UU-MBA717

Lucy Macharia
13 July 2019

TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE VIS A VIS MY

MANAGING TEMPERAMENT AND STYLE

According to Popa (2017) “It is important for the manager to understand all the factors at stake
during a change initiative and their effect on the success of the change”. She goes on to add that,
the manager’s capacity to lead employees to change is the determining factor in accelerating and
coping with change. Further, the article notes that manager’s ought to possess Analytical,
Human, Systemization and Business skills in order deal with change effectively and goes on to
illuminate the key components of change management: Initiator, Agent, Subject, Type
(structural, behavioral or technological) and Evaluation of change.

Alecsoiu (2017) acknowledges that resistance should not be approached as an adversary as it

can be constructive in organizational change. This notion is backed by Rao (2014) who also
recognizes that resistance should be treated as a positive force. Causes of resistance include
emotional resistance whereby employees feel a threat to their security (Popa, 2017),
organizational politics, poor management style (Alecsoiu, 2017), loss of predictability/fear of the
unknown which triggers panic, loss of convenience – need to switch from old ways of doing
things, loss of relationships, resistant organization culture, threats to expertise and established
resource allocations (Alasadi & Askary, 2014)

The following are ways of managing change successfully: Continuous training, staff motivation,
involvement of employees (Popa, 2017), support from the HR like stress management,
developing a shared vision to ‘buy in’ manager and employee (Butler, 2016), information-based
and counseling interventions (Alecsoiu, 2017), education and communication, employee
involvement, participation and facilitation, negotiation and agreement – when groups have
significant resistance power, manipulation and cooperation – when other tactics fail, coercion –
when speed is crucial (Alasadi & Askary, 2014).

Magsaysay & Hechanova (2017) identify leadership skills that are advantageous when managing
change resistance, moving people towards and securing commitment to change such as: learning
appetite, influence without authority, clear goal specification, fueling motivation and

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commitment in others, flexibility in change response, inspirational, not being a micromanager,
effective coaching/mentorship, accountability driver, good communicator, empathetic
approachable, support giver, competent, ethical

My mix of leadership styles that would match some of the aforementioned ways of managing
change include transformational and situational leadership. For situational leadership, my
approach would be a participating and delegating approach whereby I would involve the
employees in the change process from the start while also empowering them to act as agents of
change. Also, given that change processes need to be transformative, my transformational style
of leadership would allow me to share the vision of change with others and support employees
through the process, educate them on the importance of change and train them so that they can
adopt change easily and faster.

Conclusively, managers ought to keep in mind the needs of employees when undergoing the
process of change, help them witness it as it takes place while stressing on the positive aspects of
change so as to increase staff commitment to implementing change (Alasadi & Askary, 2014).

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References
Alasadi, R., & Askary, S. (2014). Employee Involvement and the Barriers to Organizational
Change. International Journal of Information, Business and Management , 6 (1).

Alecsoiu, O. (2017). Resistance To Organisational Change; Literature Review. Analele

Universitatii "Constantin Brancusi" din Targu Jiu. Serie Litere si Stiinte Sociale (4), 16-20.

Butler, L. (2016). Human Resource Management: Managing Change. Teaching Business &
Economics , 20 (1), 8-11.

Magsaysay, J. F., & Hechanova, M. R. (2017). Building an Implicit Change Leadership Theory.
Leadership & Organization Development Journal , 38 (6), 834-848.

Popa, E.-I. (2017). The Manager – Key Element In The Process Of Change. Annals of the
University of Petroş ani. Economics , 17, 251-262.

Rao, M. (2014). Cultivating Openness to Change in Multicultural Organizations: Assessing the

Value of Appreciative Discourse. Organization Development Journal , 32 (3), 75-88.