Management Fundamentals 7th Edition by Robert N. Lussier

Exercise 7

Objective

To improve your skill at identifying resistance to change.

Skills

The primary skills developed through this exercise are:

1. Management skill – decision making (conceptual, diagnostic, analytical, and critical-thinking skills are needed to understand resistance to change)

---

2. AACSB competency – analytic skills

---

3. Management function – organizing

Preparing for Skill Builder 1

Below are 10 statements made by employees who have been asked to make a change on the job. Identify the source and focus of their resistance using Exhibit 6-4. Because it is difficult to identify intensity of resistance on paper, skip the intensity factor. However, when you deal with people on the job, you need to identify the intensity. Place the number of the box (1–9) that best represents the resistance on the line in front of each statement.

1. “But we never did the job that way before. Can’t we just do it the same way as always?”

---

2. The tennis coach asked Jill, the star player, to have Louise as her doubles partner. Jill said, “Come on, Louise is a lousy player. Betty is better; don’t break us up.” The coach disagreed and forced Jill to accept Louise.

---

3. The manager, Winny, told Mike to stop letting everyone in the department take advantage of him by sticking him with extra work. Mike said, “But I like my coworkers and I want them to like me, too. If I don’t help people they may not like me.” 4. “I can’t learn how to use the new computer. I’m not smart enough to use it.”

---

5. The police sergeant asked Chris, a patrol officer, to take a rookie cop as her partner. Chris said, “Do I have to? I broke in the last rookie. He and I are getting along well.”

---

6. An employee asked Chuck, the manager, if she could change the work-order form. Chuck said, “That would be a waste of time; the current form is fine.”

7. Diane, an employee, is busy at work. Her supervisor tells her to stop what she is doing and begin a new project. Diane says, “The job I’m working on now is more important.” 8. “I don’t want to work with that work team. It has the lowest performance record in the department.”

---

9. A restaurant worker tells the restaurant manager, “Keep me in the kitchen. I can’t work in the bar because drinking is against my religion.”

---

10. “But I don’t see why I have to stop showing pictures of people burning in a fire to help get customers to buy our smoke detector system. I don’t think it’s unethical. Our competitors do it.”

Apply It

What did I learn from this experience? How will I use this knowledge in the future?

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Your instructor may ask you to do this Skill Builder in class in a group. If so, the instructor will provide you with any necessary information or additional instructions.

Step 1 of 3

Change is driven by environment and management functions. Organization needs to adapt to internal or external changes. Managers implement plans as part of their day to day functioning and that leads to change.

Most of the failure in implementing change is owing to employees resisting change. There are three major sources of resistance and three major focus of resistance. This gives nine possible types of resistance to change.

Sources of resistance to change are facts about impending change, beliefs based on subjective opinions and values system about what is wrong and right. Focus of resistance to change are self which related to how change is going to affect the employees, others which relates to how it is going to affect other people and work environment which relates to physical setting of the work environment itself. A combination of one focus and one source would make one type of resistance of change.