TYPES OF CHANGE

To change is to more from the present to the future, from a known state to a relatively unknown
state.
1. Happened Change:
• This change is unpredictable.
• Takes place naturally due to external factors.
• This type of change occurs when an organization reaches a plateau in its life cycle and
falls prey to unwieldy demands from the environment.
Eg. Currency devaluation
• This is out of direct control and future is unknown.
2. Reactive Change:
• Changes that are clearly in response to an environment
• These changes are attempted when the demand for product/Service increase or decrease.
Eg. Technological changes
3. Anticipatory Change:
• Carried out in expectation of an event.
• Failing to anticipate future events can have destructive consequences for organizations.
4. Planned Change/Developmental Change:
• This change is undertaken to improve upon the current ways of operating.
• It is a calculated change, initiated to attain certain desirable output or performance to
make the organizations more responsive to internal and external demands.
Eg. Introducing new technology, enhancing employees communication skills and
technical expertise. Etc...
5. Incremental Change:
• Changes directed at the micro level and focused on units or components within an
organization.
• Changes are brought in gradually and are usually adaptive in nature.
• It is assumed that these small changes will help set in the larger change process and lead
the system slowly in a healthier direction.
6. Operational Changes:
• It is required when an organization needs to improve the quality of the products or
services due to
a) External competition
b) Customer changing requirements
c) Demand
d) Technology, TQM, Cost saving etc..
7. Strategic Change:
• This is addressed to the organization as a whole or to most of the components.
Eg. Mgt style
8. Directional Change:
• A change in direction may become imperative for an organization due to severe
competition, regulatory shifts in government policy and control.
• It is critical when the organization is developing a new strategy.
Eg. Pricing, Import and Export restrictions
9. Fundamental Change:
• This entails a redefinition of the current purpose or mission of the organization.
• It occurs because of
a) Drastic change in business environment
b) Failure of the current corporate leadership
c) Employee morale problems or high turnovers
10. Total Change:
• This change is constrained to develop a new vision and a strong link between its strategy,
employees and business performance.
• A new vision and drastic strategy could be the only solution for organization arise
because of
a) Long term failure
b) Concentration of power
c) Operational Problems
 d) Employee and employer relationship

11. Transformational Change:

• This change involves the entire or greater part of the organization is changed.
• It could be a change on the
a) Shape (Size complexity)
b) Structure (Systems, Ownership etc..)
c) Nature (Culture, Technology etc of the organization)
• This change takes time to occur and will not occur unless people are uncomfortable in the
current state and think and feel change a must.
12. Revolutionary Change:
• Abrupt change in original strategy and design represent revolutionary change.
• It comprises of 3 E’s
a) Envisioning
b) Energizing
c) Enabling
13. Recreation:
• Involves drastic change in an organization’s strategy and design.
• A radical departure from its current practices to achieve a total transformation.
• Tearing down old structure and building new
• Becoming now just better but different.
• Retooling organization’s core competences.

