Discuss personal and organizational sources of resistance to change

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Obstacles and sources of resistance to change must be identified and eliminated or controlled if planned change is to be successful. If obstacles to change are beyond the control of an agency or its planners, plans may have to be tailored within those constraints.
• Workers in agencies resist change for a multitude of personal reasons. These reasons include the following: failure to see the need for change, habit, fear of the unknown, fear of loss of status or job security, and misunderstanding of purpose.
• There are organizational sources or resistance as well. An agency's traditional practices, values, structure, or leadership can influence the success or failure of attempts to implement change. Organizational change requires altering the organization's routines. Resistance to change is also a function of the magnitude and depth of the change being proposed.
• A proposed change that focuses on a single aspect of the behavior of a few agency members or on a limited number of procedures that are not frequently used will be met with much less resistance than change in fundamental aspects of an organization. Fundamental change often requires a shift in agency ideologies, a major shift in operations and programming, and a dramatic shift in the role of the line or service delivery personnel.