December 8, 2021

TERM PAPER OF MPOB

TOPIC: - RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

SUBMITTED TO: - SUBMITTED BY:-

MISS KANIKA SANDEEP KAUR
REG NO: - 7450070103
ROLL NO:-RA17B2A13

Abstract:
This paper will begin with a general discussion of resistance to change in organization.
Analyses of different change occur and what is there impact on organization and employees.
It also include various factor why mostly people resistance to change .Types of changes not
deeply but short study on it and main how to manage the employees if they resist to change.
Also various role performed by manger to overcome from this problem.

Objectives:-
 To analyze the changes that take place in an organization and why people resist
undertaking change most of the time.
 Impact of resistance to change on organization and employees
 How do companies manage the resistance to change among the employees?
.
Introduction: Change is a way of life for those who responsible for managing
organizations and with change comes the discussion of resistance to change. Resistance to
change can generally be categorized as organizational or individual. Resistance is a
phenomenon that affects the change process, delaying or slowing down its beginning,
hindering its implementation, and increasing its costs. Resistance has also been
considered as a source of information, being useful in learning how to develop a more
successful change process.
Most people prefer predictability and stability in both their personal and professional
lives. People typically avoid situations that upset order, threaten their self-interests,
increase stress or involve risk. When faced with changes to the status quo, people usually
resist initially. The resistance continues and, in some cases increases, until they are able
to recognize the benefits of change and perceive the gains to be worth more than the risk
or threats to their self-interests

Changes that take place in an organization:-

 Organizational Change
The organizational change is about a significant change in the organization, such as
reorganization or adding a major new product or service. This is in contrast to smaller
changes, such as adopting a new computer procedure. Organizational change can seem like
such a vague phenomena that it is helpful for the organisation but employees resist to these
change because due some reason it may not be effective for them.
 Organization-wide Change
 The organization-wide change might be a major restructuring or collaboration. In this
organizations must undertake organization-wide change to evolve to a different level in their
life cycle, for example, going from a highly reactive, entrepreneurial organization to one that
has a more stable and planned development. Experts assert that successful organizational
change requires a change in culture – cultural change, cost change and process change is
another example of organization-wide change.

 Cost changes are those that occur when an organization attempts to reduce costs in
order to improve efficiency or performance. Major adjustments may be made to
departments to cut costs; reducing budgets, laying off employees in redundant
positions, and eliminating nonessential activities may all be a result of cost change.
 Process changes are implemented to improve efficiency or effectiveness of
organizational procedures. This may occur in production settings; there may be
changes to how a product is created, assembled, packaged, or shipped. Or, in a
service organization, there may be changes to the procedures used to accomplish
work; new computer systems may create the need to change how paperwork is
completed, or a new manager may modify the process used to handle customer
complaints.
 Cultural changes are the least tangible of all the types of change, but they can be the
most difficult. An organization's culture is its shared set of assumptions, values, and
beliefs. A prototypical culture is the very bureaucratic, top-down style in which
stability and standard processes are valued. When such an organization tries to adopt
a more participative, involved style, this requires a shift in many organizational
activities. Primarily, manager-employee relations are altered with a change in
culture.
 Subsystem Change:-change in a subsystem might include addition or removal of a
product or service, reorganization of a certain department, or implementation of a new
process to deliver products or services.
 Transformational changes:-transformational change might be changing an
Organization’s structure and culture from the traditional top-down, hierarchical
structure to a large amount of self-directing teams. Example might be Business Process
Re-engineering, which tries to take apart the major parts and processes of the
organization and then put them back together in a more optimal fashion.
Transformational change is sometimes referred to as quantum change.
  Incremental Change: -
Incremental change might include continuous improvement as a quality management
process or implementation of new computer system to increase efficiencies. Many
times, organizations experience incremental change and its leaders do not recognize
the change as such.
 Developmental Change:-Change that takes place to make a successful situation even
more successful, for example, expand the amount of customers served, or duplicate
successful products or services. Developmental projects can seem more general and
vague than remedial, depending on how specific goals are and how important it is for
members of the organization to achieve those goals.
 Unplanned change:-Unplanned change usually occurs because of a major, sudden
surprise to the organization, which causes its members to respond in a highly reactive
and disorganized fashion. Unplanned change might occur when the Chief Executive
Officer suddenly leaves the organization, significant public relations problems occur,
poor product performance quickly results in loss of customers, or other disruptive
situations arise.

