Challenging Resistance to Change

Challenging Resistance to Change The consistently most challenging aspect of any new initiative in a company is managing change at the strategic, process and most important, people level. If there is only a single initiative a company can undertake in a year, the most important is galvanizing the role of employees to the vision, mission and objectives of the company they work for. The most effective change management processes are predicated on having change processes that have a direct, related impact on organizational performance (Pettigrew, Woodman, Cameron, 2001).

Included in this requirement is the need for leaders to personalize change management strategies so they provide employees with motivation to change over the long-term (Dent, Goldberg, 1999). Specific Guidance for Change Management Strategies The foundation for ensuring a high level congruence between performance improvement programs that center on greater ownership of outcomes on the part of employees on the one hand, and greater definition of goals that allow that ownership are critical for future enterprise growth. The many contributions of Dr.

Kurt Lewin in the areas of resistance to change illustrate that only through change management programs aligned to employee and group performance that provide ample opportunities for task add role ownership can employees have a solid foundation to grow on from a change management standpoint (Pettigrew, Woodman, Cameron, 2001). Creating an effective change management program, according to Lewin, must begin with a strong sense of purpose infused not just at the individual but at the group level as well (Pettigrew, Woodman, Cameron, 2001).

With this construct in mind, Lewin continues his allegorical references to the defining of production levels as a balance between forces pushing production up (consumer demand and production efficiency) relative to forces that push production down (Pettigrew, Woodman, Cameron, 2001). This delineation of productivity is central to Lewin's analysis, and indicates how a change management in any enterprise needs to be completed.

Consistent with this approach to defining a framework for change management is the need for providing a catalyst for each employee to have greater ownership of their roles, and a galvanizing reason to become entirely committed to the vision of the business. Dent and Goldberg's analysis supports a performance achievement program based on greater ownership of outcomes than demanding strict adherence and conformity to standards (Dent, Goldberg, 1999).

Both studies show that transactional and authoritarian approach to improving performance is limited in effectiveness and doesn't deliver lasting change within employee's mindsets and values (Dent, Goldberg, 1999) (Pettigrew, Woodman, Cameron, 2001). Suggested Performance Improvement Program Creating individual performance programs that give each employee a foundation of autonomy, mastery and purpose in their roles will be a powerful catalyst for changing the long-term performance of the company. Autonomy can be achieved by focusing on delegating decisions down into the organization, and providing managers with skills training to accomplish this.

Mastery of skills can be accomplished by creating an effective training program and being very explicit about its role in creating the triad of autonomy, mastery and purpose as a motivating foundation for performance improvement. Purpose is the most critical of all these three attributes and aligns with the specific findings and observations of Lewin in the context of organizational.