RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

As a new principal in a school where staff members were loyal to the previous principal, this was a challenging one. A manager trying to implement a change, no matter how small, should expect to encounter some resistance from within the organization. Resistance to change is a normal reaction from people who have become accustomed to a certain way of doing things. Of course, certain situations or tactics can increase resistance. "Individuals, groups, and organizations must be motivated to change. But if people perceive no performance gap or if they consider the gap un-important, they will not have this motivation. Moreover, they will resist changes that others try to introduce, " Bateman and Zeithaml explained.
The authors outlined a number of common reasons that people tend to resist change. These include: inertia, or the tendency of people to become comfortable with the status quo; timing, as when change efforts are introduced at a time when workers are busy or have a bad relationship with management; surprise, because people's reflex is to resist when they must deal with a sudden, radical change; or peer pressure, which may cause a group to resist due to anti-management feelings even if individual members do not oppose the change. Resistance can also grow out of people's perceptions of how the change will affect them personally. They may resist because they fear that they will lose their jobs or their status, because they do not understand the purpose of the change, or simply because they have a different perspective on the change than management.
Fortunately, Bateman and Zeithaml noted, there are a number of steps managers can take to help overcome resistance to change. One proven method is education and communication. Employees can be informed about both the nature of the change and the logic behind it before it takes place through reports, memos, group presentations, or individual discussions. Another important component of overcoming resistance is inviting employee participation and involvement in both the design and implementation phases of the change effort. "People who are involved in decisions understand them better and are more committed to them, " Bateman and Zeithaml explained. Another possible approach to managing resistance to change is through facilitation and support. Managers should be sure to provide employees with the resources they need to make the change, be supportive of their efforts, listen to their problems with empathy, and accept that their performance level may drop initially.
Some companies manage to overcome resistance to change through negotiation and rewards. They offer employees concrete incentives to ensure their cooperation. Other companies resort to manipulation, or using subtle tactics such as giving a resistance leader a prominent position in the change effort. A final option is coercion, which involves punishing people who resist or using force to ensure their cooperation. Although this method can be useful when speed is of the essence, it can have lingering negative effects on the company. Of course, no method is appropriate to every situation, and a number of different methods may be combined as needed. As Bateman and Zeithaml stated, "Effective change managers are familiar with the various approaches and capable of flexibly applying them according to the situation."

FURTHER READING:
Adebanjo, Dotun. "Corporate Restructuring: Managing the Change Problem from Within." Leadership and Organization Development Journal. September 1996.
Austin, Mary Ruth. "Managing Change." Manage. August 1997.
Bateman, Thomas S., and Carl P. Zeithaml. Management: Function and Strategy. Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1990.
Dove, Rick. "The Principles of Change." Automotive Manufacturing and Production. March 1997.
Hurst, David K. "When It Comes to Real Change, Too Much Objectivity May Be Fatal to the Process." Strategy and Leader-ship. March-April 1997.
Maurer, Rick. "Transforming Resistance." HR Focus. October 1997.
McCallum, John S. "The Face Behind Change." Ivey Business Quarterly. Winter 1997.
Recardo, Ronald J. "Overcoming Resistance to Change." National Productivity Review. Spring 1995.
Schwartz, Andrew E. "Eight Guidelines for Managing Change." Supervisory Management. July 1994.
Trahant, Bill, W. Warner Burke, and Richard Koonce. "Twelve Principles of Organizational Transformation." Management Review. September 1997.
Wallington, Patricia M. "Making Change." CIO. April 1, 2000.