Employee Employee’s Reason(s) for Resisting Change Approach to Overcoming Resist
ID: 372951 • Letter: E
Question
Employee
Employee’s Reason(s) for Resisting Change
Approach to Overcoming Resistance to Change
Janet
She still wants the Techfarm employee.
An individual’s predisposition toward change
Disruption of cultural traditions or group relationships
She uses to take leaves once in a week on behalf of reason as Sick.
She started searching a new job.
Looking for Bonus and incentives.
Negotiation and Agreement
Participation and Involvement
Phil
The productivity has significantly reduced.
Every time someone new is promoted into management or is moved to a different work team.
Surprise and fear of the unknown
Climate of mistrust
Fear of failure
Loss of status or job security
He begins to worry about Layoffs.
Facilitation and Support
Education and Communication
Roberto
he has a lot of time to browse the internet and takes more breaks than any of your other employees. He doesn’t want to work more.
Personality conflicts
Lack of tact or poor timing
began taking only the Spanish-speaking calls as the percentage of call volume is low.
Manipulation and Co-optation
Explicit and Implicit Coercion
The resistance for the change was different in every case. So, it is very difficult to ascertain the resistance for the change for each employee. Here every employee has the different reasons for the resistance of the change as one employee wants to work with TechFarm company, another doesn’t want to work less and one more reduce the productivity level although it works hard. So, it is very difficult to find out the reason for resistance for the change.
The Negotiation and Agreement approach to overcoming resistance to change I think the company should use for all its employees because negotiation leads to the new point of Agreement where negotiator and the party who is been negotiated would agree on the basis of mutual concern.
The unfreezing model is applied here for managing the resistance to change as the change is necessary and should be happen to the company. The desired level of behavior and find out the loopholes for it. It creates the awareness amongst the employees regarding changes why it is important.
Moving model is the model for those who now somewhat changed after the unfreezing process it is the implementation of change. It is the stage where employee know that the change becomes the real. During this they started learning new behaviors, process and new way of thinking. So, in this stage communication and education about the changes are very much required.
Freezing model after the moving stage now helps the employees to freeze the new state of being solidify the new changes and stabilize the new changes also.
Employee
Employee’s Reason(s) for Resisting Change
Approach to Overcoming Resistance to Change
Janet
She still wants the Techfarm employee.
An individual’s predisposition toward change
Disruption of cultural traditions or group relationships
She uses to take leaves once in a week on behalf of reason as Sick.
She started searching a new job.
Looking for Bonus and incentives.
Negotiation and Agreement
Participation and Involvement
Phil
The productivity has significantly reduced.
Every time someone new is promoted into management or is moved to a different work team.
Surprise and fear of the unknown
Climate of mistrust
Fear of failure
Loss of status or job security
He begins to worry about Layoffs.
Facilitation and Support
Education and Communication
Roberto
he has a lot of time to browse the internet and takes more breaks than any of your other employees. He doesn’t want to work more.
Personality conflicts
Lack of tact or poor timing
began taking only the Spanish-speaking calls as the percentage of call volume is low.
Manipulation and Co-optation
Explicit and Implicit Coercion
Explanation / Answer
Class: Leadership and Management
1- The goal of this exercise is to investigate why people resist change in the workplace and to consider methods for reducing this resistance. In this exercise, a scenario is used as a stimulus to identify reasons for resistance to change and to develop a plan for overcoming resistance.
Instructions
1 - Read the above : Lecturette: Overcoming Resistance to Change
2 - Read "The Merger" scenario below.
3 - Complete the Resistance to Change Matrix shown below for each employee listing the main reasons why these employees are resisting change and indicating what approach you think they would use to overcome resistance from the three employees described in the scenario.
4 - Answer the following three questions:
How difficult was it to diagnose each employee's reason for resisting change? Explain.
You examined three employees and their reasons for resisting change. Which approach to overcoming resistance to change do you think the company should use for all its employees? Why?
Describe how the unfreezing, moving, freezing model for managing resistance to change could be applied to this scenario.
