B102 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

BEAUTY SPA
OB09 6TH PRESENTATION
 Learning Outcomes

• Examine how and why people might resist organisational

changes.

• Propose strategies to strengthen driving forces and

weaken restraining forces of change.

• Propose strategies to freeze new behaviours in order to

maintain change effort.
 Reason for this Problem
Working with People to Get Things Done

Managing Individuals - Job Performance, Satisfaction and Involvement

Managing Interpersonal Processes - Interaction With & Influence Over Others

Judgments and Decisions Interactions Influence

Perception Conflicts Change
Decision-Making Negotiation
Power
For the Workplace: Politics
Enables you to :-
• Understand why changes occurs at workplace Immediate Benefit:
due to both internal and external factors and
come up with ways to cope with the changes Appreciate why changes occurs
• Devise strategies to change behaviours and around on a daily basis – expected or
refreeze behaviours that are desirable unexpected
 Problem Analysis
Resistance to change as highlighted in the comments.
E.g.:
 “ .. she thinks she knows better - making changes anyhow!”
 “ … now, we become apprentices (and to these kids)?”
 “ … Will I lose my job then?”
 “ …Yvonne does not seem to follow (our rule)”
 “ … feel so stressed ... can’t we do what we normally do?”
Restraining  “ … I cannot cope with all the new procedures.”
Forces  “ … lose out on my commissions if I follow procedures”

Driving • Business has been steadily declining

Forces • Demand for beauty care is expected to grow to $100m
• Competition will be stronger through innovative
technology and services
• Customers are becoming more sophisticated
• Yvonne wants to attract new Teams of customers
 Change Management in a
Nutshell
Initial State Introduction of Change

Change Change needs

current Suggested
stable reinforcing,
situation if not …

Step 1: Unfreeze Step 3: Refreeze

Lewin’s
Change • Strengthen Driving Step 2: Change • Reinforce change
Management Forces • Implement change
Model • Reduce Restraining activities
Forces
Change Suggested:
Revamp Services
(bringing in the latest technology
to expand services or phasing out
non-popular ones)
 Unfreeze - Strengthen Driving
Forces
o To get staff committed to revamp of services, Yvonne needs to
communicate why these changes are needed immediately (i.e.
urgency for change) by:

• Providing sales data to show that business has been declining over the
years despite loyal customers.
 Decrease in customers is a sign of them becoming more sophisticated
and going to other salons for services.
 Salon could possibly go out of business and staff might lose their jobs.

• Asking staff to visit competitors to see the services these salons provide
so that they are more aware of their business environment.
 New technologies and services are available from competitors  need
to keep up to remain relevant.
 Customers have higher expectations  need to meet these to attract
new customer Teams such as teenagers or men and retain old ones.
 Unfreeze - Strengthen Driving
Forces
o To get staff committed to revamp of services, Yvonne needs to
communicate why these changes are needed immediately (i.e.
urgency for change) by:

• Keeping staff updated on the future of the salon industry.

 Demand for beauty care expected to grow to $100m over next 5 years
 changes needed to capitalise on this growth and not lose out on the
opportunity  better salary and bonuses for staff.

• Sharing with staff frequently on her vision for the salon (with them as
part of this vision).
 New technologies or services + professional service processes  image
of salon improved amongst potential new customers  better business
 better salary and bonuses for staff.
 Spread her excitement about rosy future for the salon to the staff  get
them to feel more positive about the outcome of the changes.
Common Sources of Resistance

Losing something of value after change -

Direct Costs income, status, control of resources, etc.

Loss of Face Accepting change acknowledges own

(Saving Face) imperfections or past wrongdoing

Concern about being unable to adjust or

Fear of the Unknown risk of uncertainty

Past practices/habits are valued due to

Breaking Routines comfort or lower effort needed

Incongruent Team Current norms are contrary to desired

Dynamics change

Incongruent Career, reward, power, communication

Organizational Systems systems reinforce status quo
 Unfreeze - Analyse Restraining
Forces
“We helped Mrs Sim build up this  Issue with
salon business … left most Yvonne acting
as if she knows
decisions to us ... she thinks she better
knows better … !”
 Loss of status
“We are seniors … now, we become
apprentices (and to these kids)?”
 Anxiety over
“… what happens if the treatments I ability to cope
provide are phased out? I don’t know  Uncertainty of
if I can learn to use all these change
complicated machines? …?”
 Yvonne’s
“Here, we follow one important rule … behaviour not
congruent with
Yvonne does not seem to follow this
norms
…”
 Strategies to Weaken Resistance

• Highest priority and first strategy for

Communication change
• Reduces uncertainty (fear of unknown)
Learning • Problems -- time consuming and costly

Involvement

Stress Mgt

Negotiation

Coercion
 Strategies to Weaken Resistance

• Provides new knowledge/skills

Communication • Includes coaching and other forms of
learning
Learning • Helps break old routines and adopt new
roles
• Problems -- potentially time consuming and
Involvement costly

