UNIT 5

Leadership
Leadership is essentially a continuous process of influencing behavior. It may be considered in
context of mutual relations between a leader and his followers.
The leader tries to influence the behavior of individuals or group of individuals around him to
achieve desired goals.
Leadership is a dynamic process, which deserves study. It is a relational process involving
interactions among leaders, members and sometimes outside constituencies. Good leaders are
made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader
Leadership is the art of influencing people to attain group objectives willingly.
According to C.I. Bernard – ‘Leadership is the quality of behaviour of the individuals whereby
they guide people or their activities in organised efforts’.
According to Bernard Keys and Thomas – ‘Leadership is the process of influencing and
supporting others to work enthusiastically towards achieving objectives’.
Characteristics of leadership:
1. There must be Followers:
A leadership cannot exist without followers. If a leader does not have followers, he cannot
exercise his authority. Leadership exists both in formal and informal organisations.
2. Working Relationship between Leader and Followers:
There must be a working relationship between the leader and his followers. It means that the
leader should present him in a place where the work is actually going on. Besides, the leader
should be a dynamic person of the concerned group. If he is not so, he cannot get things done.
3. Personal Quality:
The character and behaviour of a man influence the works of others.
4. Reciprocal Relationship:
Leadership kindles a reciprocal relationship between the leader and his followers. A leader can
influence his followers and, in turn, the followers can influence the leader. The willingness of
both the leader and the followers is responsible for the influence and no enforcement is adopted.
5. Community of Interests:
There must be community of interests between the leader and his followers. A leader has his own
objectives. The followers have their own objectives. They are moving in different directions in
the absence of community of interests. It is not advisable. It is the leader who should try to
reconcile the different objectives and compromise the individual interests with organisation
interests.
6. Guidance:
A leader guides his followers to achieve the goals of the organisation. A leader should take steps
to motivate his followers for this purpose.
7. Related to a Particular Situation:
Leadership is applicable to a particular situation at a given point of time. It varies from time to
time.
8. Shared Function:

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Leadership is a shared function. A leader is also working along with his followers to achieve the
objectives of the organisation. Besides, the leader shares his experience, ideas and views with his
followers.
9. Power Relationship:
A leader has powers to exercise over his followers. The leader derives these powers from the
organisation hierarchy, superior know-ledge, experience and the like.

Leadership Styles

1. Autocratic Leadership Style: Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership,

is a leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input
from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their ideas and
judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute,
authoritarian control over a group. However, autocratic leadership can be an effective
approach in cases where the leader is experienced and knowledgeable about the
circumstances surrounding the decision in question and where the decision needs to be made
swiftly. There are other instances where it is also ideal such as when a decision does not
require team input or an agreement to ensure a successful outcome.

Characteristics

Allows little or no input from group members

 Requires leaders to make almost all of the decisions
 Provides leaders with the ability to dictate work methods and processes
 Leaves group feeling like they aren't trusted with decisions or important tasks
 Tends to create highly structured and very rigid environments
 Discourages creativity and out-of-the box thinking
 Establishes rules and tends to be clearly outlined and communicated
Advantages
 Allows for quick decision-making especially in stress-filled situations
 Offers a clear chain of command or oversight
 Works well where strong, directive leadership is needed
Disadvantages
 Discourages group input
 Hurts morale and leads to resentment
 Ignores or impairs creative solutions and expertise from subordinates

Impact of Autocratic Leadership Style on Employees

Employees are usually repulsive to this kind of leadership style because of the following reasons:

 It affects employee productivity and motivation.

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 There is no trust between the leaders and the employees.

 It has a negative impact on employees.
 Employees do not like the way decisions are made.
 It does not have the environment for accepting the creative ideas of the employees.
 It does not encourage the employees to take ownership of their work.
 Employees feel insecure in their jobs in this style of leadership.

2. Democratic Leadership Style: Democratic leadership, also known as participative

leadership or shared leadership, is a leadership style in which members of the group
participate in the decision-making process. This type of leadership can apply to any
organization, from private businesses to schools to the government.

With a democratic leadership style, everyone is given the opportunity to participate, ideas are
exchanged freely, and discussion is encouraged. While this process tends to focus on group
equality and the free flow of ideas, the democratic leader is still there to offer guidance and
control.

