Organizations Why Are People Resistant to Change? Essay

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Why are people resistant to change? What psychological factors can inhibit change, particularly technological change? Technology is supposed to (and often does) make human being's lives easier, yet switching to a new operating system, even an obviously more efficient one, frequently brings profound resistance on the part of employees. One possible answer is that change resistance is hard-wired into the psyche of many human beings and regardless of how necessary and logical the change may be, there will be inevitable unconscious resistance. This resistance can manifest itself in anger at management for instituting the changes, unproductive complaining and claiming to 'not understand' the change.

Change resistance can also occur for more practical reasons, namely that people may feel that their positions within the organization will be threatened if the change is instituted. They may fear that their jobs will be outsourced or subsumed by new technology, or that expanding the company will dilute their power. If the change is technological in nature, people may fear the employees who have more experience in the new system may gain predominance. Or, if the change involves a merger, people may resist having to accept strangers into their workplace. Personality conflicts can also fuel resistance, if the change agent is not well-liked. And workers who have seniority may resist taking direction from a younger person with greater authority in the organizational hierarchy.

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Another question about change in organizations is how to make an organization flexible enough so that it can respond to external circumstances, yet still make change 'stick?' Because of change resistance, 'backsliding' or resorting to previous behaviors is common. But in their eagerness to institute the new change, change agents cannot be so unresponsive to criticism and input that they become 'part of the problem' and equally resistant to the necessary 'tweaks' and changes that are required to make the new system better, and to monitor its effectiveness over time. Monitoring effectiveness is also part of the change process.

Q2. Grand Union

When instituting a major change, an organization such as Grand Union faces two potential options. On one hand, it can hire new workers that satisfy its new standards, and try to make new employees fit the new organizational model. Or, it can simply retrain and reorient current workers to perform at a higher standard. The first option seems preferable, if at all possible. High rates of turnover can reduce morale, and regardless of the quality of new employees, if the organization gains a reputation for not rewarding employee loyalty, its long-term viability in terms of recruiting top-quality….....

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