How to overcome resistance to change

I spoke last week with a director of Human Resources of a large Italian organization, we discussed about structural changes. I report here some thoughts.

There is closed relationship between theory and practice in change management. Practitioners and academics jointly recognise that there is not a unique or best way to confront with change, they prefer to identify favourite modus operandi and frameworks (Burns, 1999; Hughes, 2007) than standardised tools.

I propose consequently a number of change tasks an organisation should perform to reduce resistance. I believe that organisations are far from equilibrium systems and that Lewin’s field force field is impossible to be completely overcome.

Making the transformation meaningful

The first task I would suggest to reduce resistance is to plan. Readiness has been often described as a necessary precursor to implementation of change initiatives (Armenakis et. al., 1993; Eby et. al., 2000). I propose to develop and communicate a convincing transformation story. The story should include urgency, description of the crisis, a comprehensive list of alternatives and a clear vision of the future. The story can increase the readiness of individuals to accept the change and the consequences of not changing. Planning can, also, help change agents to prepare resources and anticipate what the future might be.

Build the power to change

The second task is to understand and manage power. The practical matter of overcoming resistance is not limited to the selection of a change strategy or change agent. It is a complex and dynamic process that involves politics.
A strong and committed managing team should make the transformation personal to engage resistance and to reward successful changes personally. Leaders should be considered accountable for failure or success in implementing changes as planned.
The change agent should evaluate how conflicting interests work together and how the new structure, process or strategy change and react to constrains of the organisation.
Political behaviour of change agents can be used, also, to overcome resistance (Buchanan and Badham, 1999).

In my experience, we have noticed that very often change agents tend not to exercise power or, even worst, do not have coercive power to contrast resistance.

Strebel (1994) notes that rolling back change forces is possible, therefore, it is necessary to choose the right change path. From the above observation we can conclude that change agents should reduce the power of Status Quo Agents to avoid failure. I realize that it is not an easy task because even when transition is effectively choreographed from the centre leadership it is a cascade process in which each round engages new and old powers.

Readiness to pursuit impact

Finally, I propose a number of additional tasks change agents can use to reduce resistance to change. Kotter and Shlesinger (1979) recommend six actions managers can perform to reduce resistance to change. These tasks are not exclusive and can be grouped in conflicting (manipulation and coercion) or cooperative (negotiation, education, communication, participation and support). Kotter and Schlesinger tasks are supplement to a careful preparation and the management of power.

In almost all cases it can be recommended to use a balanced carrot and stick approach with the prevalence of context based, either cooperative or resolute, tactics.