The democratic leader is also charged with deciding who is in the group and who gets to
contribute to the decisions being made. Research has found that the democratic leadership
style is one of the most effective types and leads to higher productivity, better contributions
from group members, and increased group morale.

Characteristics of Democratic Leadership

Some of the primary characteristics of democratic leadership include

 Collaboration: Group members are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though
the leader retains the final say over decisions.
 Engagement: Members of the group feel more engaged in the process.
 Creativity: Creativity is encouraged and rewarded.

Advantages
 More ideas and creative solutions
 Group member commitment
 High productivity
 Improved group morale
Disadvantages
 Communication failures
 Poor decision-making by unskilled groups
 Minority or individual opinions overridden
 Potential security issues

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Impact of Democratic Leadership Style on Employees

Democratic leadership style has the following major advantages:

 It gives employees a sense of ownership in their role of working for the organisation.
 It helps enhance the morale of the employees.
 It allows employees to feel important and involved in the daily operations of the business.
 It allows their voices to be heard by the management.
 It creates a positive environment for working.
 It allows the employees to be innovative and open to new ideas.
 It gives a platform to the employees for discussion.

3. Free-rein leadership
Also known as laissez-faire leadership, free-rein leadership is a type of management style
where supervisors give team members freedom to complete tasks, make decisions or
solve problems without interfering, unless the employees request it.
Managers provide a hands-off approach by focusing a majority of their time on their big-
picture tasks and letting team members complete their own responsibilities
independently. Supervisors still encourage team members to approach them with
questions about work duties or requests for additional resources, if needed.
Characteristics of Free-rein leadership
 Very little guidance from leaders
 Complete freedom for followers to make decisions
 Leaders provide the tools and resources needed
 Group members are expected to solve problems on their own

Impact of Laissez-faire Leadership Style on Employees

The laissez-faire leadership style has the following advantages:

 Employees become self-motivated and they take on the responsibility for their work.
 Employees learn to be innovative which is accepted by the organisation.
 Employees are happy working in this environment.
 It gives the employees flexible time to balance work and family commitments.
 The system increases employee retention within the organisation.

Leadership Theories:

1. Charismatic leadership
Charismatic leadership theory also called Great Man Theory. According to this theory a leader
has some charisma which acts as a influencer. Thus charisma is a God gifted attribute in a person
which makes him a leader irrespective of the situations in which he works. Charismatic leaders
are those who inspire followers and have major impact on their organization through their
personal vision and energy. Charismatic leadership is defined by a leader who uses his or her
communication skills, persuasiveness, and charm to influence others. Charismatic leaders, given

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their ability to connect with people on a deep level, are especially valuable within organizations
that are facing a crisis or are struggling to move forward.
Characteristics
Every charismatic leader looks a little bit different. However, there are many key characteristics
that most charismatic leaders share:

 Strong communicator
 Empathetic and relatable
 Confident
 Motivational
 Engaging and charming
 Optimistic

2. Trait Theory
Important research into leadership traits and among the first to challenge traditional trait-
based theory was the work conducted by Ralph Stogdill.
The trait theory of leadership underscores various personality facets associated with successful
leadership in different situations. Theoreticians researching the trait theory tried to emphasise the
leadership characteristics from various perspectives.
The theory of Gordon Allport emphasised that the personality of an individual can be studied
from the difference between his common traits and personal characteristics.
According to Allport, the common traits of an individual are compared according to six values
like being religious, economic, political, social, theoretical and aesthetical.
The common traits of an individual are the personal characteristics that are different and can be
categorised as follows:
 Cardinal traits: These are considered powerful traits and very few people have a personality
that is dominated by these traits.

 Central traits: These traits are common attributes that many individuals have to different
degrees. Examples of such traits are being friendly, jovial, loyal agreeable and more.

