Understanding Organisational Change Resistance?

History indicates that most organisations pass through a one-way self-limiting life cycle. Company experience strong periods of growth followed by consolidation during the maturity phase, then a gradual decline to their eventual death, ultimately a result of what John Kotter calls, “destructive complacency”. Where complacency exists it does not matter what you say, most individuals are content with the status quo.

John Kotter said regarding todays modern business “We have a serious problem. The problem is complacency” we know it exists yet “we underestimate its power and its prevalence. Highly destructive complacency is, in fact, all around us, including in places where people would deny it, deny it, and deny it still more” to “complacent insiders—even very smart people—just don’t have that perspective … In a fast-moving and changing world, a sleepy or steadfast contentment with the status quo can create disaster—literally, disaster.” [1].

How do we fend off this impending disaster?

Studies suggest companies must undertake “moderate changes at least one a year and major changes every four to five” in the current volatile and fast paced business environment. [2]

Image: Product / Company Lifecycle; Credit: https://www.comakeit.com/blog/is-your-organizational-structure-aligned-with-your-product-life-cycle/

Pietersen [3] states that there is an optimum time to implement change and divert this impending death of a company, that being during the later stages of growth and the maturation phases. However, there are difficulties in successfully achieving this. This period in an organisation’s life, is the companies most successful, so there is a valid argument in remaining with the status quo, and as such there is no “felt need” for any changes, as such change is met with resistance.?

Image credit: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-organizationalbehavior/chapter/resistance-to-change/

Erwin and Garmin [4] reviewed available peer-reviewed studies between 1998 and 2009 and identified that across the research content, resistance was a complex phenomenon crossing three behavioural dimensions (cognitive, affective and behavioural) [5]. ????

Cognitive: The cognitive dimension is the how the individual thinks about the change, perhaps the pertinent question raised being will the proposed change benefit or harm the organisation, my workgroup, my peers or me??

Affective: The affective dimension is how the individual feels about the change. This is very much an emotional response to the change and can include anger, anxiety, confusion, fear, excitement, stress and many others.

Behavioural: The last dimension is behavioural, and this is how the individual behaves in response to change. This includes his actions. One of the difficulties is, that actions do not necessarily align with one’s cognitive and affective dimensions. Behavioural responses are expressed in many ways, which can make them hard to identify.?

1. Supportive or resistant: Interestingly for some, resistance can be supportive and just as interesting is employees can perceive themselves as being supportive whilst management may label the same individuals as resistant. Thus constant communication is imperative during change programs.
2. Active or passive: Passive resistance may include behaviours such as not actively supporting change initiatives, or doing the absolute minimum required (remaining complacent), and not assisting in passing on the implemented initiatives to subordinates. [6]
3. Covert or overt: Covert resistance typically resembles political agendas where individuals sabotage the effectiveness or stifle the rate of change.?

Image Credit: https://www.mobietrain.com/employee-engagement/resistance-to-change-in-organisations/ ?

Further difficulty is handed to managers in understanding resistance where [7] suggests that all three dimensions are active simultaneously, whilst individuals are ambivalent in all three dimensions. That is they can be excited and hopeful for the change, whilst fearful and confused at the same time, or 100% supportive however only exerting minimum effort possible to support the change initiative. ?

Models represent the results of studies with two that represent the psychological phases of change briefly discussed below.

Bridges suggests there are 3 phases of the transition process including the ending, the neutral zone and the new beginning. A complex dynamic where individuals pass through disengagement, retreat, solitude, reorientation, translation of ideas into action and the generation of a new identity.?

Image: Bridges Leading Transitions Model

During this 3 phase transitional process, Scott and Jaffe present the emotional reaction to change taking you through 4 distinct stages.

The denial stage is relatively easily identified despite the symptoms taking different forms as discussed above. I.e. Ignoring the issue, minimising the threat or trying to ignore it.

Once the reality of the need to change sinks in individuals progress to the next stage, resistance. Essentially, accepting the change is inevitable but, they are not happy about it. As discussed above this can be for many reasons including uncertainty about the future, place in the new world, and their ability to deal with it. The resistance stage can therefore be anxiety and hostility; openly criticising the changes; and trying to influence others to resist.

Exploration involves individuals attempting the change, and trying to find their new ‘normal’. The important thing to consider at this stage is that ‘exploration’ is tentative and fragile and moving too quickly may send a person backwards towards ‘resistance’.

The last phase, Commitment is where individuals are re-empowered and moving forward with the change. Essentially, it is important that efforts to commit to a new course of action are recognised in a positive manner and that ownership or responsibility for implementation is encouraged

Image: Scott and Jaffe Emotional Reaction to Change Model

In today’s business world, change is occurring at a faster pace than ever, as such managing change and subsequently resistance is an important, difficult skill that unfortunately many do not possess. The first step is understanding resistance and that it isn’t just a negative response, it is a natural process of change that everyone experiences as they pass through the psychological transformational process of change. John Kotters 8 step Model discussed here, https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/8-fundamental-errors-undermine-transformational-john-tranfield/ is a great initial resource to understand the most common mistakes leaders make during implementing changes, focusing on the importance on buy in, communication and member participation.?

REFERENCES

[1] Kotter. (2008). A sense of urgency. Harvard Business Press.

[2] ?Kotter, & Schlesinger, L. A. (1979). Choosing strategies for change. Harvard Business Review, 57(2), 106–114.

[3] Pietersen. (2002). THE MARK TWAIN DILEMMA: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CHANGE LEADERSHIP. The Journal of Business Strategy, 23(5), 32–37. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040272

[4] Erwin, & Garman, A. N. (2010). Resistance to organizational change: linking research and practice. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437731011010371

[5] Oreg. (2006). Personality, context, and resistance to organizational change. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15(1), 73–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320500451247

[6] Giangreco, & Peccei, R. (2005). The nature and antecedents of middle manager resistance to change: evidence from an Italian context. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(10), 1812–1829. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585190500298404

[7] Piderit. (2000). Rethinking Resistance and Recognizing Ambivalence: A Multidimensional View of Attitudes toward an Organizational Change. The Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 783–794. https://doi.org/10.2307/259206