Positive Strategies for Managing Change ~ Consultant's Postscript

  • Previous experiences with change
  • Perceived threat to status, influence or power
  • Perceived benefits
  • Change threshold

Based on my observations, I believe that additional stressors, previous experience and personality type will often dictate why, how and when an individual responds to a change.

But we can think too!

Fortunately, we have the ability to go beyond our emotional responses to a proposed change; we can critically evaluate its impact and ask a series of employee-centric as well as organization-centric questions, including:

  • How will this change impact me?
  • Do I need to know more about the proposed change(s)?
  • Will this change ultimately benefit the organization?
  • What are the different ways that the change(s) can be introduced?
  • What are the risks associated with implementing the change(s)?

Resistance isn't always futile

Many of the resources that I consulted for this project focused on helping people get over their resistance to a change. One source suggests that people will resist for a variety of reasons including threatened security, a fear of failure and an unwillingness to let go of the status quo.

However, I also believe that people sometimes resist because they have critically evaluated the situation and have determined that the proposed change(s) will not benefit the organization. In these cases, resistance is perhaps in their own self-interest, but also in the interest of the organization.

Consider the following possible scenario:

A new computer system is introduced to help health-care professionals throughout the province complete and submit patient reports. It appears that this system will save time, demonstrate accountability and provide more accurate and consistent reporting. It is piloted in two urban centres and is well received by health-care professionals in those two centres.

A decision is made to fully integrate the system throughout the province. However, when one rural-based organization tries to incorporate the system, they find it takes them more time because of poor Internet connections. Moreover, because they do not have a high speed Internet connection, their telephone lines are tied up for an hour at a time. As a result, patients cannot get through and the staff cannot make out-going calls.

Is resistance in this situation a positive or negative response?