Employees' Resistance to Change: A Literature Review and Conceptual Models

Abstract

This paper analyzes the notion of employees' resistance against organizational change. Having first examined the notion and the types of organizational change, it explores the phenomenon of resistance in the course of time and how this phenomenon is regarded currently; not as a de facto “bad thing,” but as an action that, under correct management, can offer advantages to the organization. It analyzes the three dimensions of this resistance (behavioral, cognitive and affective) as well as the types with which resistance appears. It also explores the main factors that create resistance and how these factors can be limited or become managed. The notion of the employees' resistance is interwoven with the notion of organizational change, thus a series of models linking these two concepts over time are analyzed, concluding how both of them can coexist harmonically, creatively, and usefully for the prosperity of the organization and the well-being of the employees.