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Marten van der Zee
Analyst, Netherlands
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Reasons and Motives to Resist Change
I'm trying to collect a list of all motives for resistance to change by employees.
Henk Kleijn and Fred Rorink in their book 'Change management' indicate that there are multiple psychological motives for showing resistance by employees or managers during a 'change':
1. FEARS (I don't know if I can handle in practice...)
2. GUILT (I can't do that to my colleagues... (to cooperate)
3. ALIENATION (The change can't replace me...)
4. PERSONAL DISADVANTAGE (Financially I'm going to receive less than before...)
5. NEED (The change does not correspond with what I want)
6. THREAT (Due to the change, my position in the company gets weaker...)
7. DOUBTS (I don't know what risks are involved...)
Any further suggestions / improvements?
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David Wilson
Manager, Canada
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Reasons for Resistance to Change 8. FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH (We have already tried this before and it did not work before and it will not work now...)
9. TOO MANY CHANGES (There are too many changes for us to handle. We need to slow the amount of change...)
10. WE NEED STABILITY (The new boss is a changeaholic: we need some stablity, not more chaos...)
11. TECHNOLOGY (Technology is the solution, we need fewer employees and more automated systems or tools...)
12. NO RATIONALE (Why are we changing? What is our vision and mission?)
13. LACK OF COMMUNICATION (Why are we changing? What is our vision and mission?)
14. OVERCONFIDENCE (Everything is OK, why change, avoidance of new ideas...)
15. CHANGE IS NOT FOR SENIORS (Seniority is everything: the senior union employee does not have to change...)
You may want to change the labels. Hope this helps.
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Harry Whitney, United States
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On 4. Personal Disadvantage This basically means the perception is: "I have a stronger motivation not to change".
The total of satisfaction, status and money in the current situation is better (real or perceived) than the satisfaction, status and money in the new situation.
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Jan Vermeulen
Manager, South Africa
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Reasons for Resistance to Change I agree with 12. and 13. The change will negatively impact business - no clear understanding of impact
A variant of 8. Flavour of the month is:
16. POLITICS (The change is perceived as part of office or corporate politics, without real merit or substance...)
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Philip Jehu
Accountant, Nigeria
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Causes of Resistance to Change 17. CHANGE AGENT APPROACH: the manner of approach (attitude) of the change agent is also very important.
For example even if the change could be obviously useful, but the presentation (communication) has some elements of despise on the people you want to change, they could resist you, even if your intention for change is beneficial for the business and even if it is beneficial to them!
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Verbeeck
Management Consultant, Belgium
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Resistance to Change is not Always for Personal Reasons Change" is the consequence of implementing "a solution" to solve "a problem".
So people resist because:
A. They don't understand the problem (what's the problem, why do we change?)
B. They don't agree with the solution (who the **** invented this?)
C. They don't believe in the means (resources) put in place to implement the solution (trainings, tools...)
And finally...
D. They don't see the benefits for themselves.
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Peter Kaepernick, Germany
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Reasons not to Change The fact is, change is constant and will take place all the time. With or without fear, guilt, threats or doubts.
However, what is the real challenge for employees or managers in the context of change?
- Is it my or the persuasion "I can handle it... whatever will happen?" or
- The ability to communicate to eachother or
- Transparency or
- Knowledge
- Flexibility... or
- All of these?
My question: how do I anticipate expected change? How can I prepare myself?
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Haragopal, India
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Reasons for Resistence to Change I agree with 12. 13 and 14, the main reason for resistence comes from a lack of understanding the importance of change.
Though most of the time, change leads to better life for the person, he may not know and thus will oppose. The best thing could be, to properly communicate the benefits of change that may outweigh the disadvantages.
18. NOT INVENTED HERE (Sometimes, change is resisted due to ego clash i.e. why I should adopt change just because someone else proposed. In such cases, the concerned person need to be trained to think positively).
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HUPIN, France
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Reasons for Resistance to Change 19. LAW OF ARCHIMEDES: Resistance to change can be compared to Archimedes' principle (Editor: law of physics stating that the upward buoyant force exerted on a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid the body displaces. In other words, an immersed object is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid it actually displaces).
Likewise, resistance wil be inversely proportional to the changes implied.
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Modekets
Accountant, Botswana
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On Motives to Resist Change #6: Threat A particular relevant form of this motive to resist chjange is when the change might render my job obsolete (there is a high possibility of me losing my job).
This is particularly true for technological changes which may lead to the company needing less hands on the job due to the advent of machines to perform such tasks.
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Ramesh Victor, Malaysia
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Why People Resist Change In my experience people resist change for two reasons:
I. Aptitude problem. This is where the person does not have the skill needed to make that change or the skills needed to function as the change requires. This reason, once identified is easily addressed. Proper skills or knowledge has to be given through coaching and training.
II. Attitude problem. This is caused by an uneasiness to change. People usually undergo cultural, emotional and social conditioning. This conditioning has to be either removed or to be replaced with new conditioning. Otherwise a kind of fear of the unknown sets in.