Stress Mgt

Negotiation

Coercion
 Strategies to Weaken Resistance

Communication
• Employees participate in change process
Learning • Helps saving face and reducing fear of
unknown
• Includes task forces, future search events
Involvement • Problems -- time-consuming, may lead to
poor decisions or conflict if staff interests
are not compatible with organisation’s.
Stress Mgt

Negotiation

Coercion
 Strategies to Weaken Resistance

Communication
• When communication, learning, and
Learning involvement are not enough to minimise
stress
• Potential benefits:
Involvement • More motivation to change
• Less fear of unknown
Stress Mgt • Fewer direct costs
• Problems -- time-consuming, expensive,
doesn’t help everyone
Negotiation

Coercion
 Strategies to Weaken Resistance

Communication

Learning
• Influence by exchange -- reduces direct
costs
Involvement • May be necessary when people clearly
lose something and won’t otherwise
support change
Stress Mgt
• Problems
• Expensive
Negotiation • Gains compliance, not commitment

Coercion
 Strategies to Weaken Resistance

Communication

Learning

Involvement

• When all else fails

Stress Mgt • Assertive influence
• Radical form of “unlearning”
Negotiation • Problems
• Reduces trust
• May create more subtle resistance
Coercion
• Encourage politics to protect job
 Unfreeze - Weaken Restraining
Forces
o Yvonne can weaken the restraining force by addressing the root
cause of the resistance to change.

• Involvement  Ask staff for opinions on what they would

like to change and how new technologies/services/ideas
can be introduced to improve business

• Negotiate  Perhaps an incentive system to recognise

the staff for their experience and relationship with current
customers (address loss of status).

• Communication  Keep staff informed about plans early.

• Involvement  Invite them for meetings to plan out how
the changes are to be implemented.
• Learning  Inform staff of the courses that they would be
put through training to ensure that they can manage the
new technology and services.
• Learning  Provide exposure for the staff to understand
the need to be dynamic and embrace change
New
Resistances:
Adoption of
Procedures
 Refreeze - Analyse Restraining
Forces
o Resistance can occur even after strategies such as communication
and learning have been implemented to manage change.

“She came up with such detailed  Stress / tiredness

procedures ... very tiring … feel from using new
so stressed …” procedure

“I am not used to the way she wants  Inability to

us to do the facials. I feel that I cope
cannot cope …”

“The new procedures take so much  Commission vs.

time … lose out on my commissions taking time with
… I cannot move to the next each customer
customer …”
 Refreeze - Reinforce Change

o Yvonne can weaken the resistance to change by addressing root

cause of the resistance and reinforcing change.

• Stress Management  Teach staff stress management

techniques to handle stress related to learning the new
procedures.
• Learning  Give continuous coaching and counselling to
the staff until they are proficient in the procedures.
• Learning  Develop clear procedure manuals so that
staff have some guidance and reference when Yvonne
is unavailable to coach.

• Institutionalise new systems and processes  Reward the

staff based on customer compliments (one of the criteria
for bonus) or additional commission for request (i.e. if the
staff provided good service, the customer can request for
the same staff the next time they visit and the staff will get
additional commission  provides incentive to spend time
with each client and provide excellent service).
 Conclusion
o To get staff committed to the revamp of services (bringing in
the latest technology to expand services or phasing out non-
popular ones), Yvonne should communicate why these
changes are now needed to the staff (i.e. create urgency for
change).

o Yvonne needs to analyse the reasons why staff might be

resisting the changes and weaken the restraining force by
addressing the root cause of the resistance to change.

o She should refreeze the desired behaviour (such as following

the standard procedures) to ensure that staff continue with
these behaviours in their daily business.
Extended Learning A
How Resistance is Demonstrated

• Leaving the situation

Exit • Quitting, transferring
• Changing the situation
• Problem solving,
Voice complaining and suggests
changes
• Patiently waiting for the
Loyalty situation to improve

• Reducing work
Neglect effort/quality
• Increasing absenteeism
 Concept Diagram
Sources Strategies

Communication
Learning
Change

Involvement
Restraining
Forces Stress Mgt
Negotiation
Coercion

Driving
Communicate urgency for change
Forces

Reinforce Change
 References
Textbooks

• McShane, S. L. & Von Glinow, M. A. (2009). Organizational behavior: [essentials]

(2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

• McShane, S. L. & Von Glinow, M. A. (2010). Organizational behaviour: Emerging

knowledge and practice for the real world (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Website

• Force Field Analysis. (2014). Retrieved Mar 28, 2014 from the Accel-Team
website: http://www.accel-team.com/techniques/force_field_analysis.html.

• Force Field Analysis. (2014). Retrieved Mar 28, 2014 from the Mind Tools website:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_06.htm.
 After Class Activities

Daily Activity (by 2359hrs today)

• Complete the quiz as well as peer and self-evaluations.
• Complete your Reflection Journal .

End-of-Week Activity
• Review the 6th Presentation slides.
• Read the materials given in the Resources (compulsory
reading).

Preparation for Next Week

• Do the pre-class work for Week 10 (compulsory).