Strategies to Overcome Organisational Resistance

8/12/2019 Strategies to Overcome Organisational Resistance

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STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME ORGANISATIONAL RESISTANCE.

SOURCES OF ORGANISATIONAL RESISTANCE :

Factor built in the organizational system also lead to resistance to change. It has been observed that

organizations are conservative and are therefore slow to change.

1. Inertia of a structure:A number of built-in mechanisms provide stability to organizations. Every

organization has got its own systems, processes, policies, and procedures, which ought to be followed for

uniformity and formalization of the process. Consequently any change in the structural aspects has

cascading effect on other related systems and processes. This creates a hurdle in introducingorganizational change. In organizations where structural changes are introduced, it takes long for people

to accept and assimilate the structural change.

2. Threat to power dynamics:Structural change with ensuing changes in decision-making pattern can

destabilize power relationships established over a period of time. Change in decision-making process from

centralize decision making process to participative or democratic decision-making process form

centralized decision-making can threaten managers affected by it.

3. Group pressure :Group norms evolved by an organization over the years become a bottleneck in

bringing about change. It is common observation that a single member of a group accepts changesuggested by management willingly. However, his group affiliation with a union does not allow him to do

so. Therefore, he is likely to resists change.

4. Blinkered view of change : Any organization consists of four elements namely task, structure,

technology, and people. Focus on any one of the elements of the organization will bring about

corresponding change in other elements as well. Therefore, change can not have lopsided and limited

perspective.

Brief about the organization referring to:

ECO-CARE & AWAREis a non profit organization providing training and support service to

Developmental Sector. Support services includes planning and formulation of developmental projects,

technical support during implementation, Monitoring & Evaluation, Training and Capacity Building,

Research & Study, Micro Planning & PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal).The organization caters its best

services for the judicious use of Natural, Human and Physical resources.
http://www.ecocare.in/http://www.ecocare.in/http://www.ecocare.in/


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The areas of activities include Environment, Watershed Development, Forestry, Biodiversity, Sanitation,

Minor Irrigation, Biotechnology, Sustainable Agriculture, Horticulture, Capacity Building, Micro Finance,

Training and Awareness.

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TO OVER COME THE RESISTANCE :

1. Counseling:counseling has been found to be very effective in reducing individual resistance.

Individual resistance occurs because of anxieties and fears and by letting people talk through their

problems and anxieties can help them come to terms with change. This techniques is used on one-to-one

and also in formal communication system with the whole team.

2. Force-field analysis :this technique provides an assessment of any change situation and presents a

balance between the driving forces and the resisting forces. The participants are advised by the change

agent to identify these forces. While identifying the restraining forces the group develops insight about

ways of handling them. In a number of organizations this technique is used effectively to create a sharedchange processes for thinking through specific changes.

3. Commitment Charting :in any change there will be people who gain and others who lose.

Therefore, in order to get the commitment of the people who are likely to loose, it is important to handle

them with care, as they will be sensitive to any action. For a change to succeed it is important to have a

critical mass and also to minimize the pain it causes to the affected. In order to do that a chart is prepared

listing the names of key players and their commitment level to the change. The chart indicates the status

of the people who have commitment at present and whose commitment needs to be ensured for change to

be successful. Also the people who have no commitment need to be focused for gaining commitment.

In this regard our organization follows the ways as suggested by Watson (1969) to reduce the resistance.

These relate to ownership of change, nature of change and the process of changing.

Ownership :resistance is likely to be low if the change is perceived as being the need of and suggested

(sense of belongingness ) by those affected by it. And when it has the top management support.

Nature of Change :Resistance is reduced by joint and agreed diagnosis of the problems and burdens,

conforming to the core values of the group, offering new and interesting experience to the group, and does

not threaten autonomy and security.

Change process :Resistance is reduced by joint and agreed diagnosis of the problem, consensus on the

board design of change, listening to objections(and learning from them), periodical review and feedback,

development of high interpersonal trust and cohesive teams and openness to revision. Various sources of

resistance and the coping mechanisms as followed by our organization are discussed below :

Sources of Resistance Coping Mechanism


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1. Perceived peripherality of change : Participation in diagnosis

2. Perception of Imposition : Participation and involvement

3. Indifference of top management : Active support from the top

4. Vested interest : Fait accompli

5. Complacency and inertia : Fait accompli

6. Fear of large scale disturbance : Phasing of Change

7. Fear of inadequate resources : Support the resources

8. Fear of obsolescence : Development of skill

9. Fear of loss of Power : Role of redefinition and reorientation

10. Fear of overload : Role clarity and definition

1. Perceived peripherality of change :If the executives perceive that the change being introduced in

the organization is not critical for them of their unit, they are likely to resist such a change.

