Change Management Plan

Running head: RESISTANCE AND COMMUNICATION 1

RESISTANCE AND COMMUNICATION 2

Resistance and Communication - Walmart

Kirsten Farnham

Dr. Allan Beck

HRM 560 – Managing Organizational Change

February 25, 2019

Reasons for Resistance to Change

Change is a significant part of the improvement of workplace mobilization. Change can be an emergency or planned but even the best employees may avoid organizational change procedures and practices. The main reasons for the resistance to change in an organization include excess uncertainty, lack of reward system, things appear different, competent concerns, fearing to fail, and past resentments. Changes in Walmart appear to the employees as a walk to the cliff blindfolded resulting to excess uncertainty. All employees need to be sure about issues concerning processes. This is usually done by stating clearly the simple steps, milestones, and schedules to avoid uncertainty on their view (Authors, 2015).

Fear of failure is a big reason why employees resist change. Walmart has increased changes in their job, and this has led many employees to fear their potential to perform effectively. These usually create fear of failing and they do not adopt the new changes introduced in the organization. Employees need to be educated to minimize the resistance to change. Leaders and the employees need to be informed about issues concerning the nature of organizational transformation. Also, they need to be updated about the importance behind those changes via reports, one on one discussions, and memos. These will help to curb the issue of fear (Dutta & Zapata, 2018).

Walmart has failed to develop a reward system for their employees which is a possible reason why employees resist to change. This has discouraged more employees from accepting changes because even if they add more effort they are not appreciated. Reward and negotiation can play a significant role in reducing resistance to change which can improve engagement during the time of change (Lewis, 2019).

Sources of Resistance to Change

Threat of Comfort

In many cases, changes in an organization lead to discomfort which makes the life of the employees more difficult. Changes in an organization require new ways of doing things and forgetting the old ways. New ways of doing things requires special attention and more energy is wasted in the process, which makes employees uncomfortable. Transformation in the organization makes a transfer of the comfort of the status quo to discomfort. It is straightforward for the employees to work using their old skills rather than changing to new skills (Vallabhaneni, 2015).

Economic Factors

Changes in an organization may appear to be something that may increase or reduce the income of employees or rather any economic privilege which some places where they work may bring to them when those changes have been implemented. Usually, it is good to have an expectation that those people or employees who have the feeling of their salaries reducing will resist changing. In case of Walmart introducing a technology, which produces the same output using a less workers, many employees may lose their job (Lewis, 2019). This can make a large percentage of workers resist any changes. Advanced technology may be useful and efficient, making many workers idle; hence they fear retrenchment of workers. Changes in an organization may lead to the requirement of more enhanced skills, which could cause demotion of employees, causing them to resist change (Williams, 2017).

Psychological Factors

Some changes may cause emotional turmoil. This can be a major cause of resistance. Emotional turmoil can happen if the previous experience of the change was negative. The worker usually fears critics that their past job was not sufficient and adequate. New changes may lead to reduced pride of a person since the new changes in an organization may lead to the minimized need for manual work (Lewis, 2019). Also, many workers may fear that the new changes will come with boredom and monotonous, resulting from specialization of the new technology. They will also resist because the new technology will require more hard work in learning and adopting new ideas which are required in the workplace. In most situations, further changes will give workers a harder time to understand them (Authors, 2015).

Plan for Minimizing Resistance to Change

Communication and education are the primary way of reducing resistance to changes in Walmart. The leadership and the workers of this organization need to be informed of the nature of those changes in the organization. This must be communicated through reports, memos, and one on one communication with individuals notifying the importance of those changes. Rewards as well as negotiation are other main tool that may bring a reduction of resistance to changes. Additionally, this will enhance engagement during the time of those changes (Authors, 2015).

It is also essential that the leaders and the employees be informed about the recent state of the organization. The leader, as well as the employees in Walmart, should be aware of the decline of sales. The organization should state the forecasted objectives of the organization. This will make employees work on the required direction and accept any changes introduced in the company to achieve those objectives (Williams, 2017).

The Relationship between Communication and Changes

Communication is a crucial aspect of the change process. Good communication process can have a positive impact on the Walmart organization. Those positive outcomes are commitment, satisfaction in the job, and cultural behavior as well as product performance. Failure to communicate can lead to stress, lack of trust, and lack of appreciation as well as an absence in the organization (Authors, 2015). If there is resistance to change in the Walmart organization, communication will make them more productive and accepting. Organizational communication is how the information concerning the organization is collected. This means that discussion helps to inform and educate employees and managers of the happenings in the company. Communication in an organization should be timely to ensure all the stakeholders are aware of the changes. Also, the workers should be informed about the importance of those changes and the reason as to why they should change (Authors, 2015).

Communication Strategy

People should avoid taking all things personally and similarly. One should express their own needs and their views in terms of work at hand. Walmart needs to bring a solution to the problem and not to control others (Williams, 2017). During interaction with professionals, there are some boundaries set. However, when it comes to communication with fellow workers, it is crucial to show sensitivity and care for others. When responding to employees, an individual should react in a way that acknowledges their experience. The best communication strategy for Walmart is flexibility when dealing with others. Shareholders of this organization should be open to the way things are done in that organization. They should also be considering points of views of other people (Williams, 2017).

Communication Plan

When initiating change in an organization there is need to develop a communication plan. The first step to developing a communication plan is by creating a situational analysis. There is need to collect all the essential information in the organization. For this process, brainstorming with the relevant staffs, conducting a survey, conducting a focus group, as well as talking to other departments is key. The other step is to define objectives. After the collection of all the information, the organization needs to define all the goals concerning communication. Those objectives should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time focused.

Defining the audience is also important and in the case of Walmart it includes all the employees from the store managers to the cashiers. The channel to be used for the communication is also required so that a schedule can be introduced on how to introduce the change needed in an organization (Williams, 2017). Finally, the result of the communication should be evaluated to know how many people are likely to accept or resist the change.

Conclusion

Change is an important process for any organization, especially Walmart. Various methods can be used to introduce change into an organization. They include styles of approach as well as advertising the goals, highlighting the benefits, making change happen, and creating readiness to chance. The change leader oversees the process of change management and helps to communicate the visions and advantages of the goals.

References

Authors, C. O. (2015). Proceedings of The 4th MAC 2015. MAC Prague consulting.

Dutta, M. J., & Zapata, D. B. (2018). Communicating for Social Change: Meaning, Power, and Resistance. Basingstoke, England: Springer.

Lewis, L. (2019). Organizational Change: Creating Change Through Strategic Communication. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

Vallabhaneni, S. R. (2015). Wiley CIAexcel Exam Review 2016: Part 3, Internal Audit Knowledge Elements. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Williams, C. (2017). MGMT. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.