discussion post

Part 1:

There are seven major methods to overcoming resistance to change: (1) develop a positive trust climate for change, (2) plan the change, (3) clearly state why the change is needed and how it will affect employees, (4) create a win-win situation, (5) involve employees, (6) provide support and evaluation, and (7) create urgency. Think of a situation where you would like to implement a major change with a group of individuals you work with. How would you utilize one or more of these methods to overcome resistance to your change?

Initial post should be at least 400 words and have at least one supporting reference.

Part 2: Reply to this post as a discussion: 200 word minimum no reference needed.

Post that I am replying to:

Change is inevitable in business, and to remain viable, organizations must adapt to internal and external shifts. To lead your organization toward success, you must be proficient at navigating change. In my organization, our first initiative as a group is to produce as much energy savings for our facilities as possible. We have saved over twelve million dollars over the past five fiscal years, however, there has been no compensation for the astronomical savings that we’ve generated as a group, and morale is at an all-time low. Because management refuses to increase our salary ranges, many of our best employees are looking for other jobs, and they are threatening to leave. Thus, there is a pressing need to implement a bonus plan as compensation for our employees. Resistance to change can be one of the most challenging obstacles when trying to apply successful change implementation in an organization (Hendon & Lussier, 2021). There are seven major techniques to overcome the resistance to change that can be utilized to overcome our management’s resistance to change in this scenario:

 

1. Develop a Positive Trust Climate for Change: Developing trust within the management team would be a crucial step in moving towards implementing a bonus plan, by developing good human relations with them while maintaining transparency in submitting our savings reports for the last five fiscal years.

2. Plan the Change: To successfully implement the incentive plan, carefully planning by compiling irrefutable rebuttal answers (predicated on historical savings data) in response to the management’s typical retorts and attempts to deny compensation, would prove to be instrumental in applying the desired changes.

3. Clearly State why the Change is Needed: The management team would like to know why an incentive plan is necessary, and how it will positively influence the organization. During the presentation, I would clearly state that change is necessary for us to keep the group of employees that are responsible for over seventy percent of our annual utility savings.

4. Create a Win-Win Situation: The goal of enacting a compensation plan would be to satisfy employee needs while meeting the savings goals of the organization. Being that we are employed by a state agency, there is little motivation to perform beyond the daily scope of our duties, as each employee receives a three percent merit raise annually, regardless of their performance. Instituting a bonus schedule would increase productivity, and enhance our ability to save even more money, while also retaining key members of our staff.

5. Involving Employees: For a win-win situation to be created, the employees must be involved. Being that this compensation plan includes the employees, the needs for this criterion to be met has already been satisfied.

6. Provide Support and Evaluation: The employees need to know that the management staff supports and appreciates the efforts over the last several years and that they will do more to support them. Everyone wants to be acknowledged and appreciated, relationships matter, and morale will vastly improve with management’s willingness to approve and apply these much-needed compensation changes.

7. Create Urgency: When deciding on change, an organization must act with a sense of urgency. In this scenario, key members of the group had already threatened to leave. It takes two years for an employee to become acclimated with their assigned building, and the same amount of time is needed to begin generating utility savings within their buildings. Losing the aforementioned key employees would have come at an astronomical cost to the organization.

 

Reference

Lussier, Robert, N. and John R. Hendon.  Human Resource Management. Available from: VitalSource Bookshelf, (4th Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US), 2021.