Implementation of change can be effective if the change introduced is seen as critical and useful. This is

achieved by involving the concerned managers in the diagnosis of the issues or problems, so that they can

appreciate the need for change. Their attitude to the innovation introduced will then be positive.

2. Perception of Imposition: Similarly, when the managers in our organization see the change as

being imposed by the head office, they are likely to resist the change. Such resistance can be reduced by

involving them in the introduction of change at several stages. This can be done through seminars, work

groups to evolve the various parts of the change programme, and task forces to work out details of

implementation. Participation of the managers at various stages of the change increases the commitment

to change.

3. Indifference of top management :The behaviour and attitude of the top management are critical

in the implementation of change. When top management do not show much enthusiasm or interest in the

change, the people at lower level will put up increased resistance to it. The top management so show their

interest in our organization by frequently getting information and feedback on the progress of the change,

participating in seminars organized to discuss the experiences, meeting new occupants of new roles


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created as a part of change, providing positive strokes (encouragement and appreciation) on the success

experiences, and monitoring the experiment in the significant documents such as the annual report, etc.

4. Vested interest :Change produces some disturbance, and sometimes some dislocation. When our

organization creates new units, which are located in the smaller towns, people moving to smaller towns

from capital cities will face problems and experience inconvenience. As a result of this they are likely to

resist the change. They may, of course, give different reasons, which may appear logical. However, once

they go and work in the smaller towns, they do enjoy the change and also see its positive aspects.

5. Complacency and inertia :as a general rule, change produces discomfort. People develop

complacency while being in one state. The change of state is somewhat painful. The solution of the

problem is to introduce change and help people experience new conditions. Then the resistance usually

goes down.

6. Fear of large scale disturbance: In our organization there may be genuine fear that proposedchanges is to lead with unpredictable consequences. This is particularly happens when the changes are in

sensitive areas, and require skills. As already discussed phasing of the change programme may reduce

resistance arising out of this dimension. Preventive sanction such experimentation, adjustment, phasing,

etc may be helpful.

7. Fear of inadequate resources: Resistance sometimes increase if the implementation of change

requires additional resources in the form of new skills, additional manpower, or budget. Provision of such

resources support may reduce resistance. It is examined whether this is genuine need of resources or not.

When new units are created with greater autonomy the support of planning, personnel and technology

may be provided to help the units to succeed in meeting their objectives.

8. Fear of obsolescence:Resistance to change is high if the change requires new skills and the existing

people may feel that because of lack of those skills they may become obsolete. This may be a real threat.

Resistance are partly reduced by providing right orientation and training for the new skills needed. Eg

introduction of HRD succeeded after the existing functionaries in the personal or organizational planning

departments are given enough training in the new function as to make them feel confident in carrying out

these effectively.

9. Fear of loss of Power :sometimes resistance is high when there is a feeling that as a result of change

some roles will lose power. For example, creation of new planning roles arises a fear that planning

functionaries may not get the operational powers. This resistance is reduced when the roles are redefined

and redesignated so that the concerned role occupants can perceive that they may have different kinds of

power , of high order although different in nature. This involved roles helped to realize the power.

10. Fear of overload :when some people feel that the change will increase their work load, they are

likely to resist change. This happens if they perceive new functions are being assigned to their roles. So by


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clearly defining their roles, they are able to prioritie the functions, and decide which functions can be

delegated to their subordinates, the resistance can be reduced. So we organize seminar on role definition

and clarity, and negotiation for delegation some functions.

Almost half (45 percent) of Indian organizations are concerned about the security and privacy of

their enterprise mobility initiatives, the second highest figure in the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ)

region after China, according to a new global study. The study surveyed 1,300 senior IT leaders

worldwide and shows that 43 percent of Indian companies are deploying mobility initiatives to

increase the security of mobile access to data and applications. Despite these concerns, Indian

organizations are advancing faster than every country in APJ apart from China in their adoption

of a single, company-wide mobility strategy. Nearly all (85 percent) of respondents either have a

strategy already or plan to do so within 12 months. This compares with 95 percent in China, 60percent in Singapore and 49 percent in Japan.

