Essay Topic

Assess the validity of the following statement:

Employees resistance to change is the major cause of change

failure. Within your essay, give examples of successful and/or

unsuccessful organisational change. Use theory and research findings

to support your arguments.

Assessment on Employees’ resistance to change as the major cause of change failure

The study evaluates several factors causing change failure and seeks to confirm if employees add to it. It is eminent that futile communication, poor managerial influence along with ineffective business strategies from people with no vision coupled with poor implementation are several of the numerous factors leading to change failure in organizations. However, employees’ feedback greatly determines the effects of change. Success is achieves if employees agree to willingly modify their skills along with their behavior and performance (Holbeche, 2005). The study does not comprise my personal views but views from several authors.

Changes in organizations and other situations in real life make individuals nervous. Several people will oppose change consciously while others will do it sub-consciously. This is due to fear that change may negatively impact their lives. For instance, change leads to extinction from work resulting from workforce reduction or in the workforce or alterations on working hours. New technology and the Internet have heightened the pace in introducing novel techniques in doing business. It is for that reason very vital for organizational management to seek the affected employees’ before they set to implement change and more over work out together towards accomplishing the expected goals (Wallace, 2007).

Change management amplifies the restitution of an organization’s direction; its configuration in line with facilities to serve the customers’ needs, those of the employees as well as of the ever-changing market-place. Realizing change is not easy and despite prior efforts made by lots of companies, most fail. Nonetheless, the solution to the continued existence of every organization is its aptitude to change in addition to managing the change (Holbeche, 2005).

Additionally, Fleming states that employees experiencing change fear losing old positions, power or status. Some of them  fear lacking the capability to cope up with the novel demands that come with change once new technology is introduced. Staffing which can also be referred to as de-skilling, acquisition of fresh abilities or else failing to acquire career prospects or prmotion opportunities cause the  negative effects. Thus, implementing change to members that have been destaffed may be an ly criticizing their performance in progress and the workers become discontented therefore are bound to oppose changes (Fleming, 2004).

Change is applicable if the workers are flexible and train themselves to acquire adaptable features. If they fail to acquire the sense of possessing the organization then change will be hard to implement. Employers should create trust with their staff by attending to their requests and observing them realize their fullest potential needed to perform. In addition, the managers ought to cultivate the flexibility as well as the capability rates of their employees in addition to being humane and cosiderate  to them. Furthermore, they need to draw a plan that will allow them supply during emergencies and through these they make the most of chances of achieving sustainable high-ceilinged performance during change (Holbeche, 2005).

Observing the light engineering firm, we realized that the employees had been displeased by the changes introduced. A CAD-CAM, computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing system was put into operation without consulting the employees. The implementation was reasonable considering its political surroundings, the inadequate organizational resources as well as the current style of management. Nevertheless, the staff was critical of inappropriate organizational strategy alongside poor integration amid manufacturing as well as design. Furthermore, this company did not meet the deadline placed to achieve the expected range of the organization’s usage in accordance with meeting some major performance objectives (Symon & Clegg, 1991).

Such deep-seated changes will most a times pose negative influences on the workers. However that does not support undermining change. Linda Holbeche points out that this form of change must take place at some point in organizations as far as they exist. During growth and founding of routines in the organization a number of changes are drastically established as new leadership forms are introduced. Other business institutes may fail to experience this curve of growth and instead end up restructuring or else downsizing (Holbeche, 2005).

Kotter states that 70-90% of triumphant change will depend on leadership and only 10-30% will depend on management. Nevertheless, many organizations are short of sufficient good leadership. He points out that change mostly lacks firm support in corporate societies. Besides, organizations will pronounce victory soon than they have fruitfully enacted changes. The penalty becomes implementing poor new strategies, acquisitions fail attaining expected synergies, and costly delayed reengineering along with downsizing and on the other hand quality agendas failing to give way to anticipated results. The solution would be employing the force that realizes true change (Kotter, 1996).

In another Division, a human resource expert had been asked to assist to put into operation a changing process inside the division. The specialist needed to first and foremost conduct the course by generating opinions from the managers and staff. Secondly, he had to decide and give recommendations for achieving a large amount of efficient change for both parties and which would preserve the employees’ morale. The specialist conducted interviews on the managers and the staff within the region. In order to get a finer picture on the organization’s structure he stretched his scope of study to other regions as well. The results were looked at by the senior management and later given to Division for their response. There were six draft options on organization which were realized creating opportunities for new positions, new sections and branches (Connor, Lake, & Stackman, 2003).

Despite employees mainly contributing to change breakdown, other core factors contribute highly. Complacency is one factor that causes failure. Lack of vision and allowing obstacles to build a block directed to vision will make it hard to execute change. Some business owners and managers fail to communicate effectively on the importance of change making it difficult for people to commit themselves to a combined effort to realize change (Kotter, 1996).

Business owners, workers’ apathy, financial costs and plant layouts contribute to change resistance. Change is costly and it calls for huge expenditures. It entails cost-benefit analyses which are precaution measures covering investment costs, surplus such as profit along with risk compensation. Purchasing new equipment is coupled with change which also results to joblessness when members of staff are traded with machines like computers or automated machines (Fleming, 2004).

Additionally, the majority of workers together with business owners are inflexible to change positions or living habits. People are used to being entrenched to ideas, familiar positions and attitudes. Due to their inertia they build up on fear for what is unknown if change is initiated. They for this reason come up with a mechanism, noticeable resistance or disguised resistance hidden in usual actions or familiarized working. They later result to slowing down and in other instances sabotaging work (Fleming, 2004).

Takeovers and Mergers sometimes will fail to guarantee cultural compatibility. This will cause major problems leading to poor results in the organization. Lack of early preparation in such cases is the root cause of problems to the parties of the outgoing company and the mergers or else the take overs. The most significant epoch in which cultural differences are a threat is the period right after mergers take over (Fleming, 2004).

Organizational change is made to augment productivity on one hand and on the other hand add in new management. Change is caused by forces that are internal and external involving dissimilar central players namely allies, agents and of change. Change agents cause change within organizations whereas the recipients are expected to change simultaneously with an organization. Change allies help to sustain change plans even as they move along them (Connor, Lake, & Stackman, 2003).

Conclusion

Change effects on workers aggravate various emotions particularly from those that are directly involved. Anxiety, fear to fail, self doubt and loss tempt the workers to resist change. Acknowledging these feelings by respective change agents is therefore important so that they can create awareness as well as initiate interest to their employees. In addition, employers should institute familiarity in organizations to enable them deal with forms of resistance occurring from employees (Pendlebury, Grouard, & Meston, 1998).

.Though change is difficult to implement it is equally difficult to manage. Some employees ly rebuff the process in its initial stages whilst others conceal their feelings showing compliance yet their actions expose otherwise. It is then advisable to work out on having collaborative communication involving the management plus its staff (Pendlebury, Grouard, & Meston, 1998).

 

 

References

Connor, P. E., Lake, L. K., & Stackman, R. W. (2003). Managing organizational change. New York: Praeger.

Fleming, L. (2004). Excel HSC Business Studies. Australia: Pascal Press.

Holbeche, L. (2005). Understanding change. United Kingdoms: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

Pendlebury, J., Grouard, B., & Meston, F. (1998). The ten keys to successful change management. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Symon, G., & Clegg, C. W. (1991). Technology-Led Change: A Study of the Implementation of CADCAM. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology , 273.

Wallace, S. (2007). Organisational Change Management. Retrieved June 21, 2011, from http://www.epmbook.com/orgchange.htm

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