Overcoming Resistance to Change

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In most business oriented environments, the boss teams up with the senior members to discuss the way forward and get the criticism from his or her team. Our new boss was no different. This in many ways allowed us to sit down with him and discuss his outlook and possibly steer him in a different direction on certain things. Showing him that processes were not broken allowed us to argue to keep them the same. This was also another observation that the junior members saw and appreciated.

Another approach to his new tactics would be we would encourage him to come in on his weekend, typically a time when the shop was working late missions so he could see first hand just what we did, how we did it and to show him that we do things a certain way because they make the most sense. Initially he was reluctant to go back on his word but this type of inclusion into the process proved very rewarding for the members of my team and it allowed our boss to really get an understanding of what we did and how we did it. In the end we had a new boss show up with many changes. Nearly all of the members of my team resisted the change. “People are likely to react negatively to change when they feel that there is no need for the change.” (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009) It is because this statement, there were instances and pockets of resistance from my team. In the end, we were able to sit down with the new boss and include him on the reasons why things should stay the same or we would agree that change was necessary but it could be introduced slowly. Our new boss initially cared little for the opinions of his enlisted but soon over time he realized that in order to be an instrument of change, there would have to be some common areas that we could all meet and agree on.

REFERENCES:

Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2009). Managing organizational change (p. 162). Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2009). Managing organizational change (p. 165). Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.