People resist to undertaking change most of the time because:-

After top 230 organization meeting result come that most of the employees resist the
changes.

Ability to change

The rate of 230 organization’s on basis of ability to change. Figure A shows the distribution
of scores on a 1 to 5 scale, with one being the most rigidly opposed to change. Only one fifth
of participants rated their organization a 4 or 5, indicating a high level of adaptability to
change. More than 40% of participants rated their organization resistant to change with a
score of either 2 or 1.

Figure – Ability to change

 Employee resistance
Participants gave a variety of reasons for resistance by employees and managers.
They believe change is unnecessary or will make the situation worse. The top-five
reasons for employee resistance were:
 Lack of understanding around the vision and need for change
Participants indicated that the primary reason for employee resistance was that
employees did not understand the vision of this particular change project.
Employees did not clearly understand why the change was happening, nor did
they have adequate knowledge regarding the change itself. Employees did not
have the answer to the question, “what’s in it for me?”. This could include, "Will I
 have a job?," "How will it impact my daily work?," "How will I benefit from the
change?".
 Comfort with the status quo and fear of the unknown
Participants indicated that employees tended to be complacent, or that the current
way of doing business had been in place for a long time. The current processes
and systems seemed fine to the employees, and they were opposed to the change
since it forced them out of their comfort zone. Uncertainty and fear of the new
system compounded the desire of employees to continue with the “old way” to
which they had grown accustom. 
 Corporate history and culture
The organization’s past performance with change projects impacted the
employees’ support of the current change project. Employees were desensitized
to change initiatives, as many had been introduced and failed. The project was
seen merely as the “flavor of the month,” and employees expected it go away like
those in the past. 
 Opposition to the new technologies, requirement and processes introduced the
change
Many participants felt that some employees resisted the change because of
opposition to the actual change itself. Employees were opposed to changes that
increased the performance and process measurement of their work. The change
was seen as adding unwanted work, responsibility and accountability. Lastly,
some employees opposed the new processes, systems or technologies because
they felt the change would not solve the problems. 
 Fear of job loss
Employees perceived the business change as a threat to their own job security.
Some employees felt that the change would eliminate the need for their job,
while others were unsure of their own abilities and skills in the new environment.

 Manager resistance

Reasons for manager resistance to change were:

 Loss of power and control

 The leading reason for manager resistance to change was a fear of losing power.
Changes often eliminated something the manager had control of or introduced
something that the manager would not have control over. Managers perceived the
changes as infringements on their autonomy, and some participants indicated that the
change was even perceived as a personal attack on the managers.
 Overload of current tasks, pressures of daily activities and limited resources.
Managers felt that the change was an additional burden. Limited resources
compounded the problem. The change initiative seemed like extra work and resource
strain at a time when the pressures of daily activities were already high. In many
projects, managers were expected to continue all of their current duties in addition to
the duties of implementing the change. 
 Lack of skills and experience needed to manage the change effectively. 
Managers were fearful of the new demands that would be placed on them by the
business change. Several skill areas were identified as areas of concern. First,
managers were uncomfortable with their role in managing the change. Some feared
recrimination while others did not have the experience or tools to effectively manage
their employees’ resistance. Managers also were concerned about the demands and
responsibilities placed on them by the new business processes, systems or
technologies. 
 Fear of job loss.
Managers felt that the business change would ultimately impact their own job
security. Middle management is often the victim of large-scale business change. One
participant reaffirmed this fear: “They were eliminated in the change, so no resistance
was recorded.” 
 Disagreement with the new way. 
Some managers disagreed specifically with the change. They did not feel that the
solution was the best approach to fixing the problem. Managers who did not play a
role or provide input in the design and planning phases tended to resist the solution.
Some participants felt that the resistance was due to the solution not being the idea of
the manager.

