The change inevitably is subject to reaction.

This reaction to change can lead toward resistance to

change thus having negative impact on the ultimate purpose of change. While there can be many types
of resistance to change in the organization, I will focus my analysis particularly on Le Chic Restaurant’s
employee reaction to change. In order to analyse I will utilize Krikpatrick’s Typology of Reaction to
Change [ CITATION Don01 \l 1033 ].

Existing Employee Arrangement

It is important to mention here that what is existing employees’ situation for Le Chic Restaurant. There
are currently 35 employees. Out of 35 employees, half are permanent contract staff members while
other half is combination of part-time and relief worker which are utilized on need basis. It is important
to mention here that there is no properly implemented Human Resource system in Le Chic Restaurant.
Employment contracts are negotiation with employees on case to case basis. This demonstrates gap
between employees and employers due to lack of attention to existing employee needs. There is always
a great chance that in the absence of adequately functioning Human Resource Department, employee
resistance tends to increase.

New Employee Arrangement

As per proposed change, Le Chic Restaurant will become a chain restaurant by redecorating existing
place and set up of two new restaurants in different cities. There is a plan to hire 60 more employees in
these restaurants coupled with on-job-training.

Krikpatrick’s Topology of Change

Krikpatirick proposed that employee reaction is a product of how individual employee will gain or lose
from the change[ CITATION Don01 \l 1033 ]. In other words, there is direct link between employee gain
or lose from intended change and resulting reaction. From the point of view gain or lose, it is quite
logical to state that those employees who are expecting gain from the change will support change as
compared to the someone who will lose from the change.

There can be three types of feelings among employees demonstrated by three types of employees with
regards to change:

Positive Feelings = Enthusiastic Employees

These are the type of employees who benefited from the change. Change turned out to be positive for
them and they gain from it. Due to this factor they are positive and excited about change. They support
change implementation. As per Krikpatirick there can be many reasons of positive feelings among
enthusiastic employees. Most of the time change results in material benefits in the form of higher
salary, better designation, improved working conditions etc.

Negative Feelings = Unhappy Employees

As opposed to positive feelings, negative feelings are due factors like job insecurity, sacrificing personal
office space, lack of job opportunities, increase in transportation cost etc. All of these feelings result in
unhappy or dissatisfied employees. Due to all the mentioned negative feelings these type of employees
react negatively. The sense of lost is prevailing in unhappy happy employees. In other words, unhappy
employees anticipate nothing good out of change.
Mixed Feeling = Neutral Employees

This type of reaction is demonstrated by those employees who got gain as well lost from change. Sense
of both gain and lost eventually results in neutral employees. For example, employee might get higher
status but at the cost of travel time and transportation cost. For Neutral employees gain or lose are
equated. Due to this factor they neither support or resist change.

Application of Krikpatrick’s Topology of Change in Le Chic Restaurant

Positive Feelings = Enthusiastic Employees

 It is expected that majority of existing employees will gain from intended change. Because
employees are expecting gain, they are supposed to be enthusiastic employees thus support
change. Following are the factors which will contribute to positive feelings and gain for existing
employees:
 Existing employees will expect better human resource development attention due to recent
change in top management of Le Chic Restaurant.
 Better training and development opportunities.
 Better working condition.
 Use of technology will ultimately assist employees as well in their daily operations.

Negative Feelings = Unhappy Employees

Some of the existing employees and part-timers might feel negative because they will expect lost from
the change. This can due to following reason:

 Because of new hiring of 60 employees it is expected that existing employees feel dilution of
their existing status.
 There might be increase in transportation cost if existing employees are deputed to new
locations.
 Fear if new change in top management can result in negative feelings.

Mixed Feelings = Neutral Employees

Some employees of Le Chic Restaurant can get mixture of both gain and lost. Due to mixed feelings they
are expected to stay neutral i.e. neither accepting nor resisting change. This type of behaviour can be
due to:

 Expectation that status and learning opportunities will increase.

 Negative feeling that transportation cost and competition will increase.