Indian organizations that have been successful with their mobility initiatives have experienced

anywhere from a 21 to 31 percent improvement in business in the form of increased revenue,

faster time-to-market, improved competitive positioning, enhanced customer experience, better

employee productivity and lower costs. The countrys 31 percent increase in employee

productivity is the highest in the region. According to the findings, successful enterprise mobility

deployment has moved beyond supporting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and requires

specific strategies targeted at the balanced servicing of customer, IT and employee needs. The

report also reveals that 46 percent of Indian companies are giving priority to external customer-

facing mobile apps and device support initiatives, compared with 36 percent who are prioritizing

internal BYOD IT projects. It indicates customer-facing mobile initiatives are business-critical

and need to be addressed with the same sense of urgency as internal efforts. Customer-facing

initiatives are seen as means to better address customer demands and improve the customer

experience and satisfaction overall. The benefits Indian organizations are seeing are mainly

concentrated on the customer, rather than employees. Some 56 percent of Indian respondents,

for example, have seen more customers using the companys software/services (the highest

figure in the region), while 49 percent have experienced accelerated time to market for new

products/services and 46 percent have seen an increase in customer satisfaction.

Today, CIOs are under enormous pressures to address the rapid pace of technology changeand evolution. Mobility has dramatically elevated the complexity of what is needed both for

internal users and customer-facing systems, said Vic Mankotia, Vice President, Solution

Strategy, APJ, CA Technologies. Mobile security is crucial. Unless organizations adopt an

effective and integrated mobile device management technology, the mobile devices quickly

become mobile paperweights. The potential of not complying with key regulations, inadvertent

dissemination of corporate information, or negatively impacting brand reputation because of a

poor mobile application shopping experience, are just a few examples of risks faced by


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organizations that do not have an enterprise-wide mobility strategy.

In India, its all about the customer: Apart from the need to increase security, the main drivers of

mobility initiatives are increased demand from customers using mobile devices (43 percent) and

improved customer support (31 percent) IT now has the opportunity to be proactive, not

reactive: BYOD was all about IT reacting to demands from employees. Now, mobile apps

provide a new opportunity to drive new business initiatives. o The proportion of IT spending on

mobility by Indian organizations will increase by 15 percent over three years o The proportion of

expenditure on mobility outside of IT will also grow by 11 percent over three years, indicating

that IT departments need to prepare for not only for more mobility work in general, but also for

inter-departmental mobility projects. Mobility changes the way the business operates: Indian

organizations have had to make changes in the wake of the increased adoption of mobile

devices: o 41 percent have had to rethink their IT strategy o 36 percent have had to redesign

their security strategy and policies o 31 percent have had to change the structure of the

organization and re-align roles and responsibilities There has been a paradigm shift in the way

businesses in India demand new solutions. CIOs today are highly aware of the IT environments

and are also showing massive interest in having a bipolar engagement with the consumers,streamlining their operations and capitalizing on new sources of revenue and most importantly,

delivering exceptional services to clients. With disruptive trends such as mobility, the debate is

no longer around whether to enable a mobile workforce. Its more about deciding which devices

to support, and how to develop the infrastructure that is needed to support these devices, sa id

Sunil Mangalore, Managing Director, CA Technologies India.

Strategy adopted for Financial Inclusion

One of the major challenges for next decade or more to banks in the country is to capture the bankingbusiness of over 50% population of this country of over 1.2 billion people. Poor people need to beprovided with access to financial products at low transaction cost. They need to be provided assistanceon the demand side (in terms of financial awareness and literacy) as well as on the supply side (in theform of availability of customized financial products). Taking into account their seasonal inflow of incomefrom agricultural operations, migration from one place to another seasonal and irregular work availabilityand income, the existing financial system needs to be designed to suit their requirements and to be moreresponsive to their needs. No doubt banks and regulators play a major role in this, but we also need tothink beyond traditional ways and delivery channels to speed up the efforts.

Dr. Raghuram Rajan, Hon'ble Governor, RBI has powerfully enunciated the need for broad baseddiversified growth leading to rapid reduction in poverty. Governor has also laid down RBI's developmentalmeasures for the near future on five pillars and one of the most important pillar amongst them is Financial

Inclusion where the objective is to expand access of finance to small and medium enterprises, theunorganized sector, the poor, and remote and underserved areas of the country.