 Skepticism about the need for change. 

Managers were not convinced of the need for change. They did not see the business
 issues driving the change, or they did not identify the same problems as the design
team. 

 Organizational Resistance
Organizational resistance means that the change is resisted at the level of the organizational
itself. Some organizations are so designed that they resist new ideas, this is specifically true
in case of organizations which are conservative in nature. Majority of the business firms are
also resistant to changes. The major reasons for organizational resistance are
 Threat to Power. Top management generally considers change as a threat to their
power and influence in the organization due to which the change will be resisted by
them. The introduction of participative decision making or self-managed work teams
is the kind of change which is often seen as threatening by the middle and top level
management.
 Group inertia. Sometimes, the individuals resist change because the group to which
they belong resists it. The degree and force of resistance will depend upon how loyal
one is to the group and how effectively the group resists the change.
 Organizational structure. Change is often resisted by the bureaucratic structures
where jobs are narrowly defined, lines of authority clearly spelled and flow of
i9nformation is stressed from top to bottom. Moreover, organizations are made up of
a number of interdependent subsystems; one system cannot be changed without
affecting the others.
 Threat to specialization. Change in organization may threaten the expertise of
specialized groups. For example, giving computer training to all the employees in the
organization and giving personal computers was perceived as a threat by the experts
in computer department of the organization.
 Resource constraints. Organizations need adequate financial resource for training
change agents and for offering rewards to those who support change. An organization
that does not have resources for implementing the change resists it.
 Sunk cost. The change is generally resisted by the top management because it often
leads to the problem of sunk costs. The heavy capital which already invested in the
fixed assets or the amount which has already been spent on the training of the
employees will go waste if the change is introduced.

 Factor by people resistance to change

  Economic Factors
 In organization when the development or change on technology takes place,
employee resists the change. Employee may fear that the change will lead to
technological unemployment. Generally, new technology is associated with
education of labor intake and therefore they resist the change.
 In organization where pay is tied to productivity individuals usually resists change
as they fear that they will not be able to perform new task effectively, thus causing a
decline in productivity and a decrease in their income.
 Workers may fear that they will be demoted if they do not acquire the skills required
for the new jobs.
 Workers resist the changes which lead to high standards which in turn may reduce
the opportunities for bonus or incentive pay.
 Psychological Factors
 Workers may have the fear that the new job will bring boredom and monotony as a
result of specialization brought by the new technology.
 Change in technology brings new method of doing the job and it must be learnt and
adopt the new ideas of doing the job. To learn these ideas they need work hard and
they do not want to take the trouble in learning new things.
 The workers may be incapable of understanding the implications of new ideas and
method.
 Workers may not like criticism implied in a change that the present method is
inadequate and unsuitable.
 New changes may lead to reduction of the personal pride of the workers because they
fear that new work changes will do away with the need for much manual work.
 Social Factors
 Every individual have social needs like friends, belongingness, etc. In organization,
while working employee develop social relationship with the other employees. They
become members of certain informal group. The change will bring a fear in mind of
people because generally people dislike with for new adjustment, breaking present
social relationship reduce social relationship, feeling of outside interference in the
form change agent etc.
 
 Methods to overcoming the resistance to change among the employees by
organization
These ideas that can helpful for organization to consider when organizing and
implementing change are:-

 Build an environment of trust with the employees in order to create a workplace

where employees are more open to ideas and more willing to discuss possibilities and
problems associated with change. To do this, respondents mentioned the need to be
open to ideas, to listen, to provide a safe environment where people are free to express
their opinions without fear of retribution, etc.

