Title: Challenging resistance to change from the top to the shop floor level: an exploratory study

Authors: Alain Vas

Addresses: Louvain School of Management – CRECIS, Universite catholique de Louvain, 1, Place des Doyens, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Abstract: Managerial discourse and related academic literature often portray resistance to change as an irrational phenomenon, something counterproductive, that is caused by a minority of workers affected, and which works to the detriment of a business. We suggest to re-examine the conventional wisdom with regard to the phenomenon of |resistance to change| considered as emanating exclusively from the lower echelons of an organisation. We use an in-depth case study method, focusing on a large-scale telecommunications company in order to analyse the mechanisms through which resistance to change is manifested at all levels of the organisation. Two main types of resistance emerge from our research: tacit and explicit resistance. These phenomena appear in various forms, depending on the category of the organisational actor concerned. Our research strongly indicates the importance of middle-level managers in the implementation of strategic organisational change.

Keywords: organisational change; forms of resistance; qualitative research; middle management; telecommunications industry; resistance to change; change management; strategic management; tacit resistance; explicit resistance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2009.024510

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2009 Vol.1 No.3, pp.212 - 230

Published online: 07 Apr 2009 *

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