Care has to be taken by the superiors to play the role of mentor, coach, guide and confidant in communicating the change effectively and then driving effective re-conditioning.
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Leena Bissoonauth
Student (University), Mauritius
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Reasons for Resistance for Change I would like to contribute the below reasons for resistance for change since I have just completed this module in my diploma in HRM.
1. Misunderstanding about the need for change/when the reason for the change is unclear — if staff do not understand the need for change you can expect resistance. Especially from those who strongly believe the current way of doing things works well…and has done for twenty years!
2. Fear of the unknown — one of the most common reasons for resistance is fear of the unknown. People will only take active steps toward the unknown if they genuinely believe – and perhaps more importantly, feel – that the risks of standing still are greater than those of moving forward in a new direction
3. Lack of competence — this is a fear people will seldom admit. But sometimes, change in organizations necessitates changes in skills, and some people will feel that they won’t be able to make the transition very well.
4. Connected to the old way — If you ask people in an organization to do things in a new way, as rational as that new way may seem to you, you will be setting yourself up against all that hard wiring, all those emotional connections to those who taught your audience the old way – and that’s not trivial
5. Low trust — When people don’t believe that they, or the company, can competently manage the change there is likely to be resistance
6. Temporary fad — When people belief that the change initiative is a temporary fad
7. Not being consulted — If people are allowed to be part of the change there is less resistance. People like to know what’s going on, especially if their jobs may be affected. Informed employees tend to have higher levels of job satisfaction than uninformed employees
8. Poor communication — It’s self evident isn't it? When it comes to change management there’s no such thing as too much communication
9. Changes to routines — When we talk about comfort zones we’re really referring to routines. We love them. They make us secure. So there’s bound to be resistance whenever change requires us to do things differently
10. Exhaustion/Saturation — Don’t mistake compliance for acceptance. People who are overwhelmed by continuous change resign themselves to it and go along with the flow. You have them in body, but you do not have their hearts. Motivation is low
11. Change in the status quo — Resistance can also stem from perceptions of the change that people hold. For example, people who feel they’ll be worse off at the end of the change are unlikely to give it their full support. Similarly, if people believe the change favours another group/department/person there may be (unspoken) anger and resentment
12. Benefits and rewards — When the benefits and rewards for making the change are not seen as adequate for the trouble involved
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Juan Perez Eras, Mexico
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On Motives for Resistance to Change #8: Flavour of the Month @David Wilson : I agree and would like to suggest a variant of your Flavour of the Month:
20. LACK OF MANAGEMENT ENDURANCE: resistance to change sometimes is related to (bad) decisions that were mad...
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Tykhonenko
Analyst, Ukraine
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Motive for Resistance to Change: Uncertainty Similar to #7 (Doubt) we could also use the term UNCERTAINTY.
Changes lead to uncertainty and uncertainty leads to risks. People do not like additional risks....
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FAYEZ, Saudi Arabia
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Most Important is what THEY Believe 21. CONFLICTING VALUES / BELIEVES. In case that the change is in conflict with personal believes, religious convictions, values or otherwise ethically not accepted by employees, that could be another ...
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Gabriel Lira, Mexico
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This List of Motives for Reistance to Change is Important to me The situation that I have in my plant is a high resistance to change in all levels. So I am going to take this list of motives to resist change very seriously in order to understand each individual si...
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Fareed Ezz
Analyst, Saudi Arabia
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Is it a Cause or Just an Excuse? I would like to highlight the importance to distinguish between causes and excuses; you can hear a lot of excuses for not willing to change, but the root causes are very limited.
So what about if we ...
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Lenore Miller
Student (MBA), United States
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Causes of Resistance to Change: Not Engaging the People Affected via True Dialogue @Haragopal : I agree that NOT ENGAGING the people affected by a future change during the design phase of change is a key factor in causing resistance.
Also, the lack of the type of communication, sp...
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edward sevume
Sweden
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The Notion of Change and Human Motivation @Lenore Miller : While reading all of these wonderful contributions to the MOTIVES to resist change, I reflected about MOTIVATION - what motivates us most? Here at 12manage, many discussions on human ...
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TEMILADE OKE
HR Consultant, Nigeria
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Causes and Motives to Resist Change Similar to @Philip Jehu (17. Change Agent Approach), we can add:
22. CHANGE AGENT CREDIBILITY. Credibility of the change agent or change champions. Those leading the change must have a positive influ...
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Juan Jauregui
Professor, Mexico
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Neuroscience Explanation for Resistance to Change 23. NEUROSCIENCE EXPLANATION. A neuroscience hypothesis is that there is a natural resistance of the brain to re-learn.
The brain has to create millions of synaptic connections between neuron cells t...
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Dr. Francis G. Adjei
Lecturer, Ghana
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Motives for Resistance to Change also Depend on Region The points raised in this discourse are very rich and real.
In Africa, in view of widespread poverty and high dependency ratio, job security and assurance of regular flow of monthly income are critic...
