Manage HR Magazine | Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Employees will hesitate to change if predisposed to disapprove or reject it. Organizations may increase the likelihood that their transformation projects will be successful by comprehending what motivates and modifies change aversion.
Fremont, CA: Employees will be hesitant to change if they are predisposed to disapprove or reject it. Organizations may increase the likelihood that their transformation projects will be successful by comprehending what motivates and modifies change aversion.
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Recent research has classified factors that impact change as those specific to the change initiative and those specific to the individual. This article enlists the three factors particular to the individual regarding resistance to change.
Connection to Emotional Needs
People are less responsive to change when it has an emotional impact on them, such as by causing work relationships to suffer, than when it has a functional effect, such as adding a new task to their daily routine.
According to the study, the CEO respondents were more inclined to choose a cost-saving program than the advisor respondents when deciding whether to undertake layoffs in a challenging business environment.
The latter groups' proximity to those impacted made them hesitant.
Complexity of an Individual’s Circumstances
People have variable levels of "change insurance," which refers to their ability to adapt. People's attitudes about their professional and personal differences positively correlate with their sense of having adequate "insurance" to manage daily obligations.
An excellent example of this is the COVID-19 remote work shift. Senior staff employees may have previously had home offices or a room to set one up. Compare this to junior employees living with roommates or parents who unexpectedly had to balance working from home and their children's online education. Employees who appear to be relatively similar often have different variables that affect how they manage change.
Employee’s Level of Agency in Making or Deciding on Change
An employer-imposed modification was more likely to elicit negative responses from respondents than a change that the person made on their own.
People have long believed that individuals are more reluctant to change when they have less agency. Change management practitioners have yet to adopt the notion of welcoming change.
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