Lecturette: Overcoming Resistance to Change
Implementing organizational change is not easy because people frequently resist change. Many people resist change. Below are ten of the leading reasons that cause people to resist change.1
An individual’s predisposition toward change
Surprise and fear of the unknown
Climate of mistrust
Fear of failure
Loss of status or job security
Peer pressure
Disruption of cultural traditions or group relationships
Personality conflicts
Lack of tact or poor timing
No reinforcing reward systems
Resistance to change can be overcome. Below are several approaches to overcoming resistance to change as well as advantages and drawbacks of each.2
Education and Communication: This method is best when employees either have no information or incorrect information. Once persuaded, people will help implement the change but it can be time consuming.
Participation and Involvement: This method is best if managers initiating the change don’t have the information to design the change or if people have power to resist. People who participate will be committed to get the change rolling and they will share any information they have relevant to the change. This approach can be time consuming especially if an inappropriate change is implemented.
Facilitation and Support: This is best to use when people are having difficulty adjusting to the change so they resist it. No other approach works as well for employees with adjustment problems. It can be time consuming and expensive and the method could still fail.
Negotiation and Agreement: If a group will obviously lose if the change is implemented and this group has the power to resist change, then this method is best. It is a relatively easy way to avoid resistance. It might also be expensive and if those resisting catch on to your negotiation tactics, they may try to negotiate to avoid the change all together.
Manipulation and Co-optation: This approach is best if everything else fails or is too expensive to implement. It can be a quick and inexpensive way to solve problems. It might lead to more problems if people feel manipulated.
Explicit and Implicit Coercion: If speed is of the essence than this approach is best. It works quickly and can overcome resistance. It can however be risky if people become angry at the initiators of the change.
Sources:
Armentrout, B. (1996 January). Have Your Plans for Change Had a Change of Plan? HR Focus p. 19
Kotter, J. and Schlesinger, L. (1979 March) Harvard Business Review
The Merger
You are a recently promoted manager at TechFarm. TechFarm is a company that outsources customer service employees to organizations in many different industries. The company's main focus is tech companies. Recently, Synergy Outsourcing, a larger, more established firm purchased TechFarm, and now you are a manager in the midst of a merger.
Since Synergy is in the same business as TechFarm, TechFarm's employees haven't had to relearn the position. There is some training however; for example, Synergy's telephone technology and the way they handle customers is different than TechFarm's.
TechFarm knew about the merger six months before it occurred and has had that time to adjust. As a manager, you have the basic information about the merger and try to help employees adjust. You don't, however, have any information about Synergy's plans to change TechFarm's name or whether or not TechFarm will develop a new clientele and focus. You also don't have any information about how Synergy rewards its employees or any of the information about Synergy's benefits. Unfortunately, this is the information your employees are most interested in learning about.
The change has gone more smoothly than expected, but three of your employees are having trouble adjusting. Janet, a TechFarm employee of five years, has begun skipping work at least once a week, and you caught her with the employment classifieds at her desk. Janet tells you she still wants to be a TechFarm employee but her absenteeism is beginning to worry you. She is not the only employee missing work. On three occasions, several of the employees in Janet's work area were absent the same day Janet called in sick. You know they are social friends as well as work colleagues. Janet is one of the employees most interested in the new bonus structure and benefits package.
Phil is another employee who is having difficulty adjusting. Recently, three of Phil's colleagues barged into your office and asked: is it true that Synergy is going to lay off everyone but management? As far as you know, Synergy plans on keeping the TechFarm workforce intact and you told them as much. These employees confirmed that Phil was spreading that information. Phil hasn't been missing work, but his productivity has significantly reduced. He asked you last week whether or not Synergy wanted to "dump more work" on the TechFarm employees. You've also noticed that every time someone new is promoted into management or is moved to a different work team, he begins to worry about layoffs.
You face a unique issue with Roberto. Roberto has worked at TechFarm for three years. After learning about the merger, Roberto began taking only the Spanish-speaking calls. Since these calls make up a small percentage of TechFarm's call volume he has a lot of time to browse the internet and takes more breaks than any of your other employees. TechFarm's HR department decided that Roberto should be promoted to a position titled: Supervisor in Charge of Bilingual Communication. Roberto received a pay increase as well. You informed HR and Roberto that Synergy does not handle a significant bilingual call volume, but he continues to focus on the bilingual calls—leaving more work for everyone else. Other employees are complaining about Roberto.
Employee
Employee’s Reason(s) for Resisting Change
Approach to Overcoming Resistance to Change
Janet
Phil
Roberto
Employee
Employee’s Reason(s) for Resisting Change
Approach to Overcoming Resistance to Change
Janet
Phil
Roberto
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