Why Do Employees Hate Change?

Suppose your supervisor offered you a 50% increase in pay, and 2 weeks of additional vacation just because she thought you were a great employee.  Would you accept the changes?  How likely are you to dig in your heels and refuse them because you don’t like change?

For many years, William Gould and I as well attributed organizational resistance to change to the fact that people simply hate change.  I no longer think that is true.  It’s not that employees hate change, but rather we don’t like the personal aspects of change that will adversely impact us, and our jobs.  The most basic question we often ask ourselves upon hearing of change is, “What is the worst possible way this will affect me?”  When there are losses (either real or perceived) associated with change, we are more likely to resist. 

Why do you think employees resist organizational change?

Credit by: William Gould of HRSoot.com 

Incessant Change is the Norm

You have to read this white paper on change. It is exactly what I have been talking about for the last 20 years as companies go through evolution and economic change. some do and some don't. The ones that don't will not be a company you should either invest in or work for.

Change is permanent – it does not matter what industry you may be in, how large your enterprise, or your organizational structure. Globalization, technology advances, complex multinational organizations and more frequent partnering across national borders and company boundaries – these are just a few of the enablers and accelerators of change.

How would you rate your organization when it comes to executing change? Most CEO's consider themselves and their organizations to be executing change poorly, yet a few outperformers do excel at delivering and benefiting from meaningful change. You need to become an outperformer to learn to manage change well, so you can get ahead of, and even be the driver of change. To accomplish this, you will need to abandon outdated notions of change. You no longer have the luxury of expecting day-to-day operations to fall into a static or predictable pattern that is interrupted occasionally by short bursts of change.

Where do you see your enterprise in the next few years? Leading your competition in growth and revenue? Developing a highly new innovative product or service? Re-inventing and redefining your industry? Or will your organization remain static, struggling to keep up with your competitors, and staying afloat?

For its very survival, the Enterprise of the Future must better prepare itself as the pace, variety and pervasiveness of change continue to increase. Discover how to become a "student of change" in a world of total flux.

To download a copy of this new research paper, please click here:
www.ibm.com/gbs/makingchangework

Don't Fear the Whitewater- Don't Use a Life Vest Either

Change is the new status-quo, and success at work will require agility, talent and the ability to learn from -- rather than fear -- failure, according to Gregory Shea, adjunct professor of management at Wharton, and business writer Robert Gunther. The two recently co-authored a book titled, Your Job Survival Guide, a Manual for Thriving in Change. The authors compared the economy and job market to a whitewater river in which every kayaker is certain to spend a significant part of the journey under water.

If you look back at my post regarding job retention you will notice parallel thoughts on flexibility, agility, innovation and strong business understanding. Check them out. This has been the new world since 2000 in case anyone has been sleeping.