Demystifying the Legend of Resistance to Change

Abstract

Nothing is permanent except change. Many authors stress that the reason for the failure of many change initiatives can be found in resistance to change. Resistance to change introduces costs and delays into the change process that are difficult to anticipate but must be taken into consideration. Undoubtedly the resistance to change is key topic in change management and should be seriously considered to help the organization achieve advantages of the transformation. Considering the importance of resistance to change, this paper aims to delve deeper in this field through theoretical exposition of the concept, elaborating more on the literature involving change, types of change coming up with the major reasons why change initiatives fail in some organizations. As the next step we define resistance and we classify its types and as the final analysis we introduce a new managerial approach for overcoming the resistance to change and ensuring the according-to-plan implementation of a change initiative.