 Secondary traits: These traits project the reason why a person behaves differently at times
than what is his normal behaviour. For example, a person who is generally happy can feel sad
on listening to some particular news.
The various studies show that traits can be classified on the basis of their sources. The trait can
be:
a. Innate Qualities: those which are possed by various individuals since their birth. These
qualities are natural and often known as god gifted. The following are the major innate
qualities in a successful leaders:
 Physical Features: which determined by heredity factors.
 Intelligence
b. Acquired Qualities: those which can be acquired and increase through various processes.
Learning of behivioural patterns through socialization and identification process comes under
acquired qualities. Many of these traits can be increase through training programmes. These
qualities may be:
 Emotional stability

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 Human relations
 Empathy
 Objectivity
 Motivating skills
 Technical Skills
 Communicative skills
 Social skills.
3. Behavioural Theory
The behavioural theory was developed scientifically by behaviour- focused studies. This theory
emphasizes certain behaviours and actions of leaders and not on their traits or attributes.

As per this theory, leadership ability is exhibited more in the actions and behaviours rather than
the personal traits of an individual. Leadership behavior may be viewed in two ways:

 Functional: it influences followers positively and included such functions as setting clear
goals, motivating employees for achieving goals, raising the level of morale, building
team spirit, effective two way communication etc.

 Dysfunctional: it is unfavourable to the followers and denotes ineffective leadership.

Such behavior may be inability to accept employees ideas, display of emotional
immaturity, poor human relations etc.

These skills are defined as follows:

 Technical skills refer to the individual’s knowledge of the system, processes and techniques.
 Human skills refer to the ability of the individual to be able to interact with other individuals.
 Conceptual skills refer to the ability of the leader to come up with innovative ideas for
running the organisation successfully and strategic decision making.

4. Situational Theory or Leader Situational Model (LSM): The various factors affecting
leadership effectiveness may broadly be classified into two major categories:
 leader's behaviour and
 Situational factors.

The combination of both these factors determines leadership effectiveness. Let us diseuss these
factors and their impact on leadership effectiveness.

 Leader's Behaviour
Leader's behaviour is affected by two variables:

a. Leader's Characteristics: An individual's behaviour is influenced by intelligence and ability

is characteristics like his personality characteristics, attitudes, interest, motivation, and

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hysical characteristics such as age, sex, and physical features. Thus, the behaviour of the ader
is also influenced by all these factors. All these factors are internal to the leader.

b. Leader's Hierarchical Position: Leader's hierarchical position in the organisation is

mportant because persons at different levels face different kinds of problem which affect the
degree of participation between the superior and his subordinates in arriving at decisions to
solve the problems. Managers at higher levels are more concerned with long-term complex
Problems which require more participation in decision making Managers at lower levels are
more concerned with short-term problems involving the daily operations which may not
require high level of participation. The degree of this participation affects the leader's
behavior.

 Situational Factors
Besides the leader-related factors, leadership effectiveness is affected by situational factors as
these factors affect the leader's behaviour. To the extent, a leader matches the requirement of
these factors, his leadership will be effective. The various situational factors may be grouped into
four categories: subordinate's characteristics, leader's situation, group factors, and organisational
factors.
a. Subordinate's Characteristics. Various factors which affect an individual's
behaviour, as discussed in the case of the leader, are relevant for the subordinate too.
b. Leader's Situation. The leader's situation in respect to his subordinate is an import the
factor affecting leadership effectiveness. There are two main variables which
determine the leader's situation: leader's position power and leader-subordinate
relation. Leader's position power helps or hinders in influencing others. Thus, high-
position power simplifies the leader's task of influencing others, while low-position
power makes the leader's task more difficult. Another factor, that is, leader-
subordinate relation is based on the classic exchange theory which suggests that there
is two-way influence in a social relationship. Thus, good followers need to succeed in
their own jobs with the help of the leader while helping their leader to succeed at his.
Thus, if the leader has good subordinates, and good relation with them, he is likely to
be more effective.
c. Group Factors. Various group factors like task design, group composition, group
norms, group cohesiveness, and peer-group relationship affect leadership effectiveness
and performance. If these factors are favourable, the leader will be effective.
d. Organisational Factors. Organisational factors like organisational climate and
organisational culture affect leadership effectiveness. If these are conducive, the leader
will be effective.

Implications of the Theory

Situational theory has wide implications for managers in the sense that it offers clues why a
manager who is successful in one situation, fails when there is change in the situation Therefore,
the managers may do better by adopting management practices including leadership which match
with the situational variables. In fact, the systems and contingency approach has become the way
of thinking in management, and leadership is no exception.

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This theory, however, should not be taken as the final word in leadership. The theory appears to
be good on the surface but becomes quite complex in practice because of the presence of
numerous contingent factors. However, managers can overcome this problem b diagnosing these
factors suitably.

