Discuss the 11 Reasons Employees Resist Change.I found an interesting article online written by Peter Baron Stark and he only list 10 reasons why employees resist change and his list contains a few things that are different from our textbook. Sometimes I think that the articles written by real people are more interesting and easy to understand so I will tell you what I found and then add a little of our textbook in. Fear of failure is right up at the top of his list, makes sense people do not want to try something new and fail, but sometimes do you think people set themselves up to fail if they take this type of attitude? If you are fearful of something then when faced with that type of situation you will be fearful when it comes up again, our bodies hold past feelings and we unconsciously react to situations based on past experiences. “All the experiences we have had in life are felt by the body and the body forms itself in response to those experiences” (Ferlic, 2009). Through awareness we can know that our past experiences such as feeling nervous around a boss or co-worker comes from how we dealt with that same feeling in the past, it is important to be able to say, “Hey this is the present and not the past”.
Next is creature of habit, how many people do you know if you move their stapler or something on their desk they freak out if it is in a different spot? Or if someone does not have their coffee in the morning it is a good idea to stay away from that person until they have had their first cup. Or what happens if all of a sudden the coffee brand in the cafeteria at work changes even though it might taste better it is a little unsettling for those people who have a consistent coffee schedule with a consistent taste for a particular brand. Just so you know I am not a coffee drinker but I thought it was a good example that most people can relate to, I have sympathy for those who have to go through a change like that.
No obvious need, why in the world do we have to do this? Some people are fearful and do not look at the big picture, they fail to recognize the positive impact of the change on the organization as a whole and see the process as being disruptive and unnecessary (Barron Stark, 2012).
Loss of control, some people feel powerless when changes occur and therefore resist the change on an emotional level and mentally check out based on this fear, Dr. Neil Neimark refers to this fear as the fight or flight response (Neimark, 2012). He states, “When our fight or flight system is activated, we tend to perceive everything in our environment as a possible threat to our survival” (Neimark, 2012). Neimark also remarks that, “Our fear is exaggerated. Our thinking is distorted. We see everything through the filter of possible danger. We narrow our focus to those things that can harm us. Fear becomes the lens through which we see the world" (Neimark, 2012). It is interesting to relate how psychology can unknowingly show up in our daily routines and it does play an important role at work, who wants to be powerless?
Concern about a support system, we all want to know someone has our back or that there is a set support system in place when things go wrong or when big changes are taking place and no one wants feel like someone out in the middle of the ocean without a paddle or a phone. Peter Barron Stark states that, “They may worry about working for a new supervisor, with new employees or on unfamiliar projects because they fear that if they try and fail, there will be no one there to support them” (Barron Stark, 2012). It is sad but true when we are at work we have to make decisions based on fear because we feel like we have no other choice or that we need to condescend to what is being asked of us.
Being closed minded and unwillingness to learn are the next two reasons why people resist change, when my company closed in 2009, we were given money to go back to school or were offered classes in a few different fields to help get us back on our feet, they rolled out this program before we were let go and we were given time to take computer classes at work. Some people took advantage of this extra training which continued after the company had closed and people could take classes at a local college which was funded through an agreement with AT&T and the CWA union, which is a very strong organization set up to help employees in need. One person on my team was given the same opportunity as the rest of us but when I asked her about going to school she told me, “I don’t want to learn anymore, I am not interested, I am too old,” I was really surprised because she was a hot ticket and really fast on her feet in team meetings but she put up a wall that blocked out anything having to learn something new.
Three other reasons why people are fearful of change is because they wonder how will this affect them and what will be the personal impact on them, fear of the unknown, and fear that the new way might not be better. How many people were so scared about coming to school online, looking at a syllabus that was a mile long and worrying about if I will have enough time to do my assignments? Once we got used to what was expected it just became the norm, so we will know what to expect from our next class and just so you know all teachers have different expectations of APA. We just have to adjust to those types of changes, I have had some really great teachers here at Ashford and when I got the call from Nicole in the grad office I felt like it was perfect timing, so I signed up and here I am!
Some of the things that people fear about change that our books list are an individual’s resistance toward change, climate of mistrust, fear of failure, peer pressure, personality conflicts, lack of tack and poor timing, non reinforcing reward systems and so on (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009 p 411-412). Fear is something we all deal with and we get to chose how we deal with it, do we face it right on or do we use avoidance because it is easier than dealing with it?
Ferlic, K. (2009). A creativity perspective on body memories: a releasing your
unlimited creativity discussion topic. Retrieved from
Kinicki, A., & Kreitner, R. (2009). Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills &
Best Practices (customized 4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin
Neimark, N. (2012, January 12). The fight flight response. Retrieved from
Barron Stark, P. (2012, January 12). Why employees resist change. Retrieved from
http://www.peterstark.com/why-employees-resist-change/
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