Why do organizational change

You may sometimes even realize that you have reached your destination without noticing the roads you used or having consciously thought about any of your body movements. Now imagine you drive for a living and even though you are used to driving an automatic car, you are forced to use a stick shift.

You can most likely figure out how to drive a stick, but it will take time, and until you figure it out, you cannot drive on auto pilot. You will have to reconfigure your body movements and practice shifting until you become good at it. This loss of a familiar habit can make you feel clumsy; you may even feel that your competence as a driver is threatened.

For this simple reason, people are sometimes surprisingly outspoken when confronted with simple changes such as updating to a newer version of a particular software or a change in their voice mail system. Some people are more resistant to change than others.

Recall that one of the Big Five personality traits is Openness to Experience; obviously, people who rank high on this trait will tend to accept change readily. Research also shows that people who have a positive self-concept are better at coping with change, probably because those who have high self-esteem may feel that whatever the changes are, they are likely to adjust to it well and be successful in the new system. People with a more positive self-concept and those who are more optimistic may also view change as an opportunity to shine as opposed to a threat that is overwhelming.

Finally, risk tolerance is another predictor of how resistant someone will be to stress. For people who are risk avoidant, the possibility of a change in technology or structure may be more threatening.

Change inevitably brings feelings of uncertainty. You have just heard that your company is merging with another.

What would be your reaction? Such change is often turbulent, and it is often unclear what is going to happen to each individual. Some positions may be eliminated. Some people may see a change in their job duties.

Things may get better—or they may get worse. The feeling that the future is unclear is enough to create stress for people because it leads to a sense of lost control. People also resist change when they feel that their performance may be affected under the new system.

People who are experts in their jobs may be less than welcoming of the changes because they may be unsure whether their success would last under the new system. Studies show that people who feel that they can perform well under the new system are more likely to be committed to the proposed change, while those who have lower confidence in their ability to perform after changes are less committed. It would be too simplistic to argue that people resist all change, regardless of its form.

In fact, people tend to be more welcoming of change that is favorable to them on a personal level such as giving them more power over others or change that improves quality of life such as bigger and nicer offices. Research also shows that commitment to change is highest when proposed changes affect the work unit with a low impact on how individual jobs are performed.

Any change effort should be considered within the context of all the other changes that are introduced in a company. Does the company have a history of making short-lived changes? If the company structure went from functional to product-based to geographic to matrix within the past five years and the top management is in the process of going back to a functional structure again, a certain level of resistance is to be expected because employees are likely to be fatigued as a result of the constant changes.

Moreover, the lack of a history of successful changes may cause people to feel skeptical toward the newly planned changes. Therefore, considering the history of changes in the company is important to understanding why people resist. Another question is, how big is the planned change? If the company is considering a simple switch to a new computer program, such as introducing Microsoft Access for database management, the change may not be as extensive or stressful compared with a switch to an enterprise resource planning ERP system such as SAP or PeopleSoft, which require a significant time commitment and can fundamentally affect how business is conducted.

One other reason people may resist change is that change may affect their power and influence in the organization. Imagine that your company moved to a more team-based structure, turning supervisors into team leaders.

In the old structure, supervisors were in charge of hiring and firing all those reporting to them. Under the new system, this power is given to the team.

Instead of monitoring the progress the team is making toward goals, the job of a team leader is to provide support and mentoring to the team in general and ensure that the team has access to all resources to be effective. Given the loss in prestige and status in the new structure, some supervisors may resist the proposed changes even if it is better for the organization to operate around teams.

In summary, there are many reasons individuals resist change, which may prevent an organization from making important changes.

Resistance to change may be a positive force in some instances. In fact, resistance to change is a valuable feedback tool that should not be ignored. Why are people resisting the proposed changes? Do they believe that the new system will not work?

If so, why not? Overcoming resistance to changes is often one of the biggest challenges for continuous improvement practitioners.

In the first of a four-part series on managing change in the enterprise, Dr. Robert Swaim looks at the reasons organizations change and breaks change down in the six main areas of impact. Organizations change for a number of different reasons, so they can either react to these reasons or be ahead of them. These reasons include:. Ensure the success of your business transformation initiatives Join us at PEX Live: Change Management and Culture Change for Business Transformation online on July to understand how to conduct effective planning, implementation and stakeholder engagement to make your business transformation initiative a success.

Learn More. These are the major elements that organizations can change. It is important to note that changes in one of these elements will usually have an impact on another element. As an example, changing technology may require changes in the human-behavioral area where new knowledge and skills on how to use the technology will be needed. Reach Process Excellence professionals through cost-effective marketing opportunities to deliver your message, position yourself as a thought leader, and introduce new products, techniques and strategies to the market.

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Are you sure you want to remove bookConfirmation and any corresponding bookmarks? My Preferences My Reading List. Employees around the world are reporting that big organizational changes are affecting their jobs. From leadership transitions and restructurings, to mergers and acquisitions, to regulatory changes, there seems to be constant unrest in the workforce. But according to one survey of more than half a million U. You must spend time explaining the changes and why they are important.

Based on my experience supporting organizational change initiatives, there are four key aspects to helping employees understand change, to drive commitment, and to ultimately contribute to your success. Inspire people by presenting a compelling vision for the future. During times of uncertainty, people experiencing change want a clear view of the path ahead.

This should serve as the foundation for how you communicate about the change moving forward. You want to answer: How are the changes you make today helping you achieve your vision for tomorrow? While the integration is still underway, the campaign generated excitement for the acquisition among employees, and is still used today to communicate the promise of the new FMC. Change events are often uncertain, unstable, stressful, and risky. But having a clear meaning or purpose behind the change will strengthen your case.

If you can clearly articulate this case, employees will also build a better understanding of the business strategy. Keep employees informed by providing regular communications.