assignment 5

Running Head: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE 1

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE 9

Assignment 4

Priysha Kapoor

HRM 560 –Managing Organizational change

Stayer University

August 24, 2019

Diagnosis of the reasons for resistance to change.

1. Mistrust in the organization

If a manager has built a relationship of trust with his or her employees, then it will be so easy for the employees to accept change. But, if the manager has not done anything to earn the trust of the employees, then mistrust will be displayed through them resisting change.

2. Job status insecurity

For instance, let’s say that a company announces that they want to downsize or restructure their company. Employees will resist this change because they fear losing their jobs or being moved to lesser jobs.

3. Peer pressure

In any organization, there exists that group that its members are always out to protect each other. As the psychologist Abraham Maslow discussed, the need to belong to a group is a powerful need in the workplace (Tanner, 2019). If the change being introduced threatens a certain peer group, then its members are sure to resist the change.

4. Fear of the surprises that may come with the change

For change to effectively take place, communication is key. Change that is poorly communicated will only stir up organizational resistance (Tanner, 2019). In the absence of communication, grapevine rumors will sabotage the effort to change.

5. A poor reward system

A well rewarded team is always ready to follow instructions. Also, managers get what they reward. If employees are not rewarded, they will have no motivation to support your push for change.

Potential causes of resistance to change

· Poor communication

It is not the first time Starbucks is experiencing communication problems. In 2005, the company experience misunderstandings between its management and employees that resulted from poor communication. Due to these, communication might be one of the problems that will lead to resistance.

· Employee dissatisfaction and lack of motivation

According to Hellriegel and Slocum (2010), employee dissatisfaction and poor motivation affects the commitment of employees thus leading to poor response to change. A healthy organization is an organization with motivated employees. So, if employees are not motivated, then they will not support change.

· Politics in the organization

Some individuals at Starbucks want to hold on to their power in the organization. They will resist change to show the management that change is not necessary or to avoid losing their powers. Political obstacles are frustrating when you are trying to implement needed change (Tanner, 2019).

A plan for minimizing possible resistance to change management

1. Education and communication

Employees need to be educated on the nature and the need for change. The logic of the change also needs to be explained. When communication is the cause of resistance, this plan will work.

2. Employee participation and involvement

This plan is meant to allow employees to plan, design, and implement the changes and this will enable them provide ideas and advice that will contribute to change. With this, there will be no possible resistance. This strategy is useful when change initiators do not have all the information they need to design the changes and other members have important information and considerable power to resist (Yilmaz, & Kilcohlu, 2013).

3. Facilitation and support

It is good to provide material and emotional help to employees to deal with resistance. A supportive environment will make things easier during the change process.

4. Negotiation and agreement

Negotiation is very important in unlocking resistance to change. By making an agreement with employees, they are bound to keep the agreement.

5. Manipulation and co-optation

When other strategies have failed to work. It is important to try and influence some people by providing them with the necessary information and the structure required.

6. Explicit and implicit coercion

Sometimes authority needs to be put in place for change to take place. Employees who resist will be threatened to face serious consequences. This will reduce resistance.

The relationship between resistance to change and communication

When initiating any change in an organization, communication is a very important factor. Therefore, effective communication is regarded as highly important in the successful implementation of change, because it is used as a tool for announcing, explaining and preparing the people involved for both the positive and negative effects of implementing change (Mutihac, 2010). It is important that employees understand why you are doing changes and what your plans are to implement them. If your workers don’t know why you are initiating change nor what your plans about the change are, then they are bound to resist. It is advisable that managers arrange meetings to communicate and explain what the change is all about and provide a forum for discussions, ideas, concerns, and agree on how to effectively work on the change.

Three communication strategies

I. Emphasize that change is inevitable

Make your team understand that change is something that always happens in life. “we have dealt with a lot of changes before, so this new change cannot be a problem”. Your team will understand that they can do it again.

II. Maintain a sense of urgency

Momentum is very important in order to deal with resistance. Make your team understand that you have no other choice aside from change. You need to make it an urgency, pump the gas harder, make the hits several times in order to get the change off the ground.

III. Articulate what success looks like

Make your employees believe that success depend on that change. Give a clear scorecard for success. Make clear goals and aim more on performance and success.

Communication strategy for Starbucks

Maintaining a sense of urgency will work for Starbucks. Because of the problems Starbucks has been experiencing rom before, it will be hard to convince the employees to agree to change through emphasizing that change is inevitable or through articulating what success looks like. Making the change look like t is an urgent thing and unless it is implemented there will be serious consequences will make the workers react faster.

Communication plan for the change initiative

Audience	Audience Reaction	Communication Objectives	responsibility	Communication Channel	Timing/Frequency
Corporate Management	Some will support the change, some will resist	Corporate team to know the need and agree to change	Executive members	Messages and constant updates	When the final decision is reached
Company Management	The change is not a surprise to them and still they may resist	Accept the change and communicate the change to others and customers	Corporate management	Face to face conversation	After the final decision is made
Starbucks Staff	Fear and job insecurity	Accept and support the change	Human Resource Management	Scheduled meetings and continuous updates	Soon after the company management is notified
Corporate Staff	They will not be ready to accept change	Understand the need and support the change by completing their tasks	Corporate management	Messages and meetings	After Starbucks staff is notified
Shareholders	Worried about how the change will affect them	Agree and support change	Corporate and Starbucks management	Email and constant updates	After the whole company is notified
Customers	Will wonder why change is happening	Understand the need and continue buying Starbucks products	Starbucks management	Visits to customers	After Starbucks staff are made aware

References

Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. (2010). Organizational Behavior: Manson Cengage Learning

Mutihac, R. (2010). Managing resistance and the use of internal communication in organizations undergoing change. Department of Language and Business communication, Aarhus School of Business.

Tanner, R. (2019). Organizational Change: 8 Reasons Why People Resist Change. Management is a Journey.

Yılmaz, D., & Kılıçoğlu, G. (2013). Resistance to change and ways of reducing resistance in educational organizations. European journal of research on education, 1(1), 14-21.