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  • Essay / Employee Resistance to Organizational Change: A Case Study of Telenor

    Table of ContentsWhy We Need Organizational ChangesWhy Is There Resistance to Change?Causes of Resistance to ChangeA Change Resistance Solution organizationalThe purpose of this article is to explore the issues of Organizational Change in TELENOR. Organizations often need to introduce changes in anticipation of future problems. Although a change process can be vital, there will often be resistance to change processes from individuals and organizations. Although resistance to change is common, change initiators usually do not consider managing it effectively to make their efforts a success. Poorly managed resistance can destroy an organization. Accordingly, this study aimed to explore the nature of resistance when implementing strategic level change in TELENOR construction organizations. A case study approach was used to investigate the research question. A construction organization that had recently implemented changes at a strategic level was selected to study the nature of resistance. Data collection techniques were in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Primary data were analyzed using content analysis and cognitive mapping techniques. The results of the case study revealed significant reasons for resistance to change in construction organizations and how these were addressed in the case study organization. The results and conclusions reported in this study will enable construction organizations to understand the nature of resistance and manage it effectively for successful implementation of strategic change.[1]Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Managing resistance to change is an important part of the success of all change efforts in every business. Dealing with resistance will largely depend on your ability to recognize the true sources or causes of resistance to change. Organizational change is an act of transforming or modifying something in your organizational system. The main objective of this activity is to improve the performance of your business. You cannot find a person who would want to implement a change if this change process brings results with which the organization will deteriorate or if there will be no improvement. Why we need organizational changes An organization, company or business interacts with its environment. Every environmental change will affect the work and performance of the organization, and hence it will have to adapt to the changes in the environment. Thus, organizational change is the activity of differentiating or modifying the organization with the primary aim of bringing about improvements in overall business processes and bringing about adaptation with respect to ongoing changes in the environment. [3]Why is there resistance to change? When we talk about organizational change, we must mention that this process is not just a journey from one stage to another. You will have to overcome many obstacles if you want to succeed in your intentions to improve your business. One of the biggest obstacles is resistance to change, which is an integral part of any change process. Managers will need to be aware that there will always be people in theirorganization that will resist the proposed changes. For this reason, the efficiency and effectiveness of the change process will be directly related to resistance to change and the successful management of resistance to change. The practice of managing resistance to change recognizes four types of people with respect to their responses to change. So, we can have: People who will initiate the change process. People who will accept the proposed change. People who will be indifferent to the proposed change. People who will not accept the proposed change. People who will not fall into any of the categories mentioned above are more likely to be resistant to proposed changes [2] Causes of Resistance to Change It is more likely that managers will resist changes that will diminish their power and transfer it to their subordinates. In this way, the threat of power is one of the causes of resistance to change; the threat of power at the organizational level. With the process of change, certain groups, departments or sectors of the organization become more powerful. For this reason, some people will oppose such a proposal or processes, which will cause them to lose their organizational power; Losing control of employees. The change process can sometimes reduce the level of control that managers can exercise. In this way, managers can resist proposed changes if the change process requires a reduction in their power of control; Increase employee control. Organizational changes can increase managerial control over employees and this process can cause employees to become resistant to such change proposals; Economic factors. Organizational changes can sometimes be perceived from the employee's side simply as something that will decrease or increase their salary or other economic privileges that certain workplaces provide to them at the time before the change process is implemented. It is normal to expect that people who feel they are losing part of their salary will resist change. Image, prestige and reputation. Every workplace brings adequate image, prestige and reputation which is important to all employees. Organizational changes can result in a dramatic change in benefits for these employees. If this is the case with the proposed change, dissatisfaction will result. Thus, image, prestige and reputation are one of the causes of resistance to change; the threat of comfort. Organizational changes often cause personal discomfort and make the employee's life more difficult. They move from the comfort of the status quo to the discomfort of the new situation. Employees have the skills to perform an old job without paying special attention to completing the task. Each new task requires forgetting old ways of working and learning new things which waste energy and cause dissatisfaction; [4]. Job security. Organizational change can eliminate certain workplaces, lead to technological excesses, layoffs, etc. Job security is simply one of the causes of resistance to change; reallocation of resources. With organizational changes, some groups, departments, or areas of the organization may receive more resources while others will lose resources. This will therefore lead to resistance from individuals, groups or departments who will lose part of their currently available resources. Already gained the interest ofcertain groups organized in the company. Organizational change can make new groups more important to the success of the organization. This is a big threat to old coalitions that will cause resistance to change in groups that will become more insignificant with the proposals; Implications for personal projects. Organizational change may halt other plans, projects or other personal or family activities. In this way, it becomes one of the causes of resistance to change for the people who will be affected by this change; Too much dependence on others. In an organization, there are employees who are too dependent on other individuals. This dependence is based on the current support they receive from powerful individuals. If the process of change involves the threat of this dependency, it will provoke resistance to change from those who will be threatened by this change; Lack of understanding of the process. Organizational individuals generally resist change when they do not understand the true purpose of the proposed changes. When employees don't understand the process, they usually assume something bad. This will lead to resistance to change; a distrust of the initiators of change. When employees do not trust the process initiators, the process will not be accepted and this will cause resistance to change; Different evaluation and perception. Different evaluations and perceptions can affect organizational changes if some people view the proposed changes as a bad idea. This is why they are resisting the proposed changes. Fear of the unknown. In many cases, organizational change brings uncertainty and a certain amount of fear. It's normal for people to feel fear of uncertainty. When employees feel uncertainty in a transformation process, they think that the changes are something dangerous. This uncertainty encourages organizational members to resist the proposed change; the habits of the members of the organization. Employee work is largely based on habits, and work tasks are performed in a certain way based on those habits. Organizational changes require changes in these habits and, therefore, dissatisfaction with these proposals. Previous experience. All employees already have some experience of a previous organizational change process. So they know that this process is not easy. This experience will simply tell them that most change processes carried out in the past have been a failure. This can therefore cause resistance to change; The threat to interpersonal relationships. Employees are often friends with each other and maintain strong social and interpersonal relationships inside and outside the organization. If an organizational change process can be seen as a threat to these powerful social networks of the organization, affected employees will resist this change. The weakness of the proposed changes. Sometimes the proposed change may have a weakness that can be recognized by employees. Thus, these employees will resist implementing the process until these weaknesses are removed or resolved. Limited resources. A normal problem in any organization is having limited resources. When resources are limited and proposed organizational changes threaten those resources, resistance to change is more likely to occur; bureaucratic inertia. Each organization has its own).