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FORCES THAT ENHANCE OR REDUCE EMPLOYEE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE Predişcan Mariana, Braduţanu Daniela, Roiban Roxana Nadina Management Department, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timişoara [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Abstract: This paper is part of change management. The extent to which managers succeed to reduce the resistance to change from the part of the affected employees contributes greatly to the achievement of the targeted objectives that follow a change process. This paper aims to present a number of forces located both inside and outside the organization, forces that through their manner of expression may exert a direct influence on the increase or decrease of the opposition’s intensity of those affected by the change. The identification and analysis of these forces give to the involved managers in coordinating changes the possibility to reduce efficiently and effectively employees resistance to change. Keywords: change, resistance to change, change in organizations, reduce resistance to change. JEL classification: O30, O39

Introduction The complexity of the world in which we live makes the pace at which changes invade our life to be more accelerated. Everything around us is accelerating. The pace of technical innovations, technological discoveries abound all fields of science and technology, but also in the social area, generating a need for extensive changes in organizations. However, regardless of their knowledge, intelligence or quantity of data acquired over the life by people, they still remain social beings who do not like frequent changes. As AlvinToffler stated in 1970 "the most disturbing thing is that most people, including the educated and refined ones, consider the idea of change so threatening that they try to deny its existence".

Resistance to change Psychologists (Claes Janssen, 1982, Conner, 1998) explain that human resistance to change is a perfectly natural process. It is human nature to exercise opposition to a process laden with uncertainties and anxieties that generate discomfort and doubts. Kurt Lewin (1951) explains in a logical manner correlated with the laws of physics that a change does not occur if the factors of a force that generates change are met with similar oncoming factors of a force that generates resistance to change. The force field analysis is the tool proposed by Kurt Lewin that allows us to identify and analyze the two major categories of forces that act as opposites.

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An important ingredient that can greatly contribute to the lack or failure of a change is resistance to change. Employees opposition towards manager’s proposed changes occur in any change process. We consider that the intensity of this force varies from one change to another, depending on a set of factors. In the existing literature many experts present that resistance to change can be reduced by using some specific methods or techniques. To do this, first must be assessed the level of commitment to change. Representative methods proposed by specialists to assess commitment to change are: - Chart commitment proposed by R. Beckhard and R. Harris; - Curve commitment proposed by Michael Ward. Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) propose several ways to reduce resistance to change:

- Training and communication; - Participation and involvement; - Facilitation and support; - Negotiation and agreement; - Manipulation and cooperation; - Coercion.

The role of the reducing resistance to change methods alongside managers knowledge and skills are essential for a successful implementation. Managers who have the responsibility to coordinate a change must have the ability to choose and then use the appropriate method for each employee in direct correlation with the reasons underlying its opposition. Our belief is that the intensity with which an employee opposes a proposed change is influenced by a number of factors and this intensity can vary from one change to another, from one period to another, from one employee to another, from one organization to another and even from one country to another, depending on the manner of expression of certain forces, deemed by us responsible for increasing or reducing employee resistance towards change.

Forces that enhances or reduces employee resistance to change The great diversity of forces identified as exercising influence on the acceptance or rejection of the change ideas in an organization has imposed their grouping into categories. In relation to the place from which it generates action, we can speak of internal forces, within the organization, and external forces, specific to the environment in which the organization operates. We believe that internal forces exert more influence and their better understanding might be achieved if the subsystems that generate them are analyzed (change, employee, manager, organization). Internal forces In the vast category of the internal forces we can include: - Forces that relate with the particularities of the decided change to be implemented; - Forces connected with employees; - Forces which are related to the managers that coordinate the change; - Forces connected with the organization features and processes that take place within it. Certainly, the greatest influence on the manner in which employees respond to a change is change itself. The manner in which it enhances or reduces employee resistance to change is correlated with several dimensions of change: amplitude (the vertical size of change) that reflects the gap between the old and the new state;

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stretch (the horizontal size of change) that reflects the number of employees affected by the change; the frequency with which the change is made; the way in which it keeps or not certain elements of continuity from the past; the way in which the announcement of the change has been prepared; the urgency of the change and the speed of its implementation required by managers; and last but not least, the extent to which the proposed change amends the way in which employees achieve their tasks. Briefly, the influence of the change on employee resistance to change is also reflected in Table 1.

Tab.1. The influence of the change on the intensity of the resistance

to change manifested by employees

C H A N G E

Forces that influence Resistance to change

Small Big

Amplitude small big

Stretch local general

Frequency repeated singular

Continuity connected to the past

discontinuous

Surprise expected change unexpected change

Urgency small big

Implementation speed small big

Changes the way things are done to a small extent to a large extent

The manner in which each employee assesses change can generate a bigger or small opposition from employee’s part. In this category we can also include as influence factors the following: the nature of employees activity, their trust in the manager who coordinates the change, the extent to which they agree or disagree with company’s strategy and policy, qualification and how quickly they can find a similar job in another organization, job security, their potential for leadership, thinking style, age, temperament, their position in the organization’s hierarchy as well as their seniority. Shortly, employee’s influence on the intensity of resistance to change is also reflected in Table 2.