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Goran Stille, Sweden
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Reasons for Resistance to Change @David Wilson: I am curious about your thinking pattern as you create "a list of reasons to resist change". How do you proceed from such a list in your thinking? How do you envision value to be create...
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Heidi Mureau
Management Consultant, Australia
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Control, Slight or Envy, and Sabotage This group has compiled an impressive list of change resistance drivers. I would add a few human factors that have little or nothing to do with the work environment or change per se.:
1. The psycholo...
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David Wilson
Manager, Canada
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Resistance - Reasons and Values @Goran Stille : if people understand the reasons or causes of change, they may be better prepared to respond to resistance. I believe leaders and change champions need to prepare an organization for c...
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Fauzi Arif
Manager, Indonesia
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No. 4: Personal Disadvantage Will no. 4 personal disadvantage (financially...) be a reason also for a person who is in self-esteem in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? I mean: will a person whose 'level' is self esteem resist change f...
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Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
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Why This List of Motives for Resistance to Change? @Goran Stille: thank you for your question - why this list?
This list (of motives for resistance to change) was created through a collaborative process which combines insights from management science...
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Fathi Ben Amer
Management Consultant, Libya
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On Motives for Resistance to Change #4: Personal Disadvantage Implementing change in organizations means gains for some people, and a loss to others.
Hence, those not benefiting from a change of the status quo (current situation) would probably show resistance ...
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edward sevume
Sweden
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Why This List and the Importance of Networking @Jaap de Jonge (Editor): Thank you for the answer regarding this list of motives for resisting change and the importance of 12manage.
In the era of the global village with information transcending cu...
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kapukha patrick, Kenya
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Effects of Organization's Change Process to Staff Note that any organizational change may affect four pillars of staff: their competencies, control, comfort, and confidence can either be threatened or reinforced. This can result in (motives for) resi...
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Kalindi, India
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One Obvious and Missed Out Cause of Resistance to Change 24 SHEER LAZINESS (inertia / complacency / sluggishness). This is another big culprit.
One may see the benefits of change but may not be very willing or motivated to move out of his comfort zone ("I...
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Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
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Layers of Resistance to Change (Goldratt) Also take a look at Goldratt's 5 Layers of Resistance:
1. Raising problems having one thing in common – it’s out of our hands.
2. Arguing that the proposed solution cannot possibly yield the desired...
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debahooti basu
Teacher, India
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These Reasons for Resistance to Change are Perceptions Note that most or all of these reasons are (subjective) perceptions by people/employees.
I feel that our perceptions play an important role in change management. They stop us to take (rational) decis...
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Janice Johnson-Lorde
Lecturer, Trinidad and Tobago
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Resistance to Change Resistance may be disagreement with the change focus and purpose. Where it is felt that the cost benefit is to the disadvantage to the majority, one may be likely to resist as well as where leadership...
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Jean-Marc Guillemette, Canada
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Resistance is an Emotional Reaction! @Verbeeck: some people affected by change have trouble understanding proposed solutions, either because of how they are presented, because they don't sufficiently consider factors like culture or perh...
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Kathy Hevey
Management Consultant, United States
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Resist the Risk of Failure Consider it's not "the change" that people resist... What they resist is giving up who they are and how their world as been; they resist the chaos of moving from the old to the new as changes are impl...
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edward sevume
Sweden
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Motives to Resist Change: 'Know Thy People' @Kathy Hevey: Thanks Kathy for that insightful contribution. One thing that emanates from what you are saying is that - know thy people and indeed the organization before embarking on change! Otherwis...
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Verbeeck
Management Consultant, Belgium
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One More Reason to Resist Change to Add to the List... 25. LACK OF SUCCESSES / RESULTS. When it takes too long to see positive results, people tend to get discouraged and go back to their old habits. Therefore, quick wins are important....
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Juan Perez Eras, Mexico
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Lack of Success Because of no Evaluation of Changes @Eric Verbeeck: It's not cost-effective to wait for getting long-term results. Leaders should evaluate the results continuously by means of KPI's and motivate and get employees convinced that changes...
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Fareed Ezz
Analyst, Saudi Arabia
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One More Reason to Change Resistance 26. Parental Control Allergy. Some people resist certain changes just because it reminds them of their parents and their parental control behavior.
Do such and so.. And don't do it like that......
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Chloe Xu
Director, Australia
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Major Reasons for Change Resistance People's resistance to change indeed attributes to countless reasons. Many however centre around a negative reaction that occurs when individuals feel that their self-interest or personal freedom is t...
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Vidyut chandra Patange
Management Consultant, India
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Reason for not Changing: Lack of Flexibility Organization normally have human factor we'll set in working for long long time and do not want new learning, unlearning old things, also fear of loss of status in exisiting environment by new talent ...
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Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
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Personal Advantage from Change Accepting all of the reasons as to why people resist or reject change, as described. Note that "organisations" do not resist change it is the (senior) people who may "turn a blind eye" and find ration...
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Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
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Promote Reasons for Enabling Acceptance @David Wilson: Your reasons for compiling the list of reasons for rejection of/resistance to change are what I presumed would be the case.
I would consider not providing such a list within your book ...
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