How do change managers recognize resistence of employees to change

It is important to be able to spot to change when it occurs rather than get surorised when the change mysteriously fails. Identifying yhe same will help you to respond appropriately to it. This is one of the biggest challenges faced by the change managers. If you can catch the resistance early , it will then give you a chance to respond to it before it takes hold,hence, effectively nipping it in the bud. Let us first look into some of the early signs of resistance. These can be in the form of Gossip- when a change is announced , the tom-toms will start loudly and the grapevine will bear fruits of much and carried opinion. Keep your ear to the ground so as to know what is being said around the coffee points. Listen particularly for declarations of intent and attempts to organise resistance Grumbling and complaints are natural ways of airing discomfort,so you should not try to squash it as thus will anyway lead you to failure. The biggest danger happens when it is allowed to ferment in an information vaccum. Respond to the gossip by opening it up,show that you are listening to the concerns and that are taking them seriously. Providing lots of valid information will hep to fill the vacuum Testing: just as ahigh school class test a teachers ability to mainatain discilipine ,so will some brave souls test out what would happen when they resist the change . an example ,the resisters may not turn up to a meeting or may challenge a decision. How you deal with such early resistance has a sisgnifcant effect on what happens next.for example you can shout at them and hurt their sentiments, or you can take an adult position, describe what they have done and assertively question their motives Resistance to change can occur in two ways namely individual action and collective action Individual action: individuals ,may resist however this is generally limited to the extent of their personal power.for those with a lower power,this may include passive refusals and covert action.for those with more power,the resistence may include open challenge and criticism. An individual action must be handled individually.It should be started with those who posses a greater power and then the message gets automatically conveyed to those below. An example of dealing with an individual who is resisting change : discipling a senior executive can send a strong signal to the other resistors