Case: Resistance to Change

Background of the Problem

A publicly owned company decided to implement a technology project to make its services more
effective because of the reason that their employees had “low productivity” and citizen’s
complaining about the services. This decision was made by the top managers and executives of
the company. The employees on the other hand were not in favor of this technology change, this
led to employees displaying and voicing out there dissatisfaction to the management but
management still disregarded this and did not agree to what their employees asked for. After the
technology project was fully implemented it resulted in “older” employees being uncomfortable
and dissatisfied with the changes, supervisors being reliant to their “younger” employees to show
them how the system worked and lastly, tensions and arguments arose and the same problems
(citizen’s complaints, longer queues and etc.) were still present.

Statement of the Problem

The main problem of the company was their lack of communication between management and
their employees. Management did not know that before the technology project was implemented,
the employees were already upset because they felt like their contributions were not valued and
they are not paid well. The top managers did not address or even bothered to know what state of
morale their employees were in, when there was a technology change they did not consider how
the employees would feel and they just announced it without any comments, voices, or thoughts
from their employees. It may be possible that the company is Centralized therefore they do not
ask the employees and middle to first-line managers what their thoughts are but this is still not an
excuse for not knowing the dissatisfaction that their employees have. The management has no
clue that their employees are stressed and are already voicing out their complaints. There is also
a lack of motivation from employees but due to the lack of communication or the management
being unresponsive, this issue cannot be solved without addressing communication between the
employees and management first.

Areas for Consideration

 Employees’ low productivity

Most of the employees have low productivity and result in longer queues, longer waiting
time and having arguments with citizens/customers. Customers have also reported mistakes
and rudeness, these complaints eventually attracted media attention.

 There is only one employee in HR

Julie is reported to be the only one employee in the HR department.

 Management believes the employees do not have a problem

Management believes that employees enjoy a very good work environment free of stress, and
they have jobs for like so there is no pressure for results or a goal-setting process. But the
management agrees that their salaries are quite low.

 Management blames employees for failed change projects.

Whenever there are change projects employees seem to have no trust or do not believe that
the project will work or make any differences, on the managements’ side they blame
employees and the union for their incompetence or any problems that caused the project
change to fail

 Management does not invest in training and development

HR commented whenever there is a change in management they all have “good intentions”
but they do not invest in their employees’ training or seminars or any development that
would be able to help the employees improve. Julie said “They only ask for things but they
never give.

 Employees have low salaries

It was indicated that employees have limited job requirements and workload because of the
low salary given to them, this in turn makes employees less motivated to work harder.

 HR reported the concerns, complaints and other things that needed to be reported to the
top managers.
Julie (the only employee in HR) was able to report the middle and low managers concerns about
the new project and also include how the employees do not agree or would have a hard time in
adjusting to the new technology. Management answered by holding a meeting/celebration for the
new project inviting all managers and employees but it led to more voicing out of complaints and
arguments, issues in salaries and other problems which gave the meeting a negative/hostile vibe.

 There were a minority of people who supported the new technology project.

It was said that the people in the logistics department or those who most benefitted from the
change were in favor of the new technology change they also had strong arguments to their stand
or case.

 Chaos during implantation

While the new system was slowly being implemented there were a lot of confusions since most
of the employees were having trouble in handling the new change, stress and confusion was
more apparent in older employees, they had to ask for help from the younger ones who were
more competent in technology use.

 The union campaigned against the implementation of the technology change.

The union did not facilitate the implementation process but they protested against the new
change and encouraged employees not to participate in the technology change. They also argued
that the change would be beneficial if the employees’ salaries would be raised.

 Results from the change got worse than before

After the change was fully implemented it cost more than what was initially planned, and after 3
years from the first announcement the same problems were still present and may have gotten
worse than before.

Alternative Courses of Action

 Alternative A :
 Expand/Improve and give more resources and emphasis to the HR department

Pros:

1.) Resources for the HR department: More resources for the HR department may help them in
better handling of the employees and communication between the top managers and employees

2.) Improved communication and handling of employees: Since there was only one employee at
HR (Julie) there was only a limit to what she can do or how effective she would be, with more
people and resources HR could help solve the communication problem between the managers
and employees.

Cons:

1.) Very Costly/Expensive: Since there is going to be more resources added and employees hired
this alternative may cost a lot for the company.

2.) May be deemed unnecessary by the top managers: the HR person did not really do anything
wrong, unless the top managers/executives realize that communication is essential for them, they
may not agree with this idea.

 Alternative B :

Raise Employees’ Salary

Pros:

1.) Motivated employees: the employees were not slacking but they were not also working
hard, if they were paid more along with the change in the system it would result to more
motivated employees and lesser complaints.

2.) Better performance: people would be more inclined to work harder because of their
salary, they have complained that they did not work as hard or work is not worth it because
they were not compensated well, if their salaries increased and needs are met they may work
harder and increase productivity.

Cons:
 1.) Expensive/Costly: Raising salaries would mean more funds and expenses, it may become
costly to the company and may be deemed unnecessary

2.) Might not be able to help the technology change: Employees might be more motivated but
it still does not mean the Technology change would be a success and it might still result in
the same thing happening just without the complaints.

 Alternative C :
Invest in trainings and seminars for the employees
Pros:
1.) Older employees do not have to rely on the younger ones: employees who are a bit
older would not be reliant on the younger employees teaching them or helping them
handle the new system
2.) Adjusting would not be hard: once the new system is fully implemented the
employees are already trained and know what to do which will help them cope up with
the change
3.) It can help solve the common problems of the citizens: since the employees know how
to hand the new technology change longer queues and arguments with the citizens would
be significantly lessened.
Cons:
1.) Costly: since trainings and seminars would be given to employees it would cost a lot
of funds for the company
2.) Short-term solution: since this is just solving for the common problems employees
faced like a hard time adjusting or having arguments with the citizens, the
communication problem or unresponsiveness of the top managers would still be present.

Recommendation
Pursue Alternative A: Expand/Improve and give more resources and emphasis to the HR
department. This alternative helps solve the problem or issue that is may be the main cause of the
problems that the company is facing. Employees are unproductive and are quite stressed yet
management believes that the employees are living easy and has a stress-free work environment
and they blame the employees for most of their failed project changes even though they also
carry part of the fault. HR only has one employee and this is clearly a bit absurd considering that
they are a publicly owned company. Management is clearly unresponsive and did not have the
correct solutions to address the employee problems, this is clearly a job in which the HR could
help, the HR in the situation considering they only had one employee obviously cannot do it by
herself, a bigger HR team and with more resources plus a bit of authority and responsibility
would easily help solve the communication issue since it is their job to do so. They would have
better communication with management and can advise them on what to do and how to respond.
So pursuing alternative A is the best course of action to take. Communication is important and
all of the problems the company is facing stems from communication which the HR specializes
in.

Implementation

1.) First step is to create an action plan for the bigger Human Resource team, planning for the
budget that is going to be given and also planning the hiring process and setting the teams’ goals
and what they’re job is

2.) The next is to start the hiring process and find the right people for the HR team, since the
company survived with just one HR person before a team of four to five people would suffice
and can already be effective and since they are only a team they would cost a bit less.

3.) Hold a meeting for the new HR team and discuss the goals and what is expected of them to
do. Put to action the new HR team and immediately start working on the planned goals and
fixing the communication problems.

4.) Hold a weekly/monthly meeting between the HR team to report progress and address the
issues that needs to be addressed.