MGT 30525 - ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Dr. K. A. S. P. Kaluarachchi
Senior Lecturer
Department of Management and Organization Studies
Faculty of Management and Finance
University of Colombo

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At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Define the concept of organizational change

Identify types of organizational changes

Identify resistances to organizational change and how to

manage them

Illustrate and describe an approach to organizational

change
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Organizational change refers to any alteration of:
people
structure, or
technology in an organization

It is making things different

Someone who acts as a catalyst and assumes the

responsibility for managing the change process is
recognized as the change agent
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(1) Changing structure – includes any alteration in
structural variables such as reporting relationships,
coordination mechanisms, employee
empowerment, or job redesign
(2) Changing technology – encompasses
modifications in the way work is performed or the
methods and equipments used
(3) Changing people – refers to changes in attitudes,
expectations, perceptions, and behavior of
individuals or groups (OD)
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 Types of Organizational Change…
Organizational Development (OD) is the term used to describe change
methods that focus on people and the nature and quality of interpersonal work
relationships
A technique for assessing
attitudes and perceptions, A method of changing behavior through
identifying discrepancies in unstructured group interaction
these, and resolving he
Sensitivity
differences by using survey Activities that help
training
information in feedback members learn how each
groups member thinks and
Team works
Survey More effective building
feedback interpersonal
work
relationships Changing the attitudes,
stereotypes, and perceptions hat
An outside Process Inter-group work groups have about each
consultant helps the consultation development other
manager understand
how interpersonal
processes affect the
way work

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 Resistances to Organizational Change
Individual Sources
Habits – when confronted with change, the
tendency to respond our accustomed ways
becomes a source of resistance
Security – people assume change threatens their
feeling of safety
Economic reasons – people are concerned that
they won’t be able to perform the new task when
pay is considered to evaluate performance
Fear for the unknown – change substitutes
ambiguity and uncertainty for the unknown
Selective perception – people hear what they
want to hear and they ignore information that
challenges the world they have created
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Organizational Sources
Structure – formalized regulations which have
been stabilized act as counterbalance to sustain
change
Dependence – interdependence among
subsystems hinder the actions of change
Group norms – even if individuals want to change
their behavior, group norms may act as a
constraint
Threat to expertise – changes in organizational
patterns may threaten the expertise of specialized
groups
Threat to power – change can threaten long-
established power relationship within the
organization
Resource limitation – the needed change can be
limited with the available resources
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Education and communication – helps employees see the
logic of OC

Participation – individuals feel difficult to resist a change

decision in which they participated

Building support and commitment – change agents can

offer a range of supportive efforts to reduce resistance

Implementing changes fairly – make sure employees see the

reason for the change, and perceive that the changes are
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being implemented
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consistently and fairly 7 7
Manipulation and cooptation – distorting facts to make
them appear more attractive. Cooptation is a form of both
manipulation an participation

Selecting people – selecting people who score high on

accepting and facilitating the change process

Coercion – the application of direct threats or force on the

resisters

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 Lewin’s Three-Step Model

Unfreezing Movement Refreezing

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Unfreezing - the status quo; changing to overcome the
pressures of both individual resistance and group conformity

Movement – to a desired end state; a change process that

transforms the organization from status quo to the desired
state

Refreezing – the new change to make it permanent;

stabilizing a change intervention by balancing driving and
resisting forces
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 Thank you very much!

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