Resistance to change : a comparison between causes of resistance, gender and employment level.

Abstract

The most important component of change management is the employee's endorsement or "buy in" of the new process. Many managers underestimate this aspect (Wilbur, 1999:12). Developing new processes and systems are relatively easy compared to "changing behaviour and managing people's emotional responses ... " (Wilbur,1999:13) As common as change is in today's organizations, employees still do not like it, and display amazing resistance. The purpose of this study is to investigate the causes of resistance to change that affects males and females in junior and management level in an organization. It is hoped that the results obtained from the study will provide a greater understanding of the causes of resistance that affects employees' in an organization. Furthermore, to understand if causes of resistance affect the genders, i.e. if certain causes of resistance affects females more than males.