Restraining forces of change in an organisation

FAQ: Issues in Organizational Change

1

Question 1: Why do some people resist change?

Answer 1: It is important to listen to the person who is resistant to the change. Listen for the facts, beliefs, feelings, or values that the person is conveying. Resistance may stem from a single fact, belief, feeling, or value. As a consultant, it is important to ask nonthreatening questions to discern the source of the resistance (Huffman, 1995), such as the following:

• Some questions to ask about facts are as follows: o What information are you basing that on? o How do you know that is true? What evidence do you have? o How did you reach that conclusion?

• To understand the beliefs that influence a person’s resistance, ask the following:

o What is your opinion of this change? o What problems do you see with this change? o Why else should this change not be made?

• To understand feelings, ask the following: o How does that make you feel? o What are your concerns about this?

• To understand values, ask the following: o What is important to you about how this is handled? o What outcomes do you want to see from this change? o What is the bottom line for you?

In general, overcoming resistance is a 4-step process: verify the facts, challenge erroneous beliefs, acknowledge feelings, and relate the change to people’s values.

Question 2: What are the pros and cons of external and internal consultants, and why is the team approach a viable alternative?

Answer 2: External consultants may be more objective, but they also have less understanding of the organization. Internal consultants may, on the other hand, be afraid of losing their jobs and are too close to the situation, but they are more aware of problems and familiar with the organization (structure, power networks, nature of business, etc.). The team approach allows for the benefits of each, and may help eliminate the negatives.

FAQ: Issues in Organizational Change

2

Additionally, the approach permits sharing of different points of view, and may alleviate the possibility of groupthink or dysfunctional decision-making processes.

Question 3: What are diagnostic models and why are they important?

Answer 3: Diagnostic models are systems that help an organizational development practitioner assess an organization. As such, models play a critical role in an organizational development program. Several diagnostic models are currently in use, but some of the more common are the systems model, the analytical model, the emergent-group behavior model, the management consulting model, the sociotechnical systems model, cause maps and social network analysis model, and the force-field analysis model. Each model is described as follows:

• Systems model: The systems model views the organization as a unified system of interrelated units. This gives managers a way of looking at the organization as a whole and as part of a larger external environment. Additionally, the notion of system interdependency is critical because a change in one part of the organization has consequences in other parts of the organization. All open systems also have boundaries, but these boundaries are permeable. In other words, external changes also impact and can alter the organizational system.

• Analytical model: The analytical model, sometimes referred to as the difference integration model, stresses the importance of a sound analytical diagnosis as the basis for planned change in organizations. The model was developed to study and understand interdepartmental issues by conducting a careful diagnosis of the organization’s problem areas.

• Emergent-group behavior model: The emergent-group behavior model is based primarily on the work of George Homans and provides a conceptual scheme for analyzing behavior in work groups, particularly the interdependence of groups. Group behavior, from this perspective, emerges as social activity that may or may not assist the group in the performance of its duties.

• Management consulting model: Terry Armstrong and Walter Wheatley developed a diagnostic model for use in management consulting that analyzes six basic factors: planning, general business practices, finance, advertising and promotion, market research, and personnel. Armstrong and Wheatley suggest that it is possible to obtain a few basic responses in each area to gain an indication of where the client’s problems may be located.

FAQ: Issues in Organizational Change

3

• Sociotechnical systems model: The sociotechnical systems model, developed from the work of Eric Trist and others at the Tavistock Institute, is used to analyze the organization as a sociotechnical system interacting with its external environment. From this perspective there are two systems—the social system and the technological system—that are interrelated and interdependent, The diagnosis determines how these systems interrelate, and specifically, the type of feedback or lack of feedback between the various subsystems that may be the source of organizational problems.

• Cause maps and social network analysis model: Reed E. Nelson and K. Michael Mathews have suggested the use of cause maps and social network analysis in diagnosis. Cause maps are mathematical representations of perceived causal relationships among variables. By analyzing the causal makeup of the organization and information about specific interdepartmental relationships, knowledge is gained of important interdependencies.

• Force-field analysis model: The force-field analysis model, originated by Kurt Lewin, is a diagnostic technique that views organizational behavior as a balance of forces that push for and restrain change. Restraining forces act on the organization to keep it stable, and driving forces put pressure on the organization to change. If the forces for change and the forces against change are equal, the result is organizational equilibrium. Change takes place when the organization is experiencing imbalance, which can be planned and specifically brought into being by decreasing the strength of any one of the forces, introducing a new force, decreasing the strength of any one of the forces, or by a combination of these methods.

Question 4: What are major forces in the change process?

Answer 4: Forces can be either driving or restraining. Driving forces are anything that increases the inclination of the client system to implement the proposed change program. Alternatively, restraining forces hinder the development of the change program.

Question 5: What strategies might be used in gaining acceptance for an organizational development program?

Answer 5: Initially, two things in reducing resistance should be recognized. First, resistance to change can be predicted, and second, resistance cannot be repressed effectively in the long run. In short, resistance to change of some type is inevitable. The task of the manager or the organizational

FAQ: Issues in Organizational Change

4

development practitioner is to make conflict resulting from the resistance a creative force for the organization’s greater good and a strategy for gradually gaining acceptance of change initiatives. These strategies may include a systematic plan, inclusion of members, education and communication of proposed changes, managers creating a vision of the organization, recognition of resistance to change, providing support and a reward system for those involved, leadership of key managers, negotiation, explicit and implicit coercion, and the use of power.

Reference

Huffman, K. (October, 1995). Scaling the wall of resistance. Training and Development, 49(10) 15.