The approach adopted for achieving the objectives under Financial Inclusion

RBIs perspective on Financial Inclusion aims at giving a specific direction to the collaborated efforts togain synergic benefits. Therefore, we have defined Financial Inclusion as the process of ensuring accessto appropriate financial products and services needed by all sections of the society in general and


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vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups in particular at an affordable cost in afair and transparent manner by mainstream institutional players .

Reserve Bank of India has made sustained efforts to increase the penetration of formal financial servicesin unbanked areas, while continuing with its policy of ensuring adequate but viable flow of credit to prioritysectors of the economy. We have adopted a structured, planned and integrated approach towards FI

which is focusing on improving access to financial services and also encouraging demand for financialservices through financial literacy initiatives. Some of the defining features of our approach to FI are:

Institutional Mechanism

Under the institutional mechanism put in place for financial inclusion, we have the Financial Stability andDevelopment Council (FSDC), which has an exclusive mandate for financial inclusion and financialliteracy. A separate Technical Group on financial inclusion and financial literacy, under the Chairmanshipof a Deputy Governor, has been set up under the aegis of FSDC. The Group has representations from allthe financial sector regulators. In order to spearhead efforts towards greater financial inclusion, RBI hasconstituted a Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee (FIAC) under the Chairmanship of DeputyGovernor. The FIAC has few Directors from the Central Board of RBI and experts drawn from NGOsector/other civil society representatives, etc. as members. At the State level, there are State Level

Bankers Committee (SLBC) further supported by Lead District Managers (671 Districts) at the districtlevel.

Bank led Model

In India, we have adopted a bank- led model for financial inclusion, which seeks to leverage ontechnology. The FI initiatives would have to be ICT based and would ride on new delivery models thatwould need to be developed by the market participants to best suit their requirements.

Our experience has shown that the goal of financial inclusion is better served through mainstreambanking institutions as only they have the ability to offer the suite of products required to bring ineffective/meaningful financial inclusion. Other players such as mobile companies have been allowed topartner with banks in offering services collaboratively.

Integrated approach Financial Inclusion & Financial Literacy

Considering that financial Literacy is an important adjunct for promoting financial inclusion, consumerprotection and ultimately financial stability, RBI has adopted an integrated approach wherein effortstowards Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy would go hand in hand.

Bouquet of Financial products

In the absence of banks a large number of informal intermediaries had mushroomed, mostly in the ruralareas, which were acting as proxy to the banks. Such unregulated entities were in the business ofextending only credit products that too at exorbitant rates of interest mostly to the illiterate section of the

population. This had resulted in huge indebtedness amongst the poor people. With our renewed effortsunder financial inclusion we have now advised banks to ensure that all the financial needs of thecustomers are met by offering, at the minimum, four basic products to customers, viz.


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The idea is to ensure that customers who are linked to the banking system is provided with all the basicfinancial products that are required to enhance their income generation capacity thus helping them tocome out of poverty. Such an initiative is expected to be a win-win situation for both banks as also thelarge section of poor people residing in the rural areas.

Combination of Branch and BC Structure

We are advocating a combination of Brick and Mortar structure with Click and Mouse technology for

extending financial inclusion, especially in geographically dispersed areas. Banks have to make effectiveuse of technology to provide banking services in remote areas. In addition to creating a large network ofsmall branches in rural areas, the Reserve Bank has permitted banks to utilise the services ofintermediaries in providing banking services through the use of business correspondents. The BC modelallows banks to do cash in - cash out transactions at a location much closer to the rural population, thusaddressing the last mile problem.

Leveraging on Technology

Penetrating banking services through the traditional brick and mortar model was expensive for banks. Werealized that the task of Financial Inclusion was gigantic and would not be possible without activelyleveraging on technology. We have therefore encouraged banks to leverage on technology to attaingreater reach and penetration for minimizing the cost of providing financial services in far flung areas of

the country. With adoption of technology it has been possible for banks to deliver banking products andservices to the doorsteps of villages.

Engaging Business Correspondents: The Reserve Bank has permitted banks to engage BusinessFacilitators (BFs) and Business Correspondents (BCs) as intermediaries for providing financial andbanking services. The BC Model allows banks to provide door step delivery of services especially to docash in - cash out transactions, thus addressing the last mile problem. The list of eligibleindividuals/entities who can be engaged as BCs are being widened from time to time and we have


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adopted a test and learn approach to this process. Now, even for profit organisations excluding NBFCsand Telcos have been permitted to operate as BCs of banks.

