Running head: RESISTANCE AND COMMUNICATION
Walmart: Organization’s Level of Resistance and Communication Plan
Thomas Simmons
HRM 560 Managing Organizational Change
Strayer University
Dr. Carrie Cohill
November 25, 2015
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Walmart: Organization’s Level of Resistance and Communication Plan
In this paper I have researched methods of minimizing resistance to change, diagnosed
[Walmart]’s level of resistance, and constructed a solid communication plan to address resistance
to my change management initiative.
Section III: Resistance and Communication
Reasons for Resistance to Change
The following could be the possible reasons to resist the organizational change:
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Excess Uncertainty
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Non-reinforcing reward systems
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Things seem Different
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Concerns about competence
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Fear of failure
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Past resentments
Potential Causes and Sources of Resistance in [Walmart]
Three potential causes of resistance. 1.
Excess Uncertainty: Wal-Mart’s change may
seem to the employees to walk off a cliff blindfolded. This makes them resist the change. The
employees need to be certain about the process and this can be done by creating clear and simple
steps, timetables, milestones, etc. to overcome the uncertainty of views.
2.
Fear of Failure: With the sweeping changes in Wal-Mart in the jobs employees doubt
their capability to perform well and efficiently. This creates fear of failure in them and they resist
to changes as they are worried in adopting new work requirements.
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Things seem Different: As routines become habits and when the company will bring
change employees will become conscious and uncomfortable. They will not accept the difference
and avoid changes.
Three potential sources of resistance. The three potential sources of resistance in WalMart are non-reinforcing reward systems, past resentments and concerns about competence. The
non-reinforcing reward system implies that the stakeholders of Wal-Mart will resist the change if
they will not see any rewards as without a reward there is no motivation to support change. Past
resentments are also potential sources of resistance as it is difficult for the employees to forget
the past easily. Thus, leaders of Wal-Mart need to heal the past to make employees support
change. The third source is the concerns about competence, which happens when people think
they will not be able to be competence with the new system.
Plan for Minimizing Possible Resistance to Change Management Plan
Change management plan often faces resistance as the employees do not want to change
themselves. They first need to know how the change will affect them. A good strategy is
necessary to make change management plan work effectively. Change management is the
nonstop process and several of the organizations follow it routinely. This procedure goes for
accomplishing effective methods, labor and procedure for an association. The administration of
an association for the most part goes for a change for the most part due to its firm rivalry in
business because of globalization variable, mechanical advancement and demographic pattern.
Very few individuals cannot help contradicting the idea. However, few say that the association is
managing so as to perform great the significant changes inside the association.
There are two major challenges most organization faces:
1.
How to recognize the requirement for the change.
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What strategies should be there so mitigate these changes effectively?
If the changes that to be executed are implemented effectively then there becomes a reduction in
process failures, and it helps in preventing the aftermaths of the changes that have failed.
Consequently, morale of the employee increases and diminished commitment are also reduced.
The next step is to form a powerful guiding coalition so that the change process can be making
more effective. A team has created which will work towards making decisions about the change
management process and will guide at each and every step of the change process and this will be
done to reduce the time and make the process faults free. This team will comprise experts from
the organization itself.
The specialist team chosen by the management gave a new vision for favoring the achievement
and expansion of the organization. They also recommended some approaches to attain the vision
on a small phase of time. Having a vision is necessary while moving on the development of
organization. Changes are to be bought for the welfare of the company, and they all will focus on
the core values of the organization.
Relationship between Resistance to Change and Communication
Communication and the resistance to change are closely related to each other. Senior
leaders of Wal-Mart should realize the importance of change and plan further to make it a
successful plan. The changes should be considered a priority as they are very necessary to be
made. In the absence of these changes, the organization will operate normally but in the future,
there may become some problems. So, to avoid these potential problems, changes are made. The
Entire organization should take these changes serious and should try to mitigate these as soon as
possible.
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Three Communication Strategies
There is a need to adopt effective communication strategies to minimize the resistance to
the change management process. A good strategy only can be able to let employee understand
why the change is bring brought to them and to the organization. The three communication
strategies those can be used by Wal-Mart in order to make a good relationship between
administration and employees are given below1.
Mass communication: Mass communication involves using the webcasts, newsletters,
emails, or memos, etc. to communicate with the employees. This method is very cost effective
and is scalable. The only disadvantage with this method is that the message is conveyed to the
people impersonally.
2.
Interactive communication: Interactive communication involves the use of telephone
calls or chats with the employees. Employee will be allowed to ask question that are having in
their mind related to the change management plan. This method is also scalable and facilitates
two way communications.
3.
Face to face communication: Face to face communication is the method which affects the
employees most. It involves formal and informal meetings with the employees in which general
discussion occurs among the employees regarding the change.
One Communication Strategy that would be Applicable to [Walmart]
Among the above three communication strategies, the face to face communication
strategy is the best to be applied to Wal-Mart. Employees are hard to convince for change and to
convince them effectively it is essential to meet them personally and communicate to them about
the advantages that the change will bring to the organization and also resolve their doubts about
the change.
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Communication Plan for Change Initiative for [Walmart]
The communication plan designed for Wal-Mart to support the change initiatives will
include the following points to be communicated which are: the plans, goals and strategies of the
company to bring the change, wages, job security and workload and the new innovations to be
involved and their success criteria and the doubts of the stakeholders.
After acknowledging the things to be communicated, the question arises how? To communicate
the change plan with the employees, private meetings will be held, personalized and monthly
newsletter will be sent to them and the company’s website will be updated so that they can
remain updated. With the managerial staff, private meetings will be carried out to communicate
the points. To the disgruntled employees, crisis management training will be given to the
supervisors to clear their doubts occasionally. To communicate with the stockholders, private
meetings will be held with the CEO. And finally to communicate the change with the external
audience, news release and press conference will be held.
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References
Coch, L., & French Jr, J. R. (1948). Overcoming resistance to change. Human relations.
Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2014). Organization development and change. Cengage learning.
Hodges, J., & Gill, R. (2014). Sustaining Change in Organizations. SAGE.
Ihator, A. S. (2004). Corporate communication: reflections on twentieth century change.
Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 9(3), 243-253.
Walmart, (2015). Walmart: 2015 Annual Report. Retrieved November 23, 2015 from
http://s2.q4cdn.com/056532643/files/doc_financials/2015/annual/2015-annual-report.pdf
