MGMT802Phase5Final Project

Methods for Overcoming Resistance to Change
Dr. Roland E. Livingston
Phase 5 Final Project
MGMT802
Management Theory
By
Alexis Walker-Golden
Colorado Springs, Colorado
March 16, 2015

Running head: METHODS FOR OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE 2
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to address an issue related to organizational behavior. Resistance
to change is a major issue that plagues many organizations. In this paper some common causes
of resistance to change within organizations will be addressed as well as some strategies
managers can use to overcome and ease resistance to change.
The nature of resistance will be visited as well as employees’ reaction to change will be
addressed. The literature review will provide a better understanding of the concept of resisting
change and understanding of how leadership style and theory can ease and manage resistance to
change.

Proposal
Change is ubiquitous by nature and a constant across organizations, both public and
private. People respond to change in a variety of ways and change is often met with resistance
(Peccei, Giangreco, & Sebastiano, 2011). Many view change as a threat to their status and
position which; often causes power struggles within an organization. Change does not
necessarily mean that things will get better, however if things are to get better there must be
change.
There are significant risks involved when attempting to effect organizational change. Often
times change initiatives fall short of their goal and produce high opportunity and process costs
which may outweigh the content benefits of organizational change (Jacobs, Witteloostujin, &
Zeyse, 2013).
Professional Significance of this study
This study seeks to explore different methods and strategies that can be employed to overcome
resistance to change. This paper will explore employees’ reactions to change aspects and
organization’s work atmosphere. Many organizations typically experience a high failure rate
when implementing change initiatives because change always creates some level of uncertainty,
which can lead to fear and resistance to the proposed change. In order to overcome this there
must be an understanding of the various layers of resistance that occur and how to promote a
sense of ownership of the change initiative (Umble & Umble, 2014).

Research Questions
Research questions associated with this study, “Methods for Overcoming Resistance to
Change” are:
1. What theory/model will be most effective in overcoming resistance to change?
2. Which management style would work best when implementing change?
Search Process
The search process for this research involves a literature review on methods for overcoming
resistance to change that will explore previous research conducted on the topic. The search
process will expound upon the nature of resistance and the seven layers of resistance to change,
which are:
Layer 1: Disagreement that there is a problem
Layer 2: Disagreement about the nature of the problem
Layer 3: Disagreement about the general direction of the solution
Layer 4: Disagreement about the details of the solution
Layer 5: Yes, but the solution has negative side effects
Layer 6: Disagreement that the solution can be implemented successfully
Layer 7: Unspoken/unresolved reservations (Umble & Umble, 2014).
There are many tactics and suggestions used within organizations in an attempt to minimize
and overcome resistance to the inevitable. Organizations should also remember that not all
change is good and making brash speedy decisions can lead to poor decisions being made.

Literature Review
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to address indisputable aspects of change and organizational
behavior life. This paper will present methods, theories and best practices on how to overcome
and minimize resistance to change. Change is inevitable and a constant phenomenon that occurs
almost daily within organizations.
In some senses resistance to change can be construed as positive because it provides stability
and predictability to behavior to a certain degree. Resistance to change can also be viewed as a
source of functional conflict that can stimulate a healthy debate and result in better-informed
decisions.
Overcoming Resistance to Change
There have been many models that have been formulated to assist managers and practitioners
create and implement change strategies. According to Cervone (2011) some factors that cause
structural inertia to organizations can be both internal and external. Attempting a radical
structural change often threatens legitimacy and may cause the loss of institutional support.
However, some other factors may come into play when an organization is experiencing
resistance to change, such as employee cynicism (Cervone, 2011).
Seijts & Roberts (2011) assert that managers help create the organizational climate that
employees experience. Certain structures, processes and policies implemented by managers
influence how employees think and feel about the organization they work for. Studies conducted
on work climate seek to understand the subjective perceptions of employees regarding their work
environment, how perceptions drive their attitudes, norms, intentions and subsequent behaviors

(Seijts & Roberts, 2011). There is a perceived sense of competence where change often leads to a
disruption in existing work-related practices.
According to Bareil (2013), the concept of resistance to change is undergoing a shift in
transformation and justifies a need for an enlightened interpretation of resistance to change.
Resistance to change is an important phenomenon relating to change management. Resistance to
change is associated with obstacles and change failures. Resistance is typically associated with
an act, action or behavior (Bareil, 2013).
Employee Reactions to Change
According to Varol & Varol (2013) resistance to change among departments within
organizations can cause major issues at organizations causing stress and frustration at work. A
case study was conducted about a main plant in Harwood Management Cooperation located in
Marion, Virginia. The factory used a partial work incentive system where the weekly average
efficiency ratings have a direct impact on the pay employees receive.
Employees perceived the plant as friendly and there was always a positive relationship
between the employees and management. Managers are receptive to employees’ thoughts and
feelings and the company provided many amenities free of charge such as health services, music
and recreation programs. The company even went as far as to provide regular orientations to
overcome any frustration or conflict experienced within the organization. The plant needed a
change to adopt an emerging technology and to fix their financial situation. In order to achieve
this goal the company wanted to change its product and augment their prices because the
company is in debt and has not been profitable over the years.

