Page 65 - eBOOK ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR FULL REPORT (eISBN)

● Needs and values - Change in employees’ needs and values can be a strong force

driving organizational change.

8.3 Sources of Resistance to Change

Though changing an organization is essential for a company to remain competitive, yet
employees do not always welcome changes in methods. According to a 2007 survey

conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), resistance to change

is one of the top two reasons why change efforts fail.

a) Individual Sources

● Habit - We rely on habits or programmed responses to cope with life’s complexities.

This tendency to respond in our accustomed ways becomes a source of resistance.

● Security - People with a high need for security are likely to resist change because it
threatens their feelings of safety.

● Economic factors - Changes in job tasks or established work routines can arouse

economic fears if people are concerned that they won’t be able to perform the new
tasks or routines to their previous standards.

● Fear of the unknown - Change substitutes ambiguity and uncertainty for the unknown.

● Selective information - They hear what they want to hear, and they ignore information

that challenges the world they’ve created.

b) Organizational Sources

● Structural - When an organization is confronted with change, this structural inertia

acts as a counterbalance to sustain stability.
● Limited focus of change - Organizations consist of a number of interdependent

subsystems. One can’t be changed without affecting the others.

● Group inertia - Even if individuals want to change their behavior, group norms may

act as a constraint.

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