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What causes resistance?

The fear of failure is one of the highest barriers for people to take risks and change. It is the fear of appearing foolish, making a mistake, or in some cases, an individual's strengths and weaknesses being discovered. However, fear is not the only driver of resistance. According to McKinsey & Company client survey of Fortune 100 Companies, there are several other factors that create technology change implementation barriers

• Lack of time – many employees are overworked and cannot image introducing one more item on their task last.  True change requires participation, but if employees feel overwhelmed with their current duties, they do not want to have to think of anything new.
• Change threatens power and control – employees in position of power believe change may take away responsibilities and they will begin to lose control.  On the other hand, employees may not necessarily have power, but they can control their small workspace and routine for completing their job.  Change presents an opportunity to disrupt their personal space.
• Personalities and Conflicts – destructive or disgruntle employees attempt to sabotage change because they believe the environmental changes or those who adopt or welcome change makes their work appear unsatisfactory (in their mind).  These individuals tend to have negative attitudes or they are what I call “dark clouds”.  They love to rain on the parade by finding fault in the system and active participants.
• Insecurities or low self-esteem - individuals believe change is a threat because of organizational and personal insecurities. Often, this obstacle can be overcome through effective communications. By keeping individuals informed and reinforcing their jobs are not at risk, their fears are reduced.
• Lack of respect.  Employees will not embrace change if they do not have respect for their leader’s decisions and management’s execution of the plan.  Often this responsibility is thrown onto the employee for not being cooperative; however, in truth, it is the management style creating the barrier.

Aside from the obvious on how organizations fail to implement change because of poor planning and insufficient budgets; the real root cause is the human element and organizational cultural subsystem. Organization actors (executives, management, and employees) past experiences and current perspectives influence if change will be accepted and successfully implemented. Generally, it is not because employees are resistant to change; it is primarily due to the lack of respect in leadership for not considering how people will react to change, and making it the employees' responsibility to just blindly accept change.

To avoid or minimize technology change barriers, leaders and decision-makers must acknowledge some people will jump at the opportunity to change, whilst others will resist. For those participants that agree, leaders should use their social network to communicate and promote the change. For those that object to change, leaders must regain confidence and gain acceptance through open dialogue. Additionally, leaders should ensure communications are effective and plentiful during the change process to keep participants informed to prevent harmful rumors from spreading.

Published: August 29, 2003
By Melanie Brown, BSC, MBA-TM, DM

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