Topic > Employee Resistance to Organizational Change: A Case Study of Telenor

IndexWhy do we need organizational changeWhy is there resistance to change?Causes of resistance to changeA solution to resistance to organizational changeThe purpose of this article is to explore the problems of change of organization of TELENOR. Organizations often need to introduce changes in anticipation of future problems. While a change process may be vital, there will often be resistance to change processes from individuals and organisations. Although resistance to change is common, change advocates generally do not consider managing it effectively to make their efforts a success. Poorly managed resistance can destroy an organization. Accordingly, this study aimed to explore the nature of resistance when implementing strategic level change in TELENOR construction organizations. The case study approach was used to investigate the research question. A construction organization that recently implemented a change at a strategic level was selected to study the nature of resistance. The data collection techniques were in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The primary data were analyzed using content analysis and cognitive mapping techniques. The case study findings revealed significant reasons for resistance to change in construction organizations and how these were managed in the case study organisation. The findings and conclusions reported from this study will enable construction organizations to understand the nature of resistance and effectively manage it for successful implementation of strategic change.[1] Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Managing resistance to change is an important part of the success of all change efforts in every company. Addressing resistance will largely depend on your ability to recognize the real sources or causes of resistance to change. Organizational change is an act of transforming or modifying something in your organizational system. The main purpose of this activity is to make improvements in business performance. It is not possible to find a person who would like to implement change if the change process brings results with which the organization will get worse or there will be no improvements. Why we need organizational changes An organization, business or company is interacting with its environment. Every environmental change will affect the work and performance of the organization and, for this reason, it will have to adapt to changes in the environment. So, organizational change is the activity of differentiating or modifying the organization with the main purpose of bringing improvements to the overall business processes and making adaptation in relation to the ongoing changes in the environment. [3]Why is there resistance to change? When we talk about Organizational Change we must remember that this process is not simply a journey from one phase to another. You will have to overcome many barriers if you want to succeed in your intentions to improve your business. One of the biggest obstacles is resistance to change as an integral part of any change process. Managers will need to be aware that there will always be people in their organizations who will resist proposed changes. For this reason, the efficiency and effectiveness of the change process will be directly related to resistance to change and managementeffectiveness of resistance to change. The practice of managing resistance to change recognizes four types of people regarding their responses to change. So, we can have: People who will initiate the change process. People who will accept the proposed change. People who will remain indifferent to the proposed change. People who will not accept the proposed change. People who will not belong to any of the above-mentioned categories are more likely to be resistant to the proposed changes [2] Causes of resistance to change Managers are more likely to resist changes that will decrease their power and transfer it to their subordinates. In this way, the threat of power is one of the causes of resistance to change; The threat of power at the organizational level. With the process of change, some groups, departments or sectors of the organization become more powerful. For this reason, some people will oppose such proposal or process in which they will lose their organizing power; Losing control by employees. The process of change can sometimes reduce the level of control that managers can exercise. In this way, managers can oppose the proposed changes if the change process requires a reduction in their control power; Increase employee control. Organizational changes can increase managerial control of employees and this process can lead employees to become resistant to such proposed changes; Economic factors. Organizational changes can sometimes be seen from the employee's side as simply something that will decrease or increase their salary or other economic privileges that some workplace offers them in the moment before the change process is implemented. It is normal to expect that those who feel they will lose some of their salary will resist the change. Image, prestige and reputation. Every workplace brings appropriate image, prestige and reputation that are important to all employees. Organizational changes can make a drastic change to the benefits of these employees. If this is the case with the proposed change, then it will produce dissatisfaction. Therefore, image, prestige and reputation are one of the causes of resistance to change; The threat of comfort. Organizational changes in many cases cause personal distress and make the employee's life more difficult. They go from the comfort of the status quo to the discomfort of the new situation. Employees have the skills to perform an old job without special attention to performing the task. Each new task requires forgetting old ways of doing work and learning new things which leads to wasted energy and causes dissatisfaction; [4]. Job security. Organizational change can eliminate some jobs, can produce technological excesses, layoffs, and so on. Job security is simply one cause of resistance to change;Reallocation of resources. With organizational changes, some groups, departments, or sectors of the organization may receive more resources while others will lose resources. So, this will bring resistance from individuals, groups or departments who will lose some of the resources currently available. The interest of some groups organized within the company has already developed. Organizational change can make new groups more significant to the success of the organization. This is a major threat to old coalitions that will cause resistance to change in those groups who will become more insignificant with the proposals; Implications for personal plans. Organizational change can disrupt other plans,projects or other personal or family activities. In this way this becomes one of the causes of resistance to change for those people who will be reached by this change; Too much dependence on others. In an organization there are employees who depend too much on other individuals. This dependence is based on the current support they receive from powerful individuals. If the process of change involves the threat of such dependence, it will cause resistance to change on the part of those people who will be threatened by this change; Misunderstanding of the process. Individuals in the organization usually resist change when they do not understand the true purpose of the proposed changes. When employees don't understand the process, they usually assume something negative. This will cause resistance to change; mistrust towards the initiators of change. When employees do not trust the initiators of the process, the process will not be accepted and this will cause resistance to change; Different evaluation and perception. Different assessments and perceptions can influence organizational changes if there are people who consider the proposed changes to be a bad idea. For this reason they are resistant to proposed changes. Fear of the unknown. Organizational change, in many cases, leads to uncertainty and a certain amount of fear. It's normal for people to feel fear of uncertainty. When employees feel uncertainty in a transformation process, they think that changes are something dangerous. This uncertainty affects organizational members' resistance to the proposed change; on the habits of the members of the organization. Employees' work is largely based on habits, and work tasks are performed in a certain way based on those habits. Organizational changes require changes in those habits and cause dissatisfaction resulting from these proposals. Previous experience. All employees already have some experience with a previous organizational change process. So, they know that this process is not an easy process. That experience will simply tell them that most change processes in the past have been a failure. So, this can cause resistance to change; The threat to interpersonal relationships. Employees are often friends with each other and have a strong social and interpersonal relationship inside and outside the organization. If an organizational change process can be seen as a threat to these powerful social networks in the organization, affected employees will resist that change. The weakness of the proposed changes. Sometimes the proposed change might have a weakness that can be recognized by employees. Therefore, these employees will resist implementing the process until these weaknesses are removed or resolved. Limited resources. A normal problem in every organization is having limited resources. When resources are limited and with proposed organizational changes those resources are threatened, resistance to change is more likely to occur; Bureaucratic inertia. Every organization has its own mechanisms such as rules, policies and procedures. Sometimes, when individuals want to change their behavior, these mechanisms in many cases can resist the proposed changes; Selective processing of information. Individuals usually have selective information processing or only hear something they want to hear. They simply ignore information that is contrary to the current situation and thereby do not want to accept important aspects of the proposed changes. For this reason, resistance to change appears; Uninformed employees. Often employees don't get them).