Issues in Managing

Organisational Change

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction....................................................................................................... 2
2. Resistance to Change........................................................................................ 2
3. Issues around Managing Organisational Change...............................................3
3.1 Perception Barriers....................................................................................... 3
3.2 Emotional Barriers........................................................................................ 3
3.3 Cultural Barriers........................................................................................... 3
3.4 Environmental Barriers................................................................................. 3
3.5 Cognitive Barriers......................................................................................... 4
4. Levins Model for Change Management.............................................................5
4.1 Unfreeze....................................................................................................... 5
4.2 Change......................................................................................................... 5
4.3 Refreeze....................................................................................................... 6
5. Conclusion......................................................................................................... 6
References............................................................................................................. 7

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1. Introduction
The organisational change can occur due to two forces: internal forces and external forces
(Graetz et al, 2010). It is essential for the project manager to understand the source for well
preparing for change. The internal forces are those inside the organisation such strategy
change, change in productivity rules/standards, or revolution in quality control standards. In
contrast, external forces refer forces outside the control of an organisation. For example,
economic conditions, inflation, local and federal regulations, and living cost etc.

2. Resistance to Change
The major resistance to change that organisations face today is the employee resistance to
change. It normally results in 10/80/10 rule means that only 10% employees accept change,
80% are confused and the rest of the 10% openly resist the change (Harvard Business School,
2005). In this regard, the human resource manager of Yorkshire House Food (YHF) has a
core responsibility to recognise and understand this situation by keeping in mind that
employees role is important in bringing change. Technology can only support the change
process, but it cannot replace people. Many researchers and theorists highlight six different
factors for resistance to change at employee or personal level. These factors are: social
factors, economic factors, lack of awareness, habit, security, and fear of relationships (Griffin
and Moorhead, 2011).
The human resource and project managers as change agents in YHF can take help from
Murthys (2007) framework for reducing resistance to change. Murthys framework consists
of five following steps to reduce change.
1. Purposeful and meaningful communication between managers and people involved in
the change process. Logically explaining them about the benefits of change;
2. Practically involving employees in the change process for their better understanding;
3. Providing special therapy, training, and support to employees who still resist change;
4. Directly negotiating with employees who are not ready to accept change either due to
some threats or benefits;
5. Moving those employees who still resist change to other projects or departments

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3. Issues around Managing Organisational Change

According to several authors (e.g. Hussey, 2000; Alvesson and Sveningsson, 2008; and
Graetz et al, 2010), some common barriers around managing organisational change are:
perception barriers, emotional barriers, cultural barriers, environmental barriers, and
cognitive barriers.

3.1 Perception Barriers

Perceptual issues often emerge during analysing and evaluating the current situation or
options by identifying internal strengths and weaknesses. The perceptual barriers often result
in waste of time and financial resources. Table 1.1 presents some common perceptual barriers
while managing organisational change.

3.2 Emotional Barriers

The emotional barriers are dangerous because they normally obstruct the generation of new
ideas and approaches while managing change. However, the important question to answer is
Are we going in the right direction? The change agents i.e. project manager and human
resource manager of YHF may resolve such issues by openly communicating with employees
using brainstorming techniques. Table 1.1 illustrates a number of common perceptual barriers
to organisational change.

3.3 Cultural Barriers

Cultural issues are significant in managing change as they reflect negatively on the
development and assessment of solutions to organisational problems. Besides, they restrict
alternative options or new approaches to be used in the change process. Table 1.1
demonstrates different cultural issues in an attempt of managing organisational change.

3.4 Environmental Barriers

The environmental barriers are vital due to their existence in all the phases of change. These
barriers can develop a sense of insensitivity and unnecessary rivalry among employees. Table
1.1 shows various environmental barriers in managing organisational change.

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3.5 Cognitive Barriers

Similar to environmental issues, cognitive issues also exist in all the phases of change. Three
important cognitive barriers are listed in table 1.1.
Table 1.1 Barriers to managing organisational change
Perception Barriers

Emotional Barriers

Risk aversion behaviour of people

Stereotype in analysing and evaluating the

situation or options
Short-sighted scope of particular issues

Problem in addressing core issues

Inability to observe the overall impact of the

problem
Problem in identifying the difference
between available and relevant information
Misjudgement of information about issues

Incompetency of people to process

incomplete or conflicting information
Priority to assess existing concepts rather
than generating innovative ideas
Rush in producing and delivering results
under pressure
No time for thinking about what is
completed

Cultural Barriers

Difficulties in analysing issues which are

considered as taboos in the enterprise
More imaginative, less creative in thinking
Lack of freedom for creativity (or more
concentration on solving issues)
Lack of critical reasoning, logics, and
objectivity analysis
Cultural and social values, beliefs, and
traditional issues