Team Building:
Team building is a management technique used for improving the efficiency and performance of
the workgroups through various activities. It involves a lot of skills, analysis and observation for
forming a strong and capable team. The whole sole motive here is to achieve the organization
vision and objectives.
Team building is an ongoing process that helps a work group evolve into a cohesive unit. The
team members not only share expectations for accomplishing group tasks, but trust and support
one another and respect one another's individual differences.
Team building attempts to improve effectiveness of the team by having team members to
concentrate on:

1. Setting goals and priorities for the team.

2. Analyzing how team’s goals and priorities are linked to those of the organization.
3. Analyzing how the work is performed.
4. Analyzing how the team is working, and
5. Analyzing the relationships among the members who are performing the job.

Tuckman's Team-Development Model

Tuckman's model explains that as the team develops maturity and ability, relationships establish,
and the leader changes leadership style. Beginning with a directing style, moving through
coaching, then participating and finishing with delegation, at which point they are almost
detached. At this point, the team may produce a successor leader and the previous leader can
move on to develop a new team.

This simple overview of the Tuckman 'Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing' model offers a
simple way to understand how groups develop. Tuckman's model is especially helpful in training
people on group work, thus enabling groups to fulfil their full potential

Stages of Team Development

Stage 1: Forming
This stage is classified by:

 High dependence on the leader for guidance and direction.

 Little agreement on team objectives other than those received from the leader.
 Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear.
 The leader must be prepared to answer lots of questions about the team's purpose,
objectives and external relationships. Processes are often ignored.

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 Members test the tolerance of the system and leader.

 The leader directs (similar to Situational Leadership® 'Telling' mode).

Stage 2: Storming
This stage is classified by:

 A lack of agreement when it comes to making group decisions. Team members attempt to
establish themselves and their position in relation to other team members and the leader,
who might receive challenges from team members.
 Clarity of the team's purpose increases but many uncertainties persist.
 Cliques and factions form. This may lead to power struggles. The team needs to focus on
its goals to avoid becoming distracted by relationships and emotional issues.
 Compromises may be required to enable progress.
 The leader coaches (similar to Situational Leadership® 'Selling' mode).

Stage 3: Norming
This stage is classified by:

 Agreement and consensus largely forms among the team, who respond well to facilitation
by the leader.
 Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted.
 Big decisions are made by group agreement. Smaller decisions may be delegated to
individuals or small teams within the group.
 Commitment and unity are strong. The team may engage in fun and social activities.
 The team discusses and develops its processes and working style.
 There is general respect for the leader and leadership responsibilities are now shared
amongst the team.
 The leader facilitates and enables (similar to the Situational Leadership® 'Participating'
mode).

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Stage 4: Performing: This stage is classified by:

 The team's increased strategic awareness. It is now clear why the team is doing what it is
doing.
 The shared vision of the team. It is now independent and does not need interference or
participation from the leader.
 A focus on over-achieving goals and the team makes most of the decisions against
criteria agreed with the leader. The team has a high degree of autonomy.
 Disagreements. However, they are now resolved within the team positively, and
necessary changes to processes and structure are made by the team.
 The team can work towards achieving the goal and attend to relationship, style and
process issues along the way.

 Team members look after each other.

 The team requires delegated tasks and projects from the leader.
 The team does not needing to be instructed or assisted. Team members might ask for
assistance from the leader with personal and interpersonal development.
 The leader delegating and overseeing (similar to the Situational Leadership®
'Delegating' mode).

Stage 5: Adjourning
Bruce Tuckman refined his theory in 1975 and added a fifth stage to the 'Forming, Storming,
Norming, Performing' model: Adjourning. This is also referred to as Deforming and Mourning.

Adjourning is arguably more of an adjunct to the original four-stage model rather than an
extension - it views the group from a perspective beyond the purpose of the first four stages.

The Adjourning phase is certainly very relevant to the people in the group and their well-being,
but not to the main task of managing and developing a team, which is more central to the original
four stages.

Tuckman's fifth stage, Adjourning, is the break-up of the group, once the task is completed
successfully and its purpose fulfilled.