 Link the change effort to a common team value in order to help employees feel
they can relate to the change effort at a personal level. This increases the desire and
motivation to change.

 Communicate a clear message about why the change effort is needed and will help
the team. Don't rely on facts and figures alone to support the reasons for change. Facts
and figures don't inspire and motivate people to action. Linking to values and
aspirations does. Rather, it should be constant throughout the effort and it must reach
out to all members of the organization on as frequent and personable a level as
possible. They also point out that this communication must be honest and complete.
One respondent mentioned that there is reluctance to without bad news.

 Establish a vision with the employees regarding the possible advantages of

making the change in order to help the team define for themselves where the change
will take them. Almost all respondents to the survey emphasized that employees must
see the benefits of the change. They must understand that the change will have
positive impact on them personally.

 Improve the effectiveness of a change effort related to involving team members in

the change. A leader must collaborate with team members so that employees are
involved with and buy into the changes and not perceive the whole exercise as
something that is being done to them without their consent.
  Establish and celebrate wins along the way. The leader should actively wins and
celebrations so employees can see that the change effort is important and sees that
changes in behavior will lead to positive outcomes.

 The leader must manage performance around the change. This includes coaching
those who need support with the change, disciplining or removing those who
continually resist the change or have decided to fight against it, rewarding positive
changes, hiring employees who have the new capabilities needed in the change effort,
etc...

 Constantly monitor the process and the results to ensure that the change effort
is on track.

Methods to overcoming the resistance to change among the employees by manager

When someone takes over as a manager, there are a number of changes that he will
probably need to implement. People are naturally resistant to change, especially
employees that have been with an organization since most people are resistant to change,
he can find different ways to work with them and help them overcome this problem.

 Recognize the impact of change

one of the biggest problems with change is that new managers think they can swoop in
and “solve” the problems of an entire department. Change is a big deal and so they must
consider the impact of his new ideas and how it will affect his employees. Since we
know they will struggle a little bit with change, don’t make it harder on them by
assuming they won’t notice or telling them that they just need to go with the flow.

 Do it slowly
if he have some employees that are resistant to change, don’t overwhelm them with a
big change all at once, instead he need to slowly introduce the changes he would like to
bring to the organization. Slow changes will help them adapt easier and before he know
it, everyone will be on board with his new ideas.

 Show them the pros and cons

one of the best ways to gain the support of your employees is to show them the pros and
 cons of change. He wants his employees to see what is happening now and how the new
changes would like to implement by them will improve the organization. Then he needs
to let them know that they have gone through all the cons of the changes. When he lists
a con, he or she also needs to come up with ways to avoid it from occurring.

 Let them know manager care for them

let them know that manager care for them and that being a manager he is trying to
improve the company and their jobs. Maintain an open-door policy and encourage
employees to come and talk to him when they are feeling frustrated by the new changes.

 Focus on support instead of resistance

actively involving all employees those resist the changes in the process is one way to
gain their support. Employees like to feel needed by their managers and giving them an
opportunity to brainstorm and be a part of the new changes is a great way to help them
learn the importance of their job. Communication is a big part of overcoming resistance
to change. Talk to employees often and make sure they are “ok” with the changes. If
they aren’t, talk to them and find out what they think would make their job better.
Without effective communication, a company will not last long and manager won’t go
very far as a manager.

Conclusion: -

So Change is not easy. Almost everyone resist the changes but for growth of organization
there is need to take the changes it can be any changes as discussed above in different types
of changes . So every organization should create the environment that their employees not
resist change but adapt it easily. but still employees face the problem as reason above
organization have to help them to overcome from this problem an d when organization show
their employees that their recognize the hardships the new changes can bring, they will be
able to notice your commitment to them and they will have an easier time overcoming their
fears and doubts that come with change

References:-

 www.google.com
 Www. Scribd.com
 www.suite101.com