the jobs and economic security.
Hence, they resist change. Economic factor: one’s concern that change will lower one’s income is another source of
resistance. When pay is tied to performance, people fear that they may lose
their income by not being successful in performing their new job, more so when
they need to apply new set of skills. Need for security blanket (Fear
of the Unknown): apart from economic and job
security, people prefer predictability and structured patterns in their lives.
The need for this security blanket also makes them apprehensive about the
change that characterizes ambiguity and uncertainty. Therefore, the preference
for known for the unknown is obvious. Selective information processing:
people see the world through
their
perceptions.They see and try to understand and accept information that
is palatable to them. They ignore information that challenges the wolld they
wish to operate in. Apprehension about understanding
of status and authority: change in
technology of work methods “undermining authority and status” is a source of
resistance to change. Resistance is stemming from
retooling and retraining: knowing that
one has to learn new things is a source of resistance to change as any learning
involves unlearning. Resistance due to non
-involvement in the change process: when changes
are incorporated with little input from those who are affected by them,
resistance to change is expected. Resistance due to sunk costs: older employees seem to resist change more than younger ones.
They have more psychological investment in older traditions. This is otherwise
known as ‘sunk cost’ of energy and time. Organizational
Resistance: organizations by their very
nature are conservative. They also
become blindfolded and resist change. Six sources of organizational resistance
to change are explained in what follows:
Structural inertia: organizations have built in mechanisms to produce stability such
as selection process which chooses certain persons, training and socialization
process reinforcing specific role requirements and skills and formalization of
jobs for employees to follow. When change confronts organizations, their
structural inertia acts as a counter force to organizational stability. Limited focus of change: limited changes in sub-systems of the organization are likely
to be opposed. Group inertia: here group norms act as
constraints for change. Threat to Expertise: organizational
changes may be threat to the expertise of specialized groups. For example,
decentralized end user computer was a threat to the specialized skills held by
the centralized information systems departments. Threat to established power relationship: any redistribution of authority for decision-making can
be threat to established power relationships. For example, participative
management is a kind of change seen as a threat to the authority of middle
level managers. Threat to established resource allocation: change is seen as a threat by those groups controlling
sizeable resources of the organization. Consequences
of Resistance to change: consequences are both positive
and negative Positive
consequences -- Resistance may force management to reexamine change proposals so
that they are appropriate. -- Resistance
also pinpoints specific problem areas so that management can take corrective
action before problems become serious. -- It also encourages management to communicate change which in the
long run ensures acceptance of change. Negative
consequences Organizations failing to overcome
resistance to change have to pay a price. Change of greater magnitude
introduced without gaining employee acceptance may lead to overt consequence
such as employee unrest leading to strike, gherao, sabotage, etc. Implicit
reactions to change may lead to alienation from the job i.e., tardiness,
absenteeism and turnover.
Tags : Management Concepts & Organisational Behaviour - Organisational Change
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