Investigating strategies to overcome change recipients' resistance to organisational reorientation: A salience perspective

Abstract

Drawing upon punctuated equilibrium theory, stakeholder salience theory and status quo bias theory, this research develops a framework for dealing with organisational change recipients’ resistance to change. Due to the effects on the organisational environment of political, legal, and technological triggers, organisations need to change in order to survive, remain competitive and prosper. However, deploying a given organisational change, and in particular radical change, is challenging for change managers. A major reason for this is change recipients’ resistance to change. Therefore, this research advances understanding of how to cope with change recipients’ resistance in times of organisational change, and specifically radical planned change i.e. reorientation. To do so, this research develops a framework that incorporates the salience level of change recipients in relation to reorientation program, which has not been considered in prior studies, in association with the modes and causes of their resistance to change to identify relevant strategies that address their resistance to change. The research methodology adopted for the research is qualitative case study. The findings are derived from 30 semi-structured interviews along with relevant documents from two cases (14 interviews from Case A and 16 interviews from Case B) that implemented an organisational reorientation program. The findings reveal that the three attributes of stakeholder salience theory (i.e. power, legitimacy, and urgency) are inadequate to identify the salience of change recipients in relation to change. In addition to these attributes, a further attribute is required, which defines the extent to which change recipients are affected by change namely the attribute of impact. Furthermore, the findings introduce seven strategies (negotiation and agreement, education, implicit coercion, persuasion by peers, two-way communication, facilitation, and rewards) that are effective for overcoming the resistance to change of recipients who belong to six salience classes and resist change for different reasons and to various levels. These findings make a theoretical contribution to each of the theories employed in the research, punctuated equilibrium theory, stakeholder salience theory, and status quo bias theory, as well as the extant literature regarding strategies to cope with change recipients’ resistance to change. The findings have implications for practice by introducing a diagnostic tool that change managers can use to explore the modes and causes of change recipients’ resistance as well as their levels of salience in relation to change.