Environmental Barriers

Cognitive Barriers

Lack of change agent support, training, and

special therapy for managing change
Lack of ability to deal with hardships and
criticism
Manager or change agents inability to listen
and respond employee problems while
managing change
Bureaucratic behaviours and centralisation

Other Barriers

Use of wrong terminology

Lack of awareness

Lack of absolute and accurate information

Economic barriers

Striking to strategies and particular

approaches to manage change
Use of irrelevant strategies/approaches

Fear of relationships

Job insecurity

Habitual barriers

Sources: Hussey (2000); Alvesson and Sveningsson (2008); and Graetz et al (2010); Griffin and Moorhead (2011)

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4. Levins Model for Change Management

Managing change wisely is very important because after the change occur, it is very difficult
to undo mistakes. Levins model for change management is based on the idea of unfreezing,
change, and refreezing terminology. He explained the idea with an ice example; for instance,
to reshape the ice it is essential to unfreeze (or melt) it and then solidify the new shape socalled refreeze (Levin, 2012). The idea is clearly shown in figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1 Unfreeze, change, refreeze

4.1 Unfreeze
This first stage is very crucial and stressful for the change agents in YHF because at this stage
they need to prepare the organisation to realise that change is essential. For this purpose, the
managers are required to challenge core values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours of
organisational people (Levin and Ward, 2011). In fact, challenging people and organisation
cores means creating a controlled crisis which can reflect either strong motivation or terrible
disturbance.

4.2 Change
The change phase refers to resolve uncertainty, created in the unfreeze phase, by looking at
new methods of doing the job. The role of change agents is to allow and support people to
adopt innovative methods in order to manage change effectively (Levin, 2012). The change
process is not an overnight process. In fact, organisational people must know about the
benefits of change and pitfalls of resisting the change. In this regard communication, time and
resource management are the key areas to concentrate on.

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4.3 Refreeze
When people have adopted new methods of accomplishing job and change is taking shape,
this is the time for the change agents to refreeze core values, beliefs, and attitudes within the
organisation (Levin and Ward, 2011). In this phase, the change agents in YHF can redevelop
organisation chart and reassign works to people which will consequently incorporate changes
into routine business activities.
The stages and the processes in the Levins model for change management are illustrated in
table 1.2.
Table 1.2 Levins model for change management
Stages

Unfreeze

Steps

Tools/Strategies

1. Understand what is required to change

Survey

2. Making sure the solid support from topmanagement

Stakeholder analysis
Stakeholder management

3. Develop the need for change

4. Identify and manage issues and conflicts

Conflict management
(Anticipate, prevent,
Identify, Manage, Resolve)

5. Frequently communicate

Project communication plan

6. Immediate problem handling

Problem solving strategies

i.e. Abstraction or
Brainstorming

Change
7. Empowering actions

Refreeze

8. Involve people in the change process

Douglas McGregor's XY
Theory

9. Anchor the changes in culture

Kotter's 8-Step Change

Model

10. Develop strategies to prolong the change

Expanding product life

cycles

11. Provide training and support

12. Celebrate success
Sources: Levin and Ward (2011), Levin (2012)

5. Conclusion
From the above reasoned discussion, it can be concluded that managing change is not an easy
process and contains numerous barriers and resistances to change such as perceptual barriers,
emotional barriers, cultural barriers, environmental barriers, and cognitive barriers. However,
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the change agents in YHF can manage change using an appropriate framework such as
Levins model which is based on three key stages: unfreeze, change, and refreeze. As shown
in table 1.2 that a range of tools and strategies can be employed for the effective
implementation of the model.

References
Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S. (2008). Changing Organizational Culture: Cultural Change Work
in Progress. Taylor & Francis
Graetz, F., Rimmer, M, Smith, R. and Lawrence, A. (2010). Managing Organisational Change. John
Wiley & Sons Australia Limited
Griffin, R. W. and Moorhead, G. (2011). Organizational behaviour: Managing people and
organizations. 10th edition, Cengage Learning
Harvard Business School (2005). The Results-driven Manager: Managing Change to Reduce
Resistance. Harvard Business School Press
Hussey, D. E. (2000). How to manage organisational change. 2nd edition, Kogan Page Publishers
Levin, G. (2012). Program Management: A lifecycle approach. CRC Press
Levin, G. and Ward, J. L. (2011). Program Management Complexity: A Competency Model. Taylor &
Francis
Murthy, P. R. (2007). Production and Operations Management. New Age International

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