 From an organisational perspective, recognition of and sensitivity to people's

vulnerabilities in Tuckman's fifth stage is helpful. This is specifically if members of the
group have been closely bonded and feel a sense of insecurity or threat from this change.
 Feelings of insecurity would be natural for people with high 'steadiness' attributes (as
regards the 'four temperaments' or DISC model) and with strong routine and empathy
style (as regards the Benziger thinking styles model, right and left basal brain
dominance).

Organisational changes:

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Organizational change refers to the actions in which a company or business alters a major
component of its organization, such as its culture, the underlying technologies or infrastructure it
uses to operate, or its internal processes. Organizational change management is the process of
guiding organizational change to a successful resolution, and it typically includes three major
phases: preparation, implementation, and follow-through.
It is all about reviewing and modifying structures – specifically management structures – and
business processes.
Changes may be:
Reactive: which pressed by some factors either external or internal.
Proactive: This brought out the anticipation of the likely behivour.
Many factors make organizational change necessary. Some of the most common faced by
managers include:
 New leadership at the helm of the company or within its departments
 Shifts in the organizational team structure
 The implementation of new technology
 The adoption of new business models

Factors in Organisational Change:

The major forces that drive this change in business are −
 Internal environment
 External environment

The Internal Environment

The internal environment of an organization consists of factors within the organization over
which it can exercise a fair amount of control. Some of the internal factors are −
 Employees − Employees are the human capital of the organization. An organization
without a motivated and dedicated workforce will not be able to perform in spite of
having the best products and capital. Employees must take the initiative to change their
workplace, or changes in work tasks for more efficient and effective performance.
 The Organizational Structure − The organizational structure is what governs and
guides the effective operations of the company. It defines and scopes the authority and
hierarchy in the company. However, over time the organizational structure needs
reorganization to answer to the needs of an evolving entity and becomes an internal
source of organizational change.
 Organization Processes − The processes in organization are collections of activities that
need to be undertaken in order to produce an output, and that will have a value for
consumers. There are various processes in the organization that need to be constantly
updated to keep serving the market like – manufacturing, distribution, logistics,
information technology, etc.

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 Apart from the above factors like the company's mission and objectives, organizational
culture and style of leadership are factors typically associated with the internal
environment of an organization and can have a considerable impact on the organization.

The External Environment

The external environment of an organization are those set of factors which the organization
cannot exercise control on. Though these factors are external to the organization, they have a
significant influence over its operations, growth and sustainability.
 Economic Factors − The macroeconomic factors like the political and legal
environment, the rate of inflation and unemployment, monetary and fiscal policies of the
government, etc. are causes that have a high influence on companies and prompt for
changes in the organization. Managers need to carefully track these indicators in order to
make the right decisions for change.
 Socio-cultural Factors − The local and regional conditions greatly influence people’s
values, habits, norms, attitudes and demographic characteristics in the society. All of
these factors highly influence the business operations or will do so in the future.
 Global Environment − The increasing globalization of markets has made organizations
sensitive to changes. Any change or crisis in the global market affects every business, and
corrective measures are not often easy and immediately taken.
 Technology − Technology has become an intrinsic part of business operations. It
regulates processes in all aspects like manufacturing, distribution, logistics, finance, etc.
Organizations have to be up-to-date with the ever-changing technological advancements
in order to improve efficiencies and remain competitive.
Approaches to Organizational Change
As organizational change is a complex process, therefore managers must approach it
systematically and logically. Some organizational changes are planned whereas other changes
are reactive. Planned change is designed and implemented by an organization in an orderly and
timely fashion in the anticipation of future change.

 Reactive change results from a reaction of an organization to unexpected events. In contrast to

planned change, it is a piece-meal response to circumstances as they develop. External forces
that the organization has failed to anticipate or interpret always bring about reactive change.
Since reactive change may have to be carried out hastily, it increases the likelihood of a poorly
conceived and poorly executed Program.
 Planned change is always preferable to reactive change. Managers who sit back and respond to
change only when they can no longer avoid it are likely to waste a lot of time and money trying
to patch together a last-minute solution. The more effective approach is to anticipate the
significant forces for change working in an organization and plan ways to address them. To
accomplish this, managers must understand the steps needed for effective change.