All incentives and rights were screened and feedback was given to management and
inspection groups were prepared to stimulate the work environment. Through this action, the
learning curves for successful and unsuccessful transferred workers were examined. A control
group and an experimental group were assigned the job oppositely and the control group’s
productivity did not change. The experimental group’s productivity had increased as expected.
No employees quit and appeared to remain confident in management. The average learning
curve was approximately 8 weeks for the simplest job type.
The bottom line of this case study is as a manager the message relayed to employees needs to
be clear and employees need to have a good understanding of instructions and how managers
want the job done (Varol & Varol, 2013). Understanding organizational and individual
resistance to change problems can assist in perceiving ways to reduce resistance and encourage
compliance with change (Varol & Varol, 2013).
Contradictions and Organizational Change
There is a growing body of research occurring in organizational science exploring concepts of
contradiction and paradox, recognizing the complexity and levels of ambiguity of organizational
life (Vandelannoitte, 2013). The research investigates dialects, contradiction, paradox and
tensions to designate the contradictory forces, conflicting interests, opposing demands and
dialectical perspectives that often occur during organizational change. According to
Vandelannoitte (2013) Foucault’s views helped rephrase certain questions and allow new debates
and questions to be addresses by establishing new connections between concepts
(Vandelannoitte, 2013). Foucault’s theory is used to understand the dynamics that underline
paradoxes in organizational change through an analysis of the micro-politics of organizational

life. Knowledge, power and ethics are the three main concepts of the Foucauldian framework
that provide valuable insight into the analysis of organizational change (Vandelannoitte, 2013).
The perspectives consider the classical views of organizational change at greater depths. The
concepts of paradox and contradiction have been widely used in organizational researches they
have become a cliché for management. The findings indicate further research is needed to create
further insight into the Foucauldian framework and improve its operational qualities
(Vandelannoitte, 2013).
Models of Change
Learning and change processes go hand in hand, change is a part of learning and learning is a
part of change. Young (2009) asserted that Dewey was one of the first advocates of a sequential
approach to learning. Dewy stressed the purpose of learning is to be found in the solidity,
security and fertility it affords our dealing with changing the future. Kolb’s experiential theory
and Argyris’s actionable learning follow the same idea as Dewy (Young, 2009).
Kurt Lewin took the task of social management as well as the scientific task of understanding
the dynamics of group life and made it clear by stating insight into the desire for and resistance
to change is required (Young, 2009). The works of Dewy and Lewin established the need for
systemically based action oriented approaches to social research and improvement. Lewin said it
best when he stated, “there is nothing so practical as a good theory” (Young, 2009).
Leadership Theories and Style
Leadership is a broad concept and is interpreted differently by scholars, as they prefer
different terminological specifications (Ronald, 2014). Once a scholar has a succinct definition
of leadership it is necessary to contrast leadership and management because the terms are often

used interchangeably despite the differences. Leaders only exist if they have followers, however
managers do not necessarily have to have followers. Management is for order, continuity and
regularity but leadership enables change and inspiration and has the ability to motivate visions
moving forward (Ronald, 2014).
Halliman states that with an appropriate concept of a leader, leadership and follower, a model
of leadership can be developed which incorporates leader determination as well as leadership
practice. Implications for a model of leadership should be clear. One must achieve leadership
before engaging in leadership behavior (Halliman, 2014).
Transformational Leadership
Yaghoubi, Mahlallati, Moghadam, & Rahimi. (2014) describes leadership as a process of
influencing followers to achieve desired results. The behaviors and leader characteristics,
perceptions of followers where the influence process occurs are based on the influence the leader
has. The fundamental theory of transformational leadership is defined as the conscious influence
process in individuals or groups in order to make changes to a current situation and functions of
an organization as a total concept (Yaghoubi, et. al., 2014).
Transformational leadership has been described by using the following indicators:
Idealized Influence: idealized influence quality of transformational leaders is inspiring for
followers and creates valuable concepts and values in individuals. The influence is charismatic
and the leaders inspire their own confidence.

