In management, a major issue businesses encounter is resistance to change. Resistance to change can cause even the most successful companies to derail. There are many ways companies try to prevent resistance to change by practicing participation, education, facilitation, and coercion. Through these efforts business can be able to change with customer demand and be able to operate successfully.
Participation is the first effective technique for reducing resistance to change. When employees are involved in the change effort, they are more likely to embrace change rather than resist it. For example, a company that asks for its employee's opinions on major changes will have less resistance than one that just forces the changes without any discussion. This approach lowers resistance more effectively than just hoping your employees are accepting toward change.
The second technique for resisting change is education. When management educates employees on company changes, they become more receptive toward the changes. When education is communicated correctly it helps employees see the logic in the change effort. An example of this would be a cell phone company sending in experts to teach employees a new method of fixing cell phones. The workers will be more accepting of the new technique once they are educated on it.
Facilitation is the third technique for resisting change. This is where management can head off potential resistance to change by supporting their workers emotionally. Companies can offer help that counters fear and anxiety employees could be feeling about change. For example, some companies have their own counselor that is available to their employees. Also other companies give time off to workers who are emotionally distressed. This is not the most cost effective technique, but it has been proven to be quite effective.
The last technique for helping employees cope with change is coercion. This is taking the opposite approach to facilitation. In this technique managers implicitly or explicitly force employees into accepting change. Companies will make it clear that if change is not accepted, workers will be punished in some way. They can threaten to fire employees, hold back promotions, and hold back bonuses. This technique does not appeal to employee's emotions and is seen as one of the harshest ways to enforce change.
There are many ways management has tried to cope with employee's resistance to change. Sometimes multiple techniques can be used to make sure your business is not change resistant. It is the manager's job to decide which of these methods will work best of their employees. How effective the method is reflects directly on the management.