Today’s world is changing rapidly and change is inevitable. To be competitive and sustain our progress, we must adapt to the new environment.
Organisations have adopted a change management approach to help them manage the change initiative.
Only 30% of change initiatives have been successful over the past 20 years. We all know that resistance is the main reason why a project fails. How projects are managed is equally important for project success.
To understand the situation better and to implement the necessary strategies earlier, it is important to analyze the resistance to change during project initiation decisions. Based on the analysis of resistance, stakeholder management and risk assessment can both be more accurately prepared.
To successfully implement the change, it is crucial to understand the current, transition, and future states.
Why is change implementation so difficult?
Many methods and approaches are being used today, but the individual’s reactions and resistance are not properly analysed. This is why many new initiatives fail.
This leads to the need to identify the common reason employees resist change and develop a common vision for change implementation.
Most often, resistance to change is caused by fear and emotions. It is important to have employees who are supportive of the change process, even if there are high resistors in a project.
Without looking, how can you tell?
This is a difficult issue to address, but with a strong communication plan and engaging programs, resistance can be greatly reduced. Employee involvement will help to create a clear vision of the change and motivate employees to support it.
Every process must be continuously monitored to ensure its effectiveness. Participation and adoption rate are the two main metrics used to assess the success of implementing change. Project managers could adopt this criteria to monitor the progress towards achieving the desired outcome.
“I don’t agree but I support”
The key to success
We know that individual behaviour and organisational phenomena can be better understood if they are combined with both contextual and individual factors. This complexity can be managed by looking at the resistance as a whole, rather than focusing only on a few elements.
A systems approach is more effective and efficient in dealing with change resistance within a dynamic environment. It also provides analytic solutions.
The System Dynamics (SD), a model that incorporates all factors that affect employees’ acceptance of change, is designed to help provide a holistic approach to resistance.
First, we must understand the purpose and response to change, the established strategies, and the cost implications. These four main factors are used as sub-systems in the model, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Overview of the model components
Sub-system 1 – Need for Change
In a rapidly changing environment, change is good for projects. For a successful change to occur, it is important to approach the change positively and have a plan. Good leadership is also necessary.
Technology improvements, the development of competitive businesses and market conditions are the key drivers for change. These advancements in technology, market conditions, and word-of-mouth from other stakeholders could also be catalysts for change.
Sub-system 2 – Response to Change
As mentioned earlier, resistance to change increases. The main reason for resistance is fear. Employees are more aware
