Three Sources for Resistance, Most Useful Activity

At the organizational level, resistance to change can come from three sources. Technical resistance comes from the habit of following common procedures and the consideration of sunk costs invested in the status quo. Political resistance arise when organizational changes threaten powerful stakeholders, such as top executives or staff personnel, or call into question the past decisions of leaders (Cummings & Worley, 2015). Cultural resistance takes the form of systems and procedures at reinforce the status quo, promoting conformity to existing values, norms, and assumptions about how things should operate. There are three major strategies for dealing with resistance to change (Cummings & Worley, 2015):

(1) Empathy and support – This strategy is the first step in overcoming resistance is learning how people are experiencing change.
(2) Communication – People resist change when they are uncertain about changes and their likely results can reduce this speculation and allay unfounded fears.
(3) Participation and involvement – This is the most effective strategies for overcoming resistance is to involve organization members directly in planning and implementing change.

Which strategy is often overlooked? What is the impact when you overlook that.

Respond with a 100 word paragraph.

This chapter describes five kinds of activities that change agents must carry out when planning and implementing changes. The first activity is motivating change, which involves creating a readiness for change among organization members and overcoming their resistance (Cummings & Worley, 2015). The second activity concerns creating a vision that builds on an organization’s core ideology. The core ideology and envisioned future articulate a compelling reason for implementing change. The third task for change agents is developing political support for the changes (Cummings & Worley, 2015). Change agents first must assess their own sources of power, then identify key stakeholders whose support is needed for change and devise strategies for gaining their support. The fourth activity concerns managing the transition of the organization from its current state to the desired future state (Cummings & Worley, 2015). This requires planning a road map for the change activities, as well as planning how to gain commitment for the changes. The fifth change task is sustaining momentum for the changes so that they are carried to completion (Cummings & Worley, 2015).

After spending two-weeks with this chapter, which activity did you find most useful? Most challenging? Why?

Respond with 100 word Paragraph