Resistance to Change

  1. 2 Describe ways to overcome resistance to change.

Our egos are fragile, and we often see change as threatening. Even when employees are shown data that suggest they need to change, they latch onto whatever data they can find that suggest they are okay and don’t need to change.7 Employees who have negative feelings about a change cope by not thinking about it, increasing their use of sick time, or quitting. All these ­reactions can sap the organization of vital energy when it is most needed.8 Resistance to change doesn’t just come from lower levels of the organization. In many cases, higher-level managers will resist changes proposed by ­subordinates, ­especially if these leaders are focused on immediate ­performance.9 ­Conversely, ...

Get Organizational Behavior, 17e now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.