Question

interorganizational culture impact resistance to change?

Answer 1

Change is inevitable in a business setting. Your customers’ needs may shift, which results in your company altering priorities or offering new products. To improve profitability, your organization may need to restructure or redevelop the organization of the company. Culture changes are necessary from time to time to stay current and meet your employees’ needs. During these changes, you may encounter resistance from employees.

Identifying Reasons for Resistance

From an employee perspective, change can seem like a negative thing. As a result, businesses may feel pushback from employees when they try to implement structural and cultural changes in the organization. If you notice organizational behavior resistance to change, it's essential to delve into why this is happening. According to Management is a Journey, one of the key reasons people resist change in the workplace is that they are afraid of losing their jobs. When facing a structural change, employees worry that their role may be in danger.

Another reason for resisting change is fear of the unknown. Often, businesses poorly communicate the type of changes they are making so that employees don't have enough details. This causes employees to worry about their place in the organization. Not trusting the business executives is another motive for pushing back against change. Employees may not feel that the company leadership has their best interests at heart, or they may not feel confident in the managers' abilities to make the right kind of changes.

Sometimes, employees are not resisting the change itself, but the way that the changes are being made. If businesses don't openly communicate with their teams or don't consult them on the structural and cultural changes, employees may resist new ideas. It's important to get buy-in from key people within the organization to make large changes effectively.

Understanding the Types of Resistance to Change

According to the business-learning website Toppr, there are three types of resistance to change: logical, psychological and sociological. It's important to identify the kind of pushback you are receiving to determine how you can implement the structural and cultural changes you need within the company without facing unhappy employees.

Logical resistance is related to time. Often, it takes weeks, months or years to get used to a change. What may seem like resistance is actually a process employees go through to accommodate the changes they are experiencing at work. Psychological resistance is related to mental factors, such as fear of the unknown or having disagreements with management. This can color the way people react to change. Sociological resistance is related to the common values employees share with specific groups. If the change is not aligned with those groups, they may resist it. For example, members of a particular department may fight the changes together due to peer pressure.

Overcoming Resistance in the Workplace

When you understand the dynamics of resistance to change, you can develop strategies to work through the pushback, according to Harvard Business Review. It's vital to help employees understand why the change is necessary and how it will benefit them. HR website Paycor recommends communicating early and often so that sudden changes do not blindside employees. It's important to share information through various formal and informal mediums, such as company town halls, email newsletters and smaller departmental meetings. This way, employees hear the message multiple times and can ask questions where they feel comfortable.

Paycor suggests implementing change slowly in multiple stages instead of all at once to overcome resistance from employees. Gradual steps help employees feel more comfortable and digest the structural and cultural changes. Through it all, it's critical to take in feedback from every level of the organization and show employees you're listening to their concerns.