How Do HR Pros Tackle Resistance to Change from Both Employees and Leaders?

To all my respected seniors, I recently interviewed with a Human Resource professional and realized that "Resistance to change" is frequently observed. This resistance is not only on the part of employees when small changes are required to improve the overall functioning of the organization, but also on the part of senior managers and managing directors when attempts are made towards becoming a more people-centered organization.

I would truly appreciate your advice and suggestions on how Human Resource professionals can overcome such resistance.

Regards

Resistance to Change

"Resistance to Change" could occur on two accounts. One is at a personal level, and another is at the organization's level. As far as the personal level is concerned, recently, there was a discussion titled "<link outdated-removed>." Please refer to it.

At the organizational level, change is resisted because it becomes part of the organization's culture. If the leadership is resistant to change, then employees are forced to adopt the direction, rules, and regulations imposed on them. When management does not prepare any strategic plan, they end up resisting change.

Resistance to change is common everywhere. After all, if everybody starts embracing change so easily, then possibly the competition will become far more severe, and it could kill the spirit behind it. When a few are slow to adopt, they pave the way for innovators, allowing the world to respect them!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

I would suggest you search for posts on Change Management in CiteHR to get insights on 'Resistance to Change' from a corporate perspective. However, since resistance to change is a universal phenomenon driven by an individual perspective, it may also be helpful to read about why people resist change. You might want to explore more on this topic by clicking on the following links:

- https://actspot.wordpress.com/tag/change/
- https://actspot.wordpress.com/tag/change-self/

By learning from the above studies, I am confident that you can develop a strategy to smoothly introduce the planned changes in the workplace and gain buy-in from the relevant stakeholders, whether it be management or employees.

Best Wishes

Thank you for your advice and suggestions, Mr. Dinesh Divekar and Mr. B. Jacob. Even the links that you have provided me with have been really helpful. I had a small doubt: what if the change is eventually accepted by the employees, but there still exists a handful of senior managers who are making it difficult for you to function as a result of this change? How would you advise one to go about such a scenario?

Regards,
Lean C

Understanding Resistance to Change

Resistance to change depends on the quarter from which it comes. If the seniors demand change, the resistance is less, whereas if the juniors expect change, the resistance is more. If senior managers are blocking change, it could be due to:

- Organisation does not have a culture of change.
- Threat of elimination or diminution felt by the senior management personnel (because of the change).
- Change is not part of the strategic plan made by the top management.
- Lack of foresight or forward thinking.
- Senior management personnel have a connection with very top management. Therefore, those who block change know that their employment will remain protected anyway.
- While the organization could be customer-oriented, it may not be competition-oriented.
- Tendency to be part of the herd rather than leading the herd.
- Top leadership is people-oriented. It does not want change at the cost of people.
- Leadership is risk-averse. They want competition to experiment and create a path for them. While doing so, if the "first-mover advantage" is lost, it does not matter to them.

and so on...

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar