Resistance to Change – some perceptions

Resistance to Change – some perceptions

“Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything.” Said George Bernard Shaw, the noted novelist. Every thing changes except change is the common statement which all of us understand. If change has been the order of the day from time immemorial, why should we feel concerned about changes happening now? Can’t we take them in a right perspective as we had been doing in the past?

The problem is not the change by itself, but the speed of change is what causes stress. This century has witnessed an unimaginable thrust on innovation and creativity which has led to doubling the speed of production as against the speed of consumption. In simple terms, the speed of change is a cause for speedy irrelevance of our knowledge and skills.  Rick Wessen said “Irrelevance happens when the speed of change outside an organization is faster than the speed of change inside the organization.” Hence coping with change is indeed a basic requirement for growth and development. But a number of people do not accept change voluntarily, but find themselves forced to be a part of change oftentimes unwillingly. They also tend to show resistance to change in one way or the other.

Here are a few common trends:

1.      Ranga is a senior official in the accounts department of an organization. He is nearly and is proud of his long association with the organization. He has a strong self-esteem and believes than he knows the job quite well and the growth of the organization inch by inch. But he is not comfortable with technology and recent changes that have been ushered in. When advised by his own boss, he replies “Sir, I am already 52 and how do you expect me to learn all these things at this stage of life. A couple of years more and I will move on. It is ok for the youngsters who will carry the organization to the future.” His strong feeling that he is incapable of learning is the real roadblock and he is a typical example of “Learned Helplessness.”
 2.      Madhavan Kutty is the leader of the union in the manufacturing company. He not only let’s change happen but encourage others to resist change. “All these changes will affect both the workers’ profile and their future growth. The contract the company has executed with us during our appointment has no such class that we should be forced to accept changes.” In fact, he knows pretty well that legally he is not on sound footing, but his fear for further learning and “all is well” syndrome is the great inhibition to accept the change.
 3.      Joseph is always a willing worker. He is part of the design time in the automobile industry. When his boss called him and said “Joseph, we are planning for a grassroot change in our approach to the design processes using an alternate technology and software and we would indeed by happy if you can take up the training and lead the change.” Joseph was internally happy, but said “Sir, the current technologies are good enough. With this itself, we are exceeding the targets. Why unnecessarily move for a change?” When the boss explained to him the increasing irrelevance of the existing technologies, Joseph smiled and said “Any chance of a promotion or increment or some allowance along with this new learning and change, sir?” His boss was stunned. Joseph belongs to the category of people “What will I get with all these things?” He doesn’t enjoy further learning unless it is accompanied with a reward.
 4.      Smriti is part of the quality audit team of the organization. She is meticulous about her work and sticks to schedules and delivery mechanisms as expected of a quality auditor. But she is a conservative, lacks flexibility and shows withdrawal symptoms to new ideas – A typical programmed learner and performer. When her colleagues discussed with her about the possible changes the company is planning to usher in, she reacted with reservation. “Ok. let the company experiment. But so far as I am concerned, I will not be the first person to do this. Let me see how it impacts others work. I will introduce only after I see its initial impact.” She is always fearful about the outcomes and hence wants to play a safe game.
Resistance to change comes in several formats and in several stages.

Some belong to the category: “I can’t.”A few others to the group: “I won’t.”Some others to the group: “I am afraid.”And of course, a number of them to the category: “What will I get?”Lastly, some of them “Let me see how it goes and then I will…” In most cases, people don’t realize that changes don’t wait for an opinion poll or referendum of an organization. They happen because they are precursors for the future of the company. They walk in because you are a part of the fast-changing learning universe and hence if you don’t accept, you will become an outlaw of the operational universe.  John Chambers, the Chairman of CISCO once remarked “The Big won’t beat the small, the fast will beat the slow”. It is time to train the people to examine their own learning curves periodically to find whether they are relevant where they exist.

Leading a change appears to be more contextual in the current working environment. If not, we should at least be able to adopt and accept changes.