Initial responses of the senior executive members were mixed. Feelings of excitement were reported, however, the majority expressed feelings of anxiety, confusion, fear, worry, and impossibility towards change.
These responses show high change resistance in the senior executive team. Resistance is often viewed as a hindrance rather than as a potentially useful score of information (Piderit, 2000). However, like all feedback, it is possible for resistance, if managed well, to have a functional value to the change management planning and implementation process (Ford & Ford, 2010). Managerial resistance may benefit the Lars Group by increasing change dialogue, providing useful information, and showing employee engagement.
Resistance can serve a useful function by increasing dialogue about change (Czarniawska, 1997; Fairclough, 1992). New conversations have difficulty competing with already existing conversations due to their unfamiliarity (Barrett et al, 1995) A challenge for the Lar Group is getting new conversations about the change action heard—and ultimately spoken—in enough places. Resistance supports this by keeping conversations about the change action
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Based on contemporary views of organisational change, resistance dialogue by senior executive members can enhance the Lars groups change initiatives by challenging any assumptions, and providing greater insight into the details of the workplace (Wooldridge et al, 2008). From this perspective change is viewed as multidirectional - a process benefited by consistent reflection, feedback, and revisement (Dawson, 2014). Feedback from management on any limitations of the change plan or implementation can and should be fed back into the change action’s design and implementation strategy to improve change action success (van Dam et al,