Now a day’s change in the organisations is really norm because at the moment organisations are facing many factors which are influenced by both the external and internal environment. As we can see that world is changing at very rapid speed so it is very important for any organisation to adapt the changes to survive in this competitive market. It is also very vital for any organisation to fulfill the needs of their customers to sustain in modern world so for that particular reason they have to take some bold steps by implementing the changes in their business models this can be according to the current trend in the market, innovations in technology and customers demands. For the successful business it is very important to make changes because it is a demand of time. Organizational change is the process of transformation. It may be cause success or failure.
Change becomes necessary if organization wants to improve its internal and external functionality and if they do not make changes according to the market demand so it will be very difficult for them to survive. If the organizations adopt the changes they can compete with their rivals in effective way. There are some internal and external forces which always keep their pressure and this can only be done by making wise organizational changes which can balance these forces otherwise organization cannot be run in long term.
It is obvious that if there is any change to happen there are certain hurdles or certain forces that resist the change which cause the failure of change in the organisation. Resistance is the major factor in failure of change. There are certain reasons which resist the process of change and make it difficult to implement in the organization. So we should understand the resistance to change, what are the sources and reasons of resistance which cause failure to the change.
Below are some of the reasons that can cause failure to change in any organization. They are as follows:
- Old Way Is Better Than A New Change: We all are socially interconnected with each other. We have signed a sort of bond with each other. We follow our ancestors and obey what they have left to us. It means that we all are hard wired and are unable to adopt a new way of life. In an organization, if things changes in a new way will harm the company and will definitely suffer the staff. Another problem is that all the staff is well aware and is running the organization on old practices and beliefs so a new change can harm them emotionally and an old staff may leave the organization as they will feel that there is nothing of their interest. Audience will also suffer with a new change as they are using old way. It is also an injustice for those who set the organization with old topology as the will not bear any new change within an organization.
- Lack Of Competence: New change in an organization may degrade the competence of the individual within an organization. Staff can feel that a new change may cause problems to their work and can’t cope up with a new change. This change can be new technology or can be a paper based change so will automatically increase burden on each of an individual with an organization. So a new motivator is required which can boost the morale of the staff and also some new training programs has to be arranged as to cope up with new change. Lots of efforts are required to overcome the barrier of new change in an organization.
- Overloaded and Overwhelmed: When a new change is introduced in an organization then lots and lots of work has to be done and the most important thing is the motivation required to set the organization up. Fatigue is the main problem when dealing with a new change. A motivator has to keep his/her fingers crossed and will move all lead his/her staff in a dignified manner. Staff can’t afford a new change as they are overwhelmed within an organization because of daily office work and by working leaps and bounds so a motivator or a person who has brought a change can be well aware of fight-or-flight response.
- Make Sure New Ideas Are Sound: It is worthwhile and has to be keep in mind by all of the staff within an organization that new change and an idea invoked is well quite enough and will take the organization to the horizons. Sceptics have to be faced with proper attention because doubts can improve the existing change and can improve a new change.
- Loss of Status or Quality of Life: New change can reshuffle the organization a bit. Some staff within an organization will gain status and quality of life and some of them will lose the job. Change cannot be for disadvantages as people will suffer and will lose their job and status as they will not be able to cope up with new change.
- New Change: A Bad Idea: It is important not to ignore when people are having objections and have rationale reservations. Sometimes people are not being disobedient or afraid when they resist.
- Threatening The Notions of Themselves: Sometime’s a change can harm the person as he/she works to do his/her work manually and new change and machinery changes his way of work. He/she is now more reliable on automatic machines rather than of his/her hands so he/she loses sense of identity. He/she thinks that work in the first place has been lost. People think that automatic machineries though reduced burden of work but also this new change can get right to sense of identity and sense of self as a professional. This result in demonization of work as they were doing work in an old way in an organization and they joined that particular organization because of that old way of doing work but a new change get right’s of sense of individuality and this may lead to quit from an organization.
- New Change Wants New Role Model: Creating a new possibility that do not currently exist is the dream of a dreamer. A dreamer is person who can see who can see his/her self a new change agent. But it’s a not an easy job. A board has to be set which through which you can express your ideas and can demonstrate how the new way can work. Model has to be put at front of the board which can show all the changes before implementing that change within an organization. Manager should be role models for their subordinates.
- Risk of Change and Risk of Standing Still: Moving in the direction which is unknown and feeling that everything will be fine without having proof is a risky job. It is obvious that there is a high rate of risk involve in the change process rather than the standing still because you never know what will be the outcomes of that change. Although changes are according to plans but still it cannot be predicted. It is like ice-berg because if you see the ice-berg very small portion is visible and major part is under the water so no one can predict how much it is under the water.
- Cost: Bringing the change in the organization can be very costly process because it changes the overall structure of the organization. Costs such as change the technology, training of employees, hiring new staff. Recruitment costs, selection process its self is the costly procedure. So organization has to make the calculations of all these cost and then they can make any decision of bringing changes in the organization.
- Uncertainty: The other reason to resist the change is if organization is thinking to bring the change they are not familiar with the outcomes because the future is uncertain. Because we don’t know what will be the future, lack of information of future events.
- Lack of common goal and information: This is another reason for the failure of change. If individual goals are different from each other it can also lead to resist the change. Lack of information among the employee’s leads to difference in analysis which turns to resistance.
- Motivation as source of resistance: Motivation is used as positive sense but it low motivation can be a reason for the failure of change. Lack of motivation is also another barrier in the failure of change process. Staff should be well motivated. It can have great impact on the implementation of change ideas. Needs of employees should be well fulfilled otherwise they will resist the change process. If we see the Maslow model of hierarchy of needs, basic needs like food, shelter are also important but if we look in context of organizational life need of self worth and self esteem, job security plays key role in motivation. So managers must take care of these needs that by bringing the change in the organization these needs are not affected otherwise employees will resist the change.