Inspirational Motivation: Leaders communicate with followers benefiting from inspirational
motivation, determine high standards, explain their objectives clearly for employees and
encourage employees to do things behind the norm.
Intellectual Inspiration: Transformational leaders encourage their followers to he creative and
think outside of the box by challenging their assumptions, traditions, values and personal beliefs
while redefining issues and encouraging followers to apply new methods.
Individual Consideration: The leader understands the followers’ need to flourish and satisfy
this need and nurturing individuals. Behaviors consist of coaching, advising and caring for
others.
Vision Explanation: Transformational leaders provide a clear image of the future, mission and
the ultimate goal while understanding empathy of pride as well as trust and respect for followers
(Yaghoubi et. al, 2014).
Servant Leadership
Servant leadership has more moral tone and differentiates from most other leadership models.
The servant leader is primarily concerned with the development and growth of followers and is
likely to disallow a change process to overcome the needs and challenges of those most
influenced by it (De Sousa & van Dierendonck, 2014). The paradox might imply that by
focusing on employees and their need of a job and personal resources, the servant leader may be
indirectly increasing the effectiveness of the change itself by enabling workers to partake in the
process and become burgeoning change agents themselves.
There are different elements of servant leadership that may help shed more light onto how it
can positively affect change (De Sousa & van Dierendonck, 2014). This includes eight

dimensions: empowerment, humility, accountability, stewardship, authenticity, forgiveness,
courage and standing back.
Empowerment is about encouraging decision making while sharing information and coaching
and mentoring individuals. Empowerment will give the employees a sense of ownership and
promote buy-in. Humility is basically about the modesty of the leader as demonstrated in the
ability to priority to the interest of others. Accountability concerns providing direction while
considering the capabilities of people as well as their needs and possible contribution.
Stewardship motivates people to take action while considering the common interests and
ensuring the good of the whole. Authenticity is defined as the expression of “true self” in ways
that are consistent with inner thoughts and feelings. Forgiveness is demonstrated by letting go of
previous differences or mistakes. Courage is viewed as a special form of proactive behavior
toward the creation of novel approaches to problems while remaining true to values and
convictions that form the individual compass of action. Finally, standing back is the extent in
which a leader places interests of others first and provides support and praise (De Sousa & van
Dierendonck, 2014).
Servant leadership seems to be gaining momentum as a valid leadership model for
organizational effectiveness across cultures. Future research could be beneficial in explaining
why this type of leadership is successful and what distinguishes servant leadership from other
types of leadership De Sousa & van Dierendonck, 2014).
Participative Management
Participative management style is a classical concept where managers share their influence in
the decision making process with the rest of the members in the organization (Del Val, Fuentes,

& Dobon, 2012). Organizational change is an empirical observation of difference in form,
quality or the long- term state of the organization. Depending on the type of perspective taken,
different types of changes can be observed. According to Del Val, Fuentes, and Dobon (2012)
the most general idea about resistance to change is that participative techniques are the best way
to manage it. The participation of employees as a means of resolving resistance has been
investigated since the forties and maintains that the first step to be take for successful change
process in the diagnosis of a situation affirms that commitment and participation are the most
powerful facilitators a manager can use for acceptance of change. The positive correlation
between participation and resistance does not mean that participative management will
necessarily cause more obstacles, but that it may bring to light areas that should be kept in mind
because it could improve the final result (Del Val et. al., 2012).
Conclusions and Recommendations
Resistance to change does not necessarily surface in traditional or apparent ways. Resistance
can be overt, implicit, immediate or deferred. Sometimes change produces minimal reaction at
the time it is initiated and resistance may not appear for days, weeks, months or even years.
Reactions to change can build up over a period of time and then explode and may seem totally
disproportionate to the change.
There have been some tactics suggested for dealing with resistance to change. However,
organizations would do well to create and implement planned change as well as recognize
limitations. The better organizations know their employees the better they can gauge how best to
implement necessary change.

References
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multi-perspective approach. Public Administration & Development, 11(2), 185-186.
Bareil, C. (2013). Two paradigms about resistance to change. Organizational Development
Journal, 31(3), 59-71. Retrieved from
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Cervone, H.F. (2011). Overcoming resistance to change in digital library projects. OCLS
Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives, 27(2), 95 -98. Retrieved
from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10650751111135391
Del Val, M.P., Fuentes, C.M., & Dobon, S.R. (2012). Participative management and its
influence on organizational change. Management Decision, 50(10), 1843-1860.
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00251741211279639
De Sousa, M.G. & van Dierendonck, D. (2014). Servant leadership and engagement in a merge
process under high certainty. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 27(6), 877-
899. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-07-2013-0133
Halliman, R.W. (2014). Understanding leadership: Let’s put the horse before the cart. American
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Jacobs, G., Witteloostujin, A., & Zeyse, J.C. (2013). A theoretical framework of organizational
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Peccei, R., Giangreco, A., & Sebastiano, A. (2011). The role of organizational commitment in
the analysis of resistance to change.” Personnel Review, 40(2), 185-204. Retrieved from
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