Acceptance of change: Exploring factors of employee resistance to organizational change

Abstract

Due to changes in globalization, changes due to advances in technology and other factors, the reality is our organizations are constantly having to adapt. If we continue to approach the transformation of organizations, the way we always have been(stressed) we need to sort out two things: First, why is change so exhausting? And second how do we fix it? Change management becomes an inevitable within organizations’ performance. Successful and unsuccessful change management initiatives have been discussed by various authors and the topic continues to expand. Numerous studies provide an understanding into the nature of change management and identifies its most common drawbacks. The most frequent themes include resistance to change, readiness for change, leadership effectiveness, employee commitment, and the roles and competencies ensuring smooth occurrence of strategic change.The present article focuses on one of these themes: resistance to change. Understanding reasons for resistance may aid managers to reduce conflict and increase collaboration. To meet these challenges, leaders must be qualified enough to overcome resistance to change. This article points out important types of resistance for organizations to address.