A Contrarian View of Employee Resistance to Change

by Cheryl Lampshire

Resistance to change is a natural outcome of the change process manifested in a variety of ways, ranging from passive resistance to open conflict and from decreasing work performance to employee absenteeism and turnover. Change must take place to allow organizations to adapt to their environment in order to remain competitive, and successful adaptation necessitates the willingness of its members to support change efforts. However, change disrupts normal patterns of organizational behavior and processes, requiring organizational actors to develop new patterns that can be ambiguous; in simple terms, change imposes extra work on change recipients. These individuals may be unsure as to how change will impact their position at work or if it will conflict with personal values and goals, threatening their personal safety and creating stress and resistance.