Change is an inevitable aspect of personal and organizational development. Employees resist change because of various internal and external factors.
Internal factors that cause resistance to change include weak leadership, poor communication, insufficient training, lack of incentives to motivate employees, lack of understanding, and inefficient job designs (Anderson, 2011).
External factors that induce resistance to change include harsh economic times, stringent political policies, and unfavorable national labor policies (Cummings & Worley, 2009). It is important for organizations to develop efficient strategies that motivate employees to embrace change.
In today’s business environment that is volatile and unpredictable, implementing organizational change is imperative. Change helps organizations to survive and compete effectively with other organizations.
On the other hand, it facilitates incorporation of technology and innovation into organizational processes and operations.
In many organizations, resistance to change is caused by internal factors like lack of motivation and understanding, mistrust in the management team, poor communication, unsatisfactory remuneration, and insufficient training.
In order to implement organizational change effectively, leaders should prepare employees by training and motivating them adequately.
Training should include topic like benefits of change, its effect on personal and professional lives of employees, ways of adjusting to change, and methods of handling additional responsibilities (Anderson, 2011).
Employees should prepare emotionally, physically, and psychologically for new challenges and responsibilities. External factors that cause resistance to change include harsh economic times, stringent political policies, and unfavorable national labor policies (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
Tough economic times result in job losses and reduction in remuneration, which affect the morale of employees (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013).
It is important to guarantee employees job security in order to eliminate feelings of uncertainty. Political policies and national labor legislation affect employees’ attitudes towards change.
For instance, a labor policy that requires employees in certain professions to undergo additional training might cause resistance among employees because many organizations do not allow employee absenteeism for long periods (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013).
The human resource department proposed organizational restructuring because of the need to cut costs and reduce expenses. The issue had emanated from low output and unavailability of funds to finance all organizational processes and operations.
As an Administrative Supervisor, I was responsible for helping employees adjust to the changes. Organizational changes included additional responsibilities, new challenges, and different ways of executing tasks.
An employee in the finance department was absent during the period of employee induction into the new organizational structure. The new job design required him to handle the responsibilities of two employees who had been laid off due to low productivity and unsatisfactory performance.
In order to improve efficiency and productivity, the organization had decided to reduce the size of the workforce and develop new job designs. Employees were informed of new job roles prior to implementation of changes. Therefore, they were prepared for new responsibilities and challenges.
However, the absent employee did not take part in the induction program because he was away on holiday. The organization could not postpone implementing changes because of the absence of one employee.
After the employee reported to work, he developed negative attitudes towards his job, fellow employees, and supervisors. He argued that organizational changes should have been implemented systematically, and the organization should have waited for his return.
His resistance resulted from low tolerance to change because he was used to the handling easy tasks that did not involve any struggle. Employees did not have many responsibilities to handle. The employee made several suggestions like additional remuneration, a training workshop, and incentives to increase motivation.
However, the suggestions were not viable because the organization was trying to cut expenses. Other employees had attended a training program that helped them fulfill the requirements of the new job designs. The performance, productivity, and efficiency of the employee dwindled.
He was overwhelmed by the huge workload, which he was not accustomed to. The main cause of resistance was low tolerance to change. The employee argued that it was unethical and unfair for the organization to assign additional responsibilities without increasing remuneration.
The design of each employee’s job had been reviewed to incorporate additional responsibilities. The organization introduced certain incentives that were aimed at motivating employees. They included team-building sessions, encouragement of autonomity, and creation of job mastery programs.
The employee’s resistance to change resulted in negative behaviors that affected his performance and productivity. He reported to work late, quarreled with supervisors and managers, declined to attend team building sessions, and avoided cooperating with other employees in tasks that involved teamwork.
The major cause of the resistance to change was an internal factor namely lack of motivation. It was important to organize a training session to induct the employee because he had missed the training workshop. The absence of the employee had been authorized by the department responsible for employee incentives.
Therefore, the department should have taken the responsibility of inducting him into the new structure of the organization. The behavioral responses exhibited by the employee were an indication of negative perception toward change outcomes.
The employee did not expect to perform satisfactorily because of his inability to embrace rapid changes. For instance, his physical and emotional withdrawal was an indication of fear of failure and embarrassment.
Resistance to change can express through physical and emotional withdrawal, poor communication, and low productivity as well as poor performance (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
The employee was afraid of embarrassment because he did not know how to handle certain responsibilities that had been incorporated into the design of his job.
The human resource department advised the employee to seek help from other employees because they had undertaken the training program on how to embrace change and increase performance as well as productivity.
However, they were busy and did not have time to direct him. He was overwhelmed by responsibilities and therefore, failed to complete tasks on time and satisfactorily.
In order to assist the employee adjust to changes, I would use the eight steps of Kotter’s model of leading change. I would create a sense of urgency in order to motivate him to embrace change and improve performance as well as productivity.
This would involve open discussions to identify the potential threats of failure to embrace change. I would convince him that change is necessary and beneficial to his career. Creating a vision or goal would help the employee understand and embrace change.
The vision would be simple for easy comprehension and implementation. This would be followed by communication of the vision to the employee. It would be necessary to address any fears and opinions from the employee.
For example, I would deal with obstacles that could hinder or discourage the employee from embracing change. Implementing change would initially involve setting small goals in order to guarantee success.
This would motivate the employee and demonstrate the importance of embracing change. Small achievements would be used to introduce the employee to bigger challenges. The scope of goals and objectives would be increased gradually.
Finally, I would ensure that the employee achieves his goals every day and deals with challenges without fear of failure.
I would know the plan has worked if the employee achieved daily organizational goals, cooperated with other employees in teamwork activities, handled challenges without fear of failure, and completed assigned tasks on time.
References
Anderson, D. (2011). Organizational Development: The Process of Leading Organizational Change. New York: SAGE.
Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2009). Organizational Development and Change. New York: Cengage Learning.
Griffin, R., & Moorhead, G. (2013). Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. New York: Cengage Learning.