Factors Contributing to an Individual’s Resistance to Change

Resistance to Change
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Factors for Resistance to Change
Change in organizations is often inevitable. Evidence has shown that human beings are inherently likely to resist change (Engelberg, 2021). The disruption of the normal order or flow of things may create inherent uncertainties leading to change resistance. Many factors contribute to an individual’s resistance to change. The factors can largely be divided into internal and external factors. One of the internal factors for resistance to change poor communication. It has been argued that effective communication is not necessarily the words you say but how you say them. When there is ineffective communication within an organization, individuals are highly likely to resist change. Secondly, inadequate training may lead to resistance to change. This factor particularly comes to play when the management wants to add new roles to the employee without first training them sufficiently. Thirdly, a lack of motivation may cause resistance to change. Some reasons for lack of motivation include little compensation and poor working conditions.
External factors may also cause resistance to change. External factors are those outside an organization but felt within it. The following are some external factors that may contribute to resistance to change. First, monetary policy changes that have a far-reaching effect may cause resistance to change. For example, if the interest rates are adjusted upward to reduce inflation, the consequent rise in the cost of living may make employees prone to resist certain changes in an organization. Secondly, technological factors may cause resistance to change. We live in a world where technological advancement is occurring at an unprecedented rate. To keep up with these changes, organizations have to constantly make changes to ensure that they adapt to newer technologies. When such changes are introduced, they are most likely to be faced with resistance from the employees (Colwill, 2021). Additionally, political factors may also play a role in contributing to change and resistance (Baack, 2017). These factors include elections, government policies and influence from politicians.
Change Resistance Situation
A great way to illustrate resistance to change is by describing a situation where it occurred. A good case I have come across was of one of my friends working at a food processing organization. My friend had taken some time off from the company and traveled abroad. While he was traveling, the company management met and decided to adopt a raft of measures to cut costs. One of the measures was to reduce the number of employees. The organization decided to lay off employees who were considered the least productive. Luckily for my friend, he was not on the list. He was considered one of the most productive employees in the organization. However, there was a catch. While he was away, the company introduced a new raft of measures to reduce expenses further. These measures included introducing new job designs and assigning more roles to the existing employees.
To ensure that every employee was on the same page, three days of training were arranged to inform th...