Resistance To Change And Resolutions

Organizations are made to change by both internal and external forces. Resistance is inevitable but can be resolved by planning. I will discuss the possible resistances that may occur from the changes in our sales process. This will be a planned process. I will take you through the necessary steps to effectively manage the resistance to the change in the organizations structure and culture. I will then cover in detail the resistance that will most likely happen in our company to this change in our sales process.

Resistance to Change and Resolutions

An organization changes include planned or unplanned, and revolutionary or evolutionary. There will be resistance to all of these. Change in any organization is a three step process. We must 1. Unfreeze the individuals, 2. Implement the changes, 3. Refreeze the organization in the new process.

Individual Resistances

Our staff will demonstrate the most common reason for resistance to change; uncertainty and insecurity. They will be unsure of the outcome of the new process and how it will affect them. They will feel uncertain of their job. If they feel that this new process will not benefit them they will reject the changes. They will have to create new work relationships and new tasks and skills. We may see high turnover and increased absenteeism. Force of habit is another resistance to changes. People have an inerrant fear of change and they have a tendency to return to the normal behavior; hence the refreeze.

Group Level Resistance

Groups form strong norms that govern their behavior with each other. Change will alter this because they will have to develop a new norm to enable them to function again as the group, back to their comfort zone. The cohesiveness affects the group's performance and the change may likely force them to band together and fight to keep the status quo. Groupthink plays a part in resistance also. They again will stick together even if it is the wrong choice.

Organizational Level Resistance

The most difficult force for the organization as a whole is power and conflict in making changes. The changes in our sales process will cause some conflict between departments or divisions. They will struggle to regain their perceived power levels, causing conflict and then we will have reduced performance. We are fortunate to have an organic structure in our company as this will have less resistance because our people are allowed to think and make decisions on their own. This gives them security from the habit of deciding how to implement a process. Were we mechanistic we would see more resistance in the forms of having to make major changes in behavioral attitudes of the workforce.

Resolutions

I believe we will see resistance to change mostly by individuals. There are several ways to effectively overcome the opposition. The first step is to plan the changes in the process.

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