EMPLOYEE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

University of Fredericton
MBA 5025

[Type the author name]

10/16/2018
In recent years, businesses have become more aware of the invaluable asset that are their employees.
The ability of a company to retain its employees depends on their ability to be constantly changing the
dynamics of their internal environment. Organizational change has been defined as a planned alteration
in the normal patterns or activities within an organization, which is initiated from a position of authority
and intended to improve the organizational effectiveness (Argyris, 1970; Ott, 1996; Beckhad, 1969). This
change, although for the good of the company in general, is never in favour of all employees. The
following paper will discuss the main factors that contribute to employee resistance to change.

Resistance to change is the action taken by individuals and groups when they perceive that a change
that is occurring is a threat to them. Resistance may take many forms, including active or passive, overt
or covert, individual or organized, aggressive or timid (Changing Minds, 2002-2018). As employees, there
are a few factors that contribute to this resistance. The ones discussed include, participation, the
communication process, quality of information, and trust in management.

As companies are continuing to be extremely competitive, managers and executives are also constantly
looking to ensure various ways to stay relevant in their industry. Participation among employees during
a time of change is a key contributing factor in ensuring minimal resistance to this change. Employees
get to feel that they are contributing towards something, and the company gets to be able to explain
processes and patterns that are in place for the organization to continue operating. Unless employees
can participate in the change process they will find it difficult to understand the need or the
consequences of the change, and therefore, will resist the change. As human beings, it is harder to
accept something that is not fully understood, and even then, it is hard to please all the individuals
involved.

Participation in this context can mean anything from taking part in internal surveys to taking part in pilot
programs or projects. The confidence management has in its staff will hopefully manifest itself in the
positive outlook employees have to these changes. For example, before a proposed downsizing change,
managers may be asked to be more active in the roles of their assistant managers. This will be able to
prove whether or not managers actually have the capacity to take on both roles, as well as experience
the effects these changes will have on themselves and other staff members. The thoughtfulness of
allowing those who will be affected by the change to participate in these change processes may very
well be the difference between acceptance and hostility.
With regard to the communication process, the organization has to be prepared to not only pass on the
information, but they have to be able to explain the different processes as they occur. In the text,
Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, Bridges explains this as giving information again and
again. When information is withheld from employees, most of the time it is because management feels
uncomfortable relaying this information. As the dynamics of human nature affects both groups,
management tends to try and protect themselves by avoiding awkward and sometimes hurtful
conversations.

A few common phrases may include, “they don’t need to know yet”, “they already know, we announced
it”, and “we don’t know all the details yet ourselves, so there’s no point in saying anything until
everything has been decided” (Bridges, 2009). The idea of little to no information poses a large threat to
employees as now they will begin speculating and contemplating the worst possible outcomes. In most
cases, these situations lead to a hostile environment, and in turn productivity and employee satisfaction
may drastically decrease.

On the other hand, there are situations such as mergers and acquisitions where the information relayed
must be very targeted and sensitive depending on any conditions precedent. However, this information
should only be withheld temporarily as the employees affected may need to make changes to their
lifestyles and maybe even their employment terms and conditions.

Similarly, the quality of information is equally important. During the change process, confusion is one of
the main reasons employees resist change. When management is unclear of their direction from
executives, they hesitate on what to say, and sometimes will prefer to leave messages as vague as
possible. This uncertainty makes employees nervous, and therefore, unreceptive to the changes.

For example in the banking industry, all banks have to undergo an audit every year. During this time,
branch managers are under a lot of scrutiny as compliance is more and more on the rise as an area of
concern. Managers encourage their employees to be very careful with the identification process when it
comes to depositing cheques or making withdrawals of large sums of money. They also stress the fact
that customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance. However, managers cannot foresee all possible
situations. If for example a long time client walks through the doors without sufficient documentation
and a cheque to deposit for CAD $100,000 into a business account, and needs CAD $50,000 in return
right away, the customer service representative may not be too sure on what to do. The representative
is aware that the customer is very important to the bank; however, they do not want to compromise the
bank’s risk appetite. In this example, although the manager is not directly at fault, there should be clear
directions as to how much the client has access to, and if they are truly a high net worth client, the bank
should also ensure that they are take care of by a more experienced team. The uncertainty that the
customer representative had, would then be eliminated by taking the onus away.

Finally, trust in management is a key component in tying all three aspects together. Employees tend to
question the credibility, sincerity, and reliability of their management team when they are faced with
change in the organization. A simple solution to avoiding employee resistance to change, is ensuring
that the management team in place is capable and competent in not only handling the operations of the
business, but also, ensuring that they are capable of properly caring for all employees.

In conclusion, it is important to remember that the first task of change management is to understand
the desired outcome and how to get there, the first task of transition management is to convince people
to leave home (Bridges, 2009). When employees are well represented and respected, their initial
reaction to resist change will be eliminated.
Works Cited
Bridges, W. (2009). Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change. Boston: Da Capo Press.

Changing Minds. (2002-2018, 1 1). Resistance to Change. Retrieved from Changing Minds:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/resistance_change/resistance_chan
ge.htm

Gaylar, T. K. (2001). FACTORS AFFECTING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE: A CASE STUDY. Texas: Semantic
Scholar.