Tab.2. Employee influence on the intensity of resistance to change

E M P L O

Forces that influence Resistance to change

Small Big

Their perception positive negative

The nature of their activities innovative routine

Trust in the change agent big small

Attitude towards company’s policy and strategy

agreement disagreement

Level of training big relatively low

Possibility of reintegration into the labor market

small big

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Y E E S

Thinking style creative- innovative

conservative

Leadership potential small big

Job security small big

Temperament melancholic choleric

Age young old

Position in the organization important insignificant

Seniority big small

The intensity of employee opposition may be correlated with certain qualities and skills that the manager responsible for coordinating the changes have. Insofar as they have specific knowledge and apply change management principles, certain characteristics of their personality and management style can help reduce or increase employee resistance to change. Briefly, manager’s influence on the intensity of employee resistance to change is also reflected in Table 3. Tab.3. Manager’s influence on the intensity of employee resistance to change

M A N A G E R I

Forces that influence Resistance to change

Small Big

Management style participatory authoritative

Managerial abilities excellent satisfactory

Holds and applies knowledge of change management

yes no

Holds and applies specific methods to reduce efficiently resistance to change

yes no

Communication and negotiation abilities

excellent relatively low

The degree of trust inspired to employees

small big

Leadership potential big small

Position in the organization top manager bottom line manager

Age maturity very young

Experience big small

Personality and charisma strong weak

Innovative creative potential big small Just as there are huge differences between the characteristics of the changes decided to be implemented in organizations, there are also huge differences between the attitudes of employees and managers, differences at the training level, commitment to organizational values and even their own personality. We find that there are a number of specific elements and processes that take place in organizations and they might contribute to a higher or reduced level of resistance to change from employees part.

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We include in this category: organization’s size, characteristics of the production processes (mass production, small production or series only), how much delegation of authority is used, characteristics of the organizational structure (a mechanistic structure where there are written policies and procedures to be strictly observed or an organic structure, where the goal is the achievement of the individual objectives), the way in which the payment and motivational systems are designed to work, the quality of the information system, characteristics of the organizational culture and the existence of trade unions in the company. Shortly, the influence of organization’s peculiarities on employee resistance to change is also reflected in Table 4. Tab.4. The influence of organization’s peculiarities on employee resistance to

change

O R G A N I Z A T I O N

Forces that influence Resistance to change

Small Big

Complexity of the activity big (high tech) small (routine activities)

Degree of centralization small big

Production characteristics small production and unique products

mass production

Type of the organizational structure organic mechanistic

The use of motivational systems for employees

yes no

A fair payment system aligned with the market labor

yes no

The quality of the information system big small

The hierarchy distance small big

Organizational culture pro change conservative

The pace of change in the organization

big reduced

Organization’s market position high low

The average age of stuff low high

The existence of strong trade unions No yes External forces Over the years it was found that a set of an increasingly complex and dynamic environmental forces exert a more powerful action over organizations. Even though we are tempted to believe that only internal forces exert an influence on employee’s resistance to change, the reality is different. People react to a change also in terms of the specific characteristics of the business environment. We include in the category of external forces the following: the pace of the national economy development, the purchasing power of citizens, the unemployment level in the region, the professional reintegration opportunities, national culture characteristics, the dependence of an area or locality, as well as living standards.

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Briefly, the influence of the external forces on the intensity of employee resistance to change is reflected in Table 5.

Tab.5. The influence of the external forces on the intensity of employee resistance to change

E X T E R N A L F O R C E S

Forces that influence Resistance to change

Small Big

The pace of the national economy development

small big

The purchasing power of citizens small big

The economy is in crisis or recession yes no

The unemployment level in the national economy

big small

Opportunities to change job small big

Retraining opportunities small big

Social instability big small

National culture pro change conservative

Dependence on a certain area big small

The existence of some strategies and policies to promote the entrepreneurial phenomenon

no yes

Banking and insurance weak strong

Wage dependence high low

Standard of living reduced acceptable Conclusions: Reducing resistance to change is a well defined and crucial phase in a process of change implementation in organizations. Successfully reducing employee’s resistance to change creates preconditions for achieving a greater measure of objectives. For a successful completion of the reducing resistance to change phase important resources are needed. These resources are: necessary expertise in the field of change management, action coordination by competent change agents, time resources that will allow employees to accept the change as well as financial resources, necessary for motivating the affected by the change employees. By knowing the forces that can increase or reduce employees strength of opposition to the new ideas for change, managers can better coordinate the process, reducing the resources required to achieve the necessary commitment from those affected by the change, so that the implemented change is not reversible. Aknowledgments This work was cofinaced from the European Social Fund through Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/107/1.5/S/77213 ,, Ph.D. for a career in interdisciplinary economic research at the European Standards" (DOCCENT).

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References AlvinToffler (1989) – Şocul viitorului - Editura Politică, Bucureşti Beckhard Richard & Harris Reuben T. (1987) - OrganizationalTransitions. Managing complex change- Addison-WesleyPublishing Company, USA Conner, D. R. (1998). Managing at the speed of change. How resilient managers succeed and prosper where others fail. Chichester: Wiley Kotter, J. P., & Schlesinger, L. A. (1979)-Choosing strategies for change. Harvard Business Review, march - april 1979 Kotter J. & Cohen D (2008) - Inima schimbarii. Povestiri adevarate despre felul in care oamenii isi transforma organizațiile- Editura Meteor Press, Bucureşti Kilian M. BennebroekGravenhorst- A Different View on Resistance to Change - “Power Dynamics and Organizational Change IV”Symposium at the 11thEAWOP Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, 14-17 May 2003 John P. Kotter, Leonard A. Schlesinger – Choosind Strategies for change, Harvard Business Review, march - april 1979. Predişcan Mariana – Schimbare organizaţională – ce, când, cum să schimbăm ? – Editura Universităţii de Vest – Timişoara -2004; Predișcan Mariana, Braduţanu Daniela (2012) - Change Agent – A Force Generating Resistance To Change Within An Organization? -ActaUniversitatisDanubius. OEconomica, Vol 8, No 6 Predișcan Mariana, Săcui Violeta (2011) – Opportunity to reduce resistance to change in a process of organizational change - Analele Universităţii din Oradea – Fasciula Ştiinţe Economice 2011, Tom XX, Volumul II Wald Michael (1995) - 50 Essential management tehniques, GowerPublishing Limited, England

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