Employees are initially reluctant to change, and business managers have realised this. They possess in-depth knowledge of the internal and external business environment and they understand the reasons why changes needed to be introduced. The potential pushback from staff is something businesses have to be prepared for if they want to introduce new developments within the business.
Employees may be initially reluctant and resistent to changes within the business for a magnitude of reasons; these could include:
| Reasoning | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Fear of failure | Employees may be afraid that they will not be able to cope with the changes in the workplace, e.g. the introduction of new production processes. | |
| Redundancy | Employees may feel the changes introduced will lead to redundancy, e.g. new machinery replacing workers. | |
| Loss of control | Changes to a regular routine can make an employee feel that they are losing control of their work life. This can make some employees uncooperative when changes are introduced. | |
| Lack of rewards | Employees may feel that they should be rewarded for accepting changes in the business, e.g. a bonus payment. This may cause industrial relations conflict with management. | |
| Laziness | Some employees will resist change as it will require them to make more of an effort to learn new processes or systems in the workplace. | |