Exam 16: Managing Change and Stress

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Resistance is a form of feedback and managers need to understand why it is occurring before trying to overcome it. This can be done by considering the extent to which the three sources of resistance shown in Figure 16.6 are contributing to the problem.
Employees are more likely to resist when they perceive that the personal costs of change outweigh the benefits. If this is the case then managers are advised to: (1) Provide as much information as possible to employees about the change. (2) Inform employees about the reasons/rationale for the change. (3) Conduct meetings to address employees' questions regarding the change. (4) Provide employees the opportunity to discuss how the proposed change might affect them. These four recommendations will improve the agent-recipient relationship by enhancing the level of trust between the parties.
Table 16.2 (in the text) describes six managerial strategies for overcoming resistance to change.
• The education and communication approach is commonly used where there is a lack of information or inaccurate information and analysis.
• The participation and involvement approach is commonly used where the initiators do not have all the information they need to design the change and where others have considerable power to resist.
• The facilitation and support approach is commonly used where people are resisting because of adjustment problems.
• The negotiation and agreement approach is commonly used where someone or some group will clearly lose out in a change and where that group has considerable power to resist.
• The manipulation and co-optation approach is commonly used where other tactics will not work or are too expensive.
• The explicit and implicit coercion approach is commonly used where speed is essential and the initiators of change possess considerable power.