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Model of Organizational Change

The comprehensive models of change have seven steps that can lead to effective organizational
change. This model is useful for both planned and reactive organizational change. The seven
steps of comprehensive model of organizational change are as follows:

1. Recognize need for change: The first step in this model is recognizing need for change. For
marketing managers who anticipate needed. Change, recognition is likely to come much earlier,
as a result of marketing forecasts indicating new market potential, expert indications about
impending socio-economic change or a perceived opportunity to capitalize on a key
technological breakthrough. These managers tend to ‘initiate change because they expect it to be
necessary in the near future in any case’.
2. Establish goals for change: The manager must then set goals for the proposed change. It is
important for the manager to specify goals that the change is supposed to accomplish. The goals
can be set to maintain or increase the market standing, to enter new markets, to restore employee
morale, to reduce turnover, to settle a strike and to identify good investment opportunities.
3. Diagnose relevant variables: An important next step is diagnosing organizational variables that
have brought about the need for change. Turnover, for example, may be caused by a variety of
factors such as low pay, poor working conditions, poor supervision, better alternatives in the job
market or employee job dissatisfaction etc. Thus, if turnover is the recognized stimulus for
change, the manager must understand what has caused it in a particular situation in order to make
the right changes. To carry out this diagnosis, the manager may discuss the situation with
employees and other managers.
4. Select change intervention: After the manager has developed an understanding of the problem
and its causes then he must select a change intervention that will accomplish the intended goal.
An intervention is a specific change induced in an organization with the intention of solving a
particular problem or accomplishing a specific objective. For example, if turnover is caused by
low pay, then a new reward system is required and if the cause is poor supervision then
interpersonal skills and training for supervisors is required.
5. Plan implementation of change: The manager must then carefully plan the implementation of
change. Planning the implementation of change involves consideration of the cost of the change,
how the change will affect other areas of the organization and the degree to which employees
should participate in bringing about the change. Hastily implemented change can result in more
harm than benefit. For example, if the change involves the use of new equipment, the manager
should not make any changes that rely on the use of new equipment until it has arrived and been
installed and workers know how to use it. Moreover, if change is thrust upon them too quickly,
their resistance may stiffen.
6. Implement change: A systematically implemented change is more likely to proceed smoothly
and to encounter fewer obstacles than is a change that is implemented too quickly and without
adequate preparation.

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7. Evaluate implementation: Finally, after the change has been implemented, the manager
should verify that it has accomplished its intended goals. A change may fail to bring about the
intended results. This may be due to inappropriate goals or inaccurate diagnosis of the situation
or wrong selection of intervention.

Kurt Lewin’s Change Management Model: The Planned Approach to Organizational

Change
Kurt Lewin’s Three Stages model or the Planned Approach to Organizational is one of the
cornerstone models which is relevant in the present scenario even. Lewin, a social scientist and a
physicist, during early 1950s propounded a simple framework for understanding the process of
organizational change known as the Three-Stage Theory which he referred as Unfreeze, Change
(Transition) and Freeze (Refreeze).
According to Lewin, Change for any individual or an organization is a complicated journey
which may not be very simple and mostly involves several stages of transitions or
misunderstandings before attaining the stage of equilibrium or stability.

For explaining the process of organizational change, he used the analogy of how an ice block
changes its shape to transform into a cone of ice through the process of unfreezing.

Stage 1 - Unfreezing: This is the first stage of transition and one of the most critical stages in
the entire process of change management. It involves improving the readiness as well as the
willingness of people to change by fostering a realization for moving from the existing comfort
zone to a transformed situation. It involves making people aware of the need for change and
improving their motivation for accepting the new ways of working for better results. During this
stage, effective communication plays a vital role in getting the desired support and involvement
of the people in the change process.
Stage 2 - Change: This stage can also be regarded as the stage of Transition or the stage of
actual implementation of change. It involves the acceptance of the new ways of doing things.
This is the stage in which the people are unfrozen, and the actual change is implemented. During
this stage, careful planning, effective communication and encouraging the involvement of
individuals for endorsing the change is necessary. It is believed that this stage of transition is not
that easy due to the uncertainties or people are fearful of the consequences of adopting a change
process.

