Obstacles and Resistance to Organizational Change in the New Post-COVID-19 Environment

Abstract

Leaders initiate changes to increase competitive advantage and drive organizational sustainability, agility, and flexibility in their respective hypercompetitive industries. While organizational change is inevitable, uncertainty perpetually accompanies organizational change management processes. Uncertainty often breeds resistance; hence the organizational change process must be managed effectively using the requisite change management model. Despite the availability of more than 40 recognized organizational change management models, and even using the appropriate change management model, obstacles and resistance predominantly punctuate change management initiatives, subsequently igniting debates that more than 75% of all organizational change processes fail. The key reason associated with failed organizational change initiatives is (the seemingly) poor management of the human capital aspect of the change process. Poor communication of the change process leads to employees' resistance to change, as employees often believe that they will lose something in the process.