Why employees resist organizational change

Why Employees Resist Change by Peter Barron Stark Companies Summary: In the contemporary age, a lot of organizations are changing their business practices as a result of the economical changes and changes in the business scenario. The core responsibility to implement the change rests with the supervisors and managers. Change is often hard to implement because the employees tend to resist it on the basis of ten basic types of fears that are discussed below:
1. Fear of failure is the biggest fear that causes people to resist the change. Irrespective of the efficiency of the old system, if things worked for them in the old system, they would be reluctant to accept the change. They fear that they might not be able to achieve as much in the new setup as they did in the old one.
2. In order to accept the change and work according to it, people need to come out of their comfort zone that they have developed in the old setting. Most people would not do that happily, and would thus resist change.
3. The change may not always bring benefits to every individual that forms part of the organization. In such cases, people whose positions are being negatively affected by the implementation of the change tend to consider it disruptive and totally unnecessary. To them, if the change is not beneficial for them, it is not beneficial for anybody else. In fact, such employees do not see things in the bigger picture.
4. Employees develop control in the routinely work. They do not want to lose the acquired power by change of the routine.
5. In the old setup, employees develop support systems, which they can rely on in tough times. If the work environment is changes, they may lose their support systems and be exposed to more challenges. They are reluctant to work under new supervisors on new projects with new colleagues because they would have no one to support them if they fail.
6. Many employees tend to have closed minds after they have made their mind. The facts and figures of the supporting documentation pertaining to the change confuse these employees. They keep a “ No way” response to any strategy that is proposed by the management for the implementation of change.
7. Employees are tentative to give a try to the new work routines and are unwilling to learn new things. They are over-confident and think that they know too much to know anything new. Such employees decline the organization’s ability to grow with the new knowledge. Their personal growth is also restricted by their stubbornness.
8. Satisfaction of the employees with the way things are currently going inculcates a fear in them that the new system might not be as efficient and problems may aggravate instead of solving.
9. Change is unfamiliar, so it is resisted. No more than 66. 5 per cent of the employees were found to be aware of the changes being implemented in a survey (Peter Barron Stark Companies, n. d.). Their lack of sufficient knowledge makes them pessimistic in their visualization of the effects of change.
10. Finally, the negative impact of change estimated on their personal position makes the employees resist the change.
References:
Peter Barron Stark Companies. (n. d.). Why Employees Resist Change. Retrieved from
http://www. peterstark. com/why-employees-resist-change/.