Stage 3 - Freeze (Refreezing): During this stage, the people move from the stage of transition
(change) to a much more stable state which we can regard as the state of equilibrium. The stage
of Refreezing is the ultimate stage in which people accept or internalize the new ways of
working or change, accept it as a part of their life and establish new relationships. For
strengthening and reinforcing the new behaviour or changes in the way of working, the
employees should be rewarded, recognized and provided positive reinforcements, supporting
policies or structures can help in reinforcing the transformed ways of working.

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Resistance to change: Organizational inertia is the tendency for an organization as a whole to

resist change and want to maintain the status quo. Companies that suffer from inertia become
inflexible and can’t adapt to environmental or internal demands for change.

Change is constant and unavoidable. However, human behaviour has repeatedly shown a
resistance to change in the existing methods and ways of doing work. Organizations, for the
advancement of business processes, require constant adaptation to changes. However,
organizational resistance to change acts as a major hindrance in the path of development and
success of an organization. Such resistance to organizational change brings in the need for
defined change management.
The main causes of change in an organization:

 Business strategy and structure change

 Mergers and acquisitions

 Product reaching the end of the life cycle

 Changes in government priorities

So, the influencing factors for organizational change can be both internal as well as external.

Resistance to Change Meaning in Organizational Context

The resistance to change meaning can be defined as a major obstacle in the way of development
with new technology and methodologies. Change in the techniques and organizational structure
comes at regular intervals. However, with pre-existing methods, individuals become reluctant to
learn and implement the new techniques bringing in a resistance to change. Resistance can be in
the form of protests and strikes by employees, or even in the form of implicit behaviour. The

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organization with its managers must take up initiatives in managing resistance to change and in
the process develop a gradual adaptation to change ensuring productivity as well as efficiency at
work.
Reasons for Resistance to Change
The common causes of resistance to change in all organizations are stated below:

 People are not willing to go out of their comfort zones defined by some existing methods
for learning something new.

 Changes in methods and techniques come with a change in power, responsibilities as well
as influence. Organizational resistance to change comes in from people negatively
affected by the changes implemented.

 Insecurity, laziness and lack of creative approach make people cling to the pre-existing
customs there by resisting changes.
Types of Resistance to Change
The types of resistance to change are stated below:

1. Logical Resistance: Such resistances come in with the time genuinely required in adaptation
and adjustment to changes. For example, with the advent of talkies, the movie production houses
had to shift techniques in the change from silent movies to talkies. This, in a very logical sense,
took time for the sound engineers and even the filmmakers to adapt.
2. Psychological Resistance: Often resistance to change in change management comes with the
psychological factor of fear of embracing the unknown, or even from hatred for the management
and other mental factors like intolerance to changes.
3. Sociological Resistance: Sometimes resistances come not for particular individuals but from a
group of individuals. In such cases, individuals do not allow their acceptance with the fear of
breaking ties with the group.
Managing Resistance to Change
An organization’s effort in managing resistance to change should come with proper education
and training of the employees of the changes implemented. For a smooth change to facilitate, the
organization has to take care of the considerations stated below:

 Changes should come in stages. A one-time major change would straightaway put
operations into a stop.
 Changes should not affect the security of workers.
 Leadership qualities in managers with initial adaptations would gradually encourage
employees to do so.
 An opinion must be taken from the employees who will ultimately be subject to the
changes.
 Educating the employees and training them with the new methodology will boost up their
confidence and build their efficiency.

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The basic resistance to change theory defines the resistance to change meaning as the reluctance
of people to adapt to the changes and to cling to the pre-existing customs and methods, mostly
due to the fear of facing the unknown and its possible negative effects. The management of an
organization must be well aware of the various aspects of resistance to organizational change and
be trained if the need arises, in methods of managing resistance to change. This is crucial for a
smooth transition and restoration of organizational harmony.
Overcoming Resistance
Although change will always come with opposition, it is certainly possible to overcome it.
Managers should strive to help their employees adapt to changes and facilitate new variations in
performance.
First, managers must be able to convince employees that the changes they propose are necessary.
They should show how employees and the organization itself will benefit from these changes.

Second, managers can keep the following in mind to make changes smoothly:

 Changes should not happen all at once because they are easy to apply in stages.

 Changes should never create safety issues for employees.

 Managers should consider the views of all employees who will influence the proposed
change.

 If managers show leadership by first adapting to the changes themselves, the staff is less
likely to resist.

 Adequate staff training in advance can help them to accept change with confidence.

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