Resistance to Change

There are any number of reasons for resistance to change in an organization, among them poor communication, self-interest, exclusion, lack of trust and lack of skills (Brookins, 2017). Sometimes change is resisted specifically because the organization does not communicate the need for change effectively -- the people see the disruptive aspects of change but they don't understand the motivation behind the change nor the objectives of the change. In such situations, they may resist, but had the communication surrounding the change been better might not have resisted.

However, not all change is positive from the perspective of all people. What business executives and managers see as positive might be negative, and in such cases resistance can be entirely legitimate in nature. If people are losing their jobs, or if their roles shift to the point where they feel that they no longer have the right skill set for the work that they are being asked to do, they might resist. This is often tied to self-interest, because the change is negative for that particular individual or group of individuals. In a company like FedEx, which is generally stable, roles tend not to change much, so there is definitely risk that change can bring about these types of negative responses.

Three Potential Causes of Resistance

The change plan that I wish to enact will focus on making FedEx more proactive, and it will ultimately lead us towards the future. This is likely to meet resistance on a few fronts. First, the organization has been fairly hierarchical in terms of its power structure, owing to Fred Smith's background in the Marines. Shifting away from that will reduce the power of certain individuals, whose power to this point was largely based on tenure. I want to provide opportunities for talent to rise on the basis more of merit than the basis of time served. Resistance will come from those who will lose power under the new plan. This is more likely at the managerial levels, which is critical because those are the people who need to implement the changes.

Another cause for resistance will be that my change plan demands a higher level of personal responsibility. My perception is that there are many people within...
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Performance measure are largely based on historical precedent, which means people only need to perform to the level of their past performance. But such an approach does not drive excellence. By implementing more proactive performance measures, I believe that the organization will be better equipped going forward to meet the challenges of the future. But part of the plan is specifically to identify underperformers and either raise their level or to encourage them to move on. That is going to upset many people, especially those who have grown accustomed to poor habits, and those whose skill set is ill-suited to the performance level being asked of them.
A final cause for resistance will come from the fact that the change is really seen as something that has no motivation. This is where communication will be important. I am envisioning a change that is proactive. Most people really only see the need for change when there is a crisis, when something isn't working. My intent is to start to change the mindset of the organization with respect to change, so that proactive change is the norm. FedEx has historically been somewhat reactive to change, for example responding to economic shifts with restructuring, but the objective now is to make FedEx more proactive in terms of strategy, and repositioning the organization to take on this mindset.

Minimizing Resistance

There are a few things that can be done to minimize the resistance. The first thing is to communicate the change effectively. The communication should be personal if possible -- for example the CEO would deliver a presentation or video for the company. Most communication to the workforce flows through regional or station managers, so communication from Memphis would convey quite clearly the importance of the change, because such direct communication from the top is rare in FedEx.

There are good reasons for the change, but not everybody is going to understand those reasons inherently, so the entire thought process should be laid out, in simple terms, so that everybody understands why the change is happening. This is a way of getting the organization used to the idea that change is coming. The communication plan, however, has to be…