Choosing Strategies for Change based on HBR case by John P. Kotter and Leonard A. Schlesinger. TUSSLE BETWEEN CHANGE INITIATOR AND RESISTORS.

1. Group-1:
Ashish Rawat
Harish Kumar
Ram Babu Jatav
Shubha N Bhambhani
PPM – MDI , GURGAON
Choosing
strategies for
change

2. Background
 Organization faces environmental change viz.
 new govt. regulations
 new products, growth,
 increased competition
 technological developments
 changing workforce
 Serious management issue- Ability of organization to respond to
change
 Reorganization is feared because
 disturbance of status quo ,
 people’s vested interests in their jobs
 an upset to established ways of doing things.
 Demand is for moderate organizational change at least once a
year , major change every five year
 Managers must deal with Change

3. Main issues in Article
 Causes for resistance to change
 Systematic way to
◦ select a strategy and
◦ set of specific approaches for
implementing an organizational
change effort

4. Causes for
resistance to
change

5. Diagnosing Resistance
 Organizational change efforts face human resistance
 Managers often apply a simple set of beliefs
 Change initiatives often backfire because
managers apply one-size-fits-all approaches.
 To lead change
◦ Need is to tailor the strategies to types of resistance
◦ Consider situational factors
 Individuals or groups can react very differently to
change – from passively resisting , to aggressively
trying to undermine
 Assessment need- who might resist the change
initiative and for what reasons

6. Why People Resist Change
1. Desire not to lose something of value
2. Misunderstanding of change and its
implications
3. A belief that the change does not make
sense for the organization.
4. A low tolerance for change.

7. Parochial self-interest
 People focus on their own best interests
 Not on those of the total organization
resistance
 This results in “politics” or “political
behavior”
 e. g. Performance appraisal change
would alter their relationships from a
peer to more of a boss and evaluator

8. Misunderstanding and lack of trust
 People resist change when they do not understand
its implications and
 Perceive that it might cost them more
 Such situations -trust is lacking between employees
and managers
 It lead to resistance, unless managers
◦ surface misunderstandings
◦ clarify them rapidly
Resistance
 can easily catch change initiators by surprise
 if they assume that people only resist change when it
is not in their best interest.

9. Different assessments
 people resist change as they assess the situation
differently from managers
 Managers often assume both
◦ they have all the relevant information required for
organization analysis
◦ those who will be affected have the same facts
 neither assumption is correct
 difference in information leads to differences in
 analyses,
 Which in turn can lead to resistance
 And if the analysis made by those not initiating the change
is more accurate than that derived by the initiators,
resistance is obviously “good” for the organization
 some managers assume that resistance is always bad and
therefore always fight it

10. Low tolerance for change
 People resist change - they fear they will not be able to develop
new skills and behavior that will be required of them
 Organizational change can require people to change too much,
too quickly
 Peter F. Drucker –major obstacle to organizational growth is
◦ managers’ inability to change their attitudes and behavior
◦ as rapidly as their organizations require
 Managers intellectually understand need for changes but are
emotionally unable to make the transition
 People also sometimes resist
◦ to save their previous beliefs
◦ because of peer group pressure or because of a supervisor’s
attitude

11. Dealing with
resistance

12. Education and communication
 Most common ways to overcome resistance to change
◦ to educate people about it beforehand
◦ Communication of ideas - help people see the need
for and the logic of a change
 Education process involve one-on-one discussions,
presentations to groups, reports etc
 An education and communication program is ideal
when resistance is based on inadequate or inaccurate
information and analysis
 This requires a good relationship between initiators
and
 It also requires time and effort

13. Participation and involvement
 involve the potential resisters in design
and implementation of change
 With a participative change effort, the
initiators
◦ listen to the people and
◦ use their advice
 Research has demonstrated that
◦ participation leads to commitment,
◦ not merely compliance

14. Facilitation and support
 Managers can deal with potential resistance to
change is by being supportive.
 This process might include-
◦ providing training in new skills,
◦ giving employees time off after a demanding period,
◦ listening and providing emotional support.
 Helpful when fear and anxiety lie at the heart of
resistance.
 Managers often overlook or ignore this kind of
resistance,
 Drawback – time consuming & expensive and
still fail.
 Not very practical- If time, money, & patience
not available

15. Negotiation and agreement.
 Offer incentives to active or potential
resisters.
 e.g. management could give
◦ A union a higher wage rate in returnfor a work
rule change;
◦ increase an individual’s pension benefits in return
for an early retirement.
 Most appropriate when someone is going to
lose out as a result of a change and yet his or
her power to resist is significant.
 Easy way to avoid major resistance
 Drawbacks-
◦ May become expensive.
◦ Possibility of blackmail

16. Manipulation and co-optation
 Managers also resort to covert attempts to
influence others
 Manipulation involves the very selective use of
information and the conscious structuring of
events
 One common form of manipulation is co-
optation.
 Co-opting an individual / leader of a group
usually involves giving him or her a desirable
role in the design or implementation of the
change.
 Different from participation, initiators do not want
the advice of the co-opted, and only looks for
endorsement
 Advantage – relatively quick and inexpensive
solution
 Drawbacks – Can lead to future problems if

17. Explicit and implicit coercion.
 Force people to accept a change by
threatening them
◦ with the loss of jobs,
◦ promotion possibilities
◦ Firing them
◦ transferring them and so on
 Coercion is a risky process because people
strongly resent forced change.
 Suitable when speed is essential ,
change initiator possess considerable
power
 Can overcome any type of resistance

18. Choice of Strategy
 Managers explicitly or implicitly make strategic choices
regarding the
◦ speed of the effort,
◦ the amount of preplanning
◦ the involvement of others
 Strategic options available can be understood using
continuum :
◦ Faster Change Process : A very rapid implementation, a clear
plan of action, and little involvement of others. This type of
strategy mows over any resistance and, at the extreme, would
result in a fait accomplice.
◦ Slower Change Process : A less clear plan, and involvement
on the part of many people other than the change initiators.
This type of strategy is designed to reduce resistance to a
minimum.
 Which strategy and where one should remain on continuum
depends on situational factors.

19. Choice of strategy

20. Situational factors
 The amount and kind of resistance that is
anticipated
◦ Greater the anticipated resistance – right on
continuum
 The position of the initiator vis-à-vis the
resisters, especially with regard to power
◦ Stronger initiator - left on continuum
 The person who has the relevant data for
designing the change and the energy for
implementing it
◦ Inadequate information with initiator – right on
continuum
 The stakes involved

21. Operating choice on continuum
 Best way to select a point as far to the
right as possible for both economic and
social reasons.
◦ Forcing change on people can have just too
many negative side effects over both the short
and the long term.
◦ Change efforts using the strategies on the
right of the continuum can often help develop
an organization and its people in useful ways

22. Implications for managers.
A manager can improve his chance of success in
an organizational change effort by:
1. Conducting an organizational analysis that
identifies the current situation, problems, and
the forces that are possible causes of those
problems.
2. Conducting an analysis of factors relevant to
producing the needed changes –
i. Who might resist the change, why, and how much;
ii. who has information that is needed to design the
change,
iii. whose cooperation is essential in implementing it;
iv. what is the position of the initiator vis-à-vis other in

23. Implications for managers
( Contd..)
3. Selecting a change strategy, based on
the previous analysis, that specific the
speed of change, the amount of
preplanning, and the degree of
involvement of others.
4. Monitoring the implementation process.
To identify the unexpected in a timely
fashion and react to it intelligently.

24. THANKS