Relaxation of KYC norms:The strict KYC norms inhibited linkage of common people with the BankingSystem. Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for opening bank accounts have been relaxed forsmall accounts. Further, in order to leverage on the initiative of UIDAI, we have allowed Aadhaar as one

of the eligible document for meeting KYC requirements and very recently have also allowed banks toprovide e-KYC services provided through the Aadhaar platform.

Simplified branch authorisation: To address the issue of uneven spread of bank branches, branchlicensing norms have been relaxed considerably and banks are now free to open branches in centres withpopulation less than 1 lakh under general permission, subject to reporting.

Opening of branches in unbanked rural centres:To further step up the opening of branches in ruralareas, banks have been mandated to open at least 25 per cent of the branches in unbanked ruralcentres. To help facilitate achieving this mandate, banks have been advised to open to open smallintermediary brick and mortar structures between the base branch and the unbanked villages. The idea isto create an eco-system for ensuring efficient delivery of services, efficiency in cash management,redressal of customer grievances and closer supervision of BC operations. This is expected to facilitate

quicker branch expansion in unbanked rural centres.

Financial Inclusion Plan of banks

We have encouraged banks to adopt a structured and planned approach to financial inclusion withcommitment at the highest levels, through preparation of Board approved Financial Inclusion Plans(FIPs). The first phase of FIPs was implemented over the period 2010-2013. The Reserve Bank has usedthe FIPs to gauge the performance of banks under their FI initiatives. In this direction we have put inplace a structured and comprehensive monitoring mechanism for evaluating banks performance vis --vistheir targets. To ensure support of the Top Management of the Bank to the Financial Inclusion processand to ensure accountability of the senior functionaries of the bank, one on one annual review meetingsare held with CMDs/CEOs of banks.A snapshot of the progress made by banks under the Financial Inclusion Plan during the period from April

2010 to March 2013 are as follows:-

Banking outlets in villages have increased to nearly 2,68,000 from 67,694 outlets in March 2010.

About 7,400 rural branches have been opened during this 3-year period compared with areduction of about 1300 rural branches during the last two decades.

Nearly 109 million Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDAs) have been added, taking thetotal number of BSBDA to 182 million. The share of ICT-based accounts has increasedsubstantially. The percentage of ICT accounts to total BSBDAs increased from 25 per cent inMarch 2010 to 45 per cent in March 2013.

With the addition of nearly 9.48 million farm sector households during this period, 33.8 millionhouseholds have been provided with small entrepreneurial credit as at the end of March 2013.

With the addition of nearly 2.24 million nonfarm sector households during this period, 3.6 millionhouseholds have been provided with small entrepreneurial credit as at the end of March 2013.

About 490 million transactions have been carried out in ICT-based accounts through BCs duringthe three-year period.

Banking outlets


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We have now created a large banking network and have also managed to open a large number of smallaccounts. The focus under the FI plan has now shifted towards leveraging the banking network createdfor extending other products viz. credit, etc. which will help make the business more viable for banks. Thiswould also ensure that the large number of accounts opened see large volume of transactions takingplace and people reap the benefits of getting linked to the formal financial institutions.

Roadmap for providing Banking Services in unbanked villages: With financial inclusion gainingincreasing recognition as a business opportunity and with all banks geared to increase presence, weadopted a phase-wise approach to provide banking services in all unbanked villages in the country. Oncompletion of the first phase where nearly 74000 villages with population more than 2000 were providedwith a banking outlet, we are now in the second phase where the remaining unbanked villages,numbering close to 4,90,000, have been identified in villages less than 2000 population and allocated tobanks, for opening of banking outlets by Match 2016. Under the roadmap for provision of bankingfacilities in villages with less than 2000 population, SLBC, Madhya Pradesh has identified and allotted47660 unbanked villages among various, out of which 18986 unbanked villages are required to becovered by March 2014.

Direct Benefit TransferThe GoI has plans to route the social security payments through the bankingnetwork by leveraging on the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System based platform. In order to ensure

smooth roll out of the Governments Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) initiative, banks have been advised toopen accounts of all eligible individuals and to seed the existing and new accounts with Aadhaarnumbers.

Financial Literacy We have realized that Financial Literacy is an important adjunct for promotingfinancial inclusion. We have adopted an integrated approach, wherein our efforts towards FinancialInclusion and Financial Literacