Why some people are so resistant to change? (nº 3)

Introduction 

In this frenzy of information I'm reading and analysing to write on issues related to the improvement of Organizations, I found some interesting data about resistance to change.

This subject interests me since late last year, when I had the chance to meet Pedro Pablo Ramos and I read his book "Network Models for Organizations".

Law of gravity in pyramidal Organizations 

Early in the book Pedro Pablo speaks of the "law of gravity" in the pyramidal Organization changes, and he describes the following steps: 

phenomenon of pyramidal organizational change

As Pedro Pablo describes in his book (following text is my translation from Spanish version of the book, not a faithful transcription of the English version of the book):

0. - Decision of change. Nothing moves.
1. - Effort to push change from top management. Inclusion of some agent in the middle decision making level.
2. - Law of gravity. Appearance of resistance. If this point is not exceeded, vaccination of the Company before the next change. Resistance has been strengthened.
3. - Strong investment in the change effort. Normally by overexertion of some key people who put all their passion and work on it (in some cases even their health...).
4. - Change is possible ... unless ...
5. - The change begins to take effect. Exceeded the breakeven point change is achieved.
6. - See you for next change!  

Another approach to the reasons for the resistance to change 

In the "Modelos Mentales" book, written by Zuleidy Padrón, Sureyi Rengifo, Vanessa Hernández and Ismailer Quiaro in 2009, there is also a reference to this subject in one of its chapters. 

According to them, there are three different levels motivating the resistance to change.

- lack of knowledge

- lack of capacity
- lack of will

pyramid of resilience to change

"At the base of the pyramid we find people who do not know enough about the change, they tend to delay it. This ignorance is often caused by: 

. The lack of communication about the proposed change. Overall people resist any kind of change without knowing what it is, why it has to be done and what is its impact on personal terms. 

. The change overly biased. Many times people judge negatively change exclusively by what happens in their sphere of influence (its working group, its industry, its management), without considering the overall benefits obtained by the company as a whole.  

If people have enough information about the change, may offer some resistance simply because they perceive that they can not change. It happens that they feel constrained by the organization, do not know how to do what they have to or do not have the skills required by the new situation. Some factors contributing to this are:

. The type of organizational culture that punishes excessively error.

. The lack of individual capacity, which limits the individual actions.

. Difficulties for teamwork, necessary to review the whole scheme of interactions proposed by the change.

 

. The perceived lack of resources, either financial or human ones.

. The feeling that real change can not occur. Change agents perceive they are bound hand and foot to face real necessary initiatives.

Finally, in some cases, the change arouses negative feelings in people and they just do not want to change, because they feel they do not want or are forced to move out of their comfort zone. These reactions can from feelings such as:

. The disagreement. Individuals may simply disagree about the about the reasoning on which the change is sustained. In some cases they base their judgments on very closed mental models or they have difficulty leaving entrenched habits. 

. Uncertainty. The effects of the new system are not entirely predictable and this creates fear due to lack of confidence in the results.

. The loss of identity. Sometimes, people build their identity on what they do. In this framework, changes qualify and offend. Defensiveness appears in some people.

. The need to work more. Usually it is perceived two fronts should be tackled simultaneously: the continuation of the old tasks and the startup of new routines.

In almost all major changes in some way and to some extent the feelings mentioned appear, but it is also true that there may be some positive feelings such as enthusiasm for the possibility of a better future, releasing of old problems and growth expectations or personal consolidation".

Conclusions  

For me the only way to success in this matter in a pyramidal organization after knowing the limitations that human beings have in order to promote changes is that General Management should know very clearly the real limitations in each individual of the team at the beginning of any change process and face them in the right way to break resistance.

I have seen many times resistance to change in the middle decision levels, and this can only be broken from top to bottom; that is why it is called "pyramidal organization", isn't it?

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