Resistance to Change: Different Structures and Cultures

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1. Organizations have distinct structures and cultures that influence their direction and reactions to change. Your director is thinking about proposing a new process for sales that represents a fairly large shift in the way things are currently done. The director would like to meet with you to discuss any possible resistance to the change that may originate from your organization's culture and structure. Prepare a general discussion document you will use to inform your director of the types of resistance to change that can come from different structures and cultures.

Resistance to change can be broken down into three groups: organization-level resistance, group-level resistance, and individual-level resistance (George et al. as cited in Bushman, 2008, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/121002/employee_resistance_to_change_pg2.html?cat=3). Bushman (2007) breaks up each group as follows:

Organization-Level Resistance

According to Bushman (2007), organization-level resistance includes resistance to change due to power and conflict, differences in functional orientation, mechanistic structure, and organizational culture.

- Power and Conflict - Resistance to change due to power and conflict occurs when a change may benefit one department within the organization while harming another department within the organization.
- Functional Orientation - Resistance to change due to differences in functional orientation occurs because employees or departments with different functions will see problems and issues differently, thus making it harder to come to an agreement ...