NATURE OF CHANGE
1. Change means make or become different
2. Change means dissatisfaction with the old and belief in the new.
3. Change underlies a qualitatively different way of perceiving, thinking and behaving and to
improve over the past and present.
4. Change may be conceived as continuous and intrinsic to an organization.
5. Change may be conceived as extrinsic and discontinuous. (External and Internal factors)
6. Change as patterned and predictable.
7. Change as complex and unpredictable.
8. Duality or bipolarity of change by its nature tends to be bipolar.
9. Change may be said to take place 3 levels. i.e
a) Individual or Micro level
b) Organizational level
c) Group level.
INDIVIDUAL RESISTANCE
Individual sources of resistance to change reside in basic human characteristics such as
perceptions, personalities and needs.
The following are 5 reasons why individuals may resist change:
1. Habit:
• Everyday, when you go to work or school, do you continually use the same route and
streets? Probably if you’re like most people, you find a single route and you use it
regularly.
• As human beings, we are creatures of habit. Life is complex enough, we don’t need to
consider the full range of options for the hundreds of decisions we have to make every
day.
• To cope with this complexity, we all rely on habits or programmed responses.
• But when confronted with change, this tendency to respond in our accustomed ways
becomes our sources of resistance.
• So when your department. is moved to a new office building across town it means you
are likely to have a change, many habits such as waking up earlier, taking a new ser of
streets to work, finding new parking, adjust to the new office layout, and develop a new
lunch time and so on.
2. Security:
• People with high need for security are likely to resist change because it threatens their
feelings of safely when companies introduce technology, many employees at these firms
may fear that their jobs are in Jeopardy.
3. Economic Factors:
• Another source of individual resistance is concern that change will lower one’s income.
 • Changes in job tasks or established work routines also can arouse economic fears if
people are concerned that they won’t be able to perform the new task or routines to their
precious standards, especially when pay is closely tied to productivity.
4. Fear of the unknown:
• Changes substitute ambiguity and uncertainty for the known.
• The transition from high school to college is typically such an experience. By the time we
are seniors in high school, we understand how things work. You might have not have
liked high school, but at least you understood the system. Then you move on to college
and face a whole new and uncertain system. You have traded the known for the unknown
and the fear or insecurity that goes with it.
• Employees in an organization hold the same dislike for uncertainty.
Eg. The introduction of quality management means, production workers will have to
learn statistical process and control techniques. Some may fear they will be unable to do
they may, therefore develop a negative attitude towards a quality management program or
behave dysfunction if required to use statistical techniques.
• Individuals are guilty of selectively processing information in order to keep their
perceptions intact, they hear what they want to hear. They ignore information that
challenges the world they have created. In the above examples, production workers who
are faced with the introduction of quality management, may ignore the arguments, their
managers make in explaining why knowledge of statistics is necessary or the potential
benefits the change will provide them.
ORGANIZATIONAL RESISTANCE
Organizations, by their very nature, are conservative. They actively resist change.
Eg. Govt. agencies want to continue doing what they have been doing for years, whether the
need for their service changes or remain the same. The majority of business firms appear highly
resistant to change.
1. Structural Inertia:
Organizations have built in mechanisms to produce stability.
For eg. The selection process systematically selects certain people in and certain people out.
Training and other socialization techniques reinforce specific role requirements and skills.
Formalization provides job descriptions, rules, and procedures for employees to follow.
The people who are hired into an organization are chosen for fit, they are then shaped and
directed to behave in certain ways.
When an organization is confronted with change, this structural inertia act as a counterbalance to
sustain stability.
2. Limited focus of change:
Organizations are made up of a number of interdependent subsystems. We can’t change one
without affecting the others.
Eg. If management changes technological processes without simultaneously modifying the
organizations structure to match, the change in technology is not likely to be accepted. So limited
changes in subsystems tend to get nullified by the larger systems.
3. Group Inertia:
Even if individuals want to change their behaviour, group norms may act as a constraint.
Eg. An individual union member may be willing to accept change in his job suggested by
management. But if union norms dictate resisting any unilateral change made by management,
he is likely to resist.
4. Threat to Expertise:
Changes in organizational patterns may threaten the expertise of specialized groups. The
introduction of decentralized personal computers,which allow managers to gain access to
information directly from company’s data bases. This is been resisted by many systems experts
earlier because decentralized end user computing was a threat to specialized skills held by those
in the centralized information systems.
5. Threat to established pioneer relationship:
Any redistribution of decision making authority can threaten long established pioneer
relationships within the organization. The introduction of participative decision making or self
managed work teams is the kind of change i.e. often seen as threatening by supervisors and
middle managers.
6. Threat to established resource allocation:
Groups in the organization that control sizable resources often see change as a threat. They tend
to be content with the way things are.
Eg. Reduction in their budgets cut in their staff size. Those that most benefits from the current
allocation of resources often feel threatened by changes that may affect future allocations.
OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
Six tactics have been suggested for use by change agents in dealing with resistance to change.
1. Education and Communication:
• Resistance can be reduced through communicating with employees to help them see the
logic of a change.
• This tactic basically assures that the source of resistance lies in misinformation or poor
communication.
• If employees receive the full facts and get any misunderstandings cleared up, resistance
will subside.
• Communication can be effected through one-on-one discussions, memos, group
presentations or reports.
2. Participation:
• It’s difficult for individuals to resist a change decision in which they participated.
• Prior to making a change, those opposed can be brought have the expertise to make a
meaningful contribution, their involvement can reduce resistance, obtain commitment
and increase the quality of the change decision.
However, against these advantages there may be potential for a poor solution and great time
consumption.
3. Facilitation and Support:
• Change agents can offer a range of supportive efforts to reduce resistance.
• When employees fear and anxiety are high, employee counseling and therapy, new skills
training or a short paid leave of absence may facilitate adjustment.
• The drawback of this tactic is that, as with the others, it is time consuming and it is
expensive.
• The implementation offers no assurance of success.
4. Negotiation:
 • Another way for the change agent to deal with potential resistance to change is exchange
something of value for a lessoning of the resistance.
• Eg. If the resistance is centered on a few powerful individuals, a specific reward package
can be negotiated that will meet the individual need.
• Negotiation as a tactic may be necessary when resistance comes from a powerful source.
5. Manipulation and Co-optation:
• Manipulation refers to convert influence attempts
• Twisting and distorting facts to make appears more attractive, with holding undesirable
information, and creating false rumors to get employees to accept a change are the
examples of manipulation.
• If corporate management threatens to close down a particular manufacturing plant if that
plant’s employees fail to accept any change and if the threat is actually untrue.
• Co-optation is the form of both manipulation and participation. It seeks to buy off the
leaders of a resistance group by giving them a key role in the change decision. The
leader’s advice is sought, not to seek a better decision, but to get their endorsement.
• Both manipulation and co-optation are inexpensive and easy ways to gain support of
adversaries.
6. Coercion:
• Involves application of direct threats or force on the resisters.
Eg. Threats of transfer, loss of promotions, negative performance evaluations and a poor
letter of recommendations.
• The advantage is that it is inexpensive and easy way to gain support of adversaries.
Creating awareness among the members of the organization that the present behaviours
are inappropriate, irrelevant and inadequate and there is a need for change by making the
individual to accept that there is a need for compliance, internalization and identification
of appropriate behaviours.
 HOW TO MANAGING CHANGE

Vision

Strategy (intended
change

Impact analysis on

Current State Movement Desired State

Structure Structure

Process Process

Technology Technology

Culture Culture

HRM HRM

Facilitated by
• Building support structures
(internal support – individual
team, tope most & systems &
external support)

• Transition Management team

• Monitoring evaluating &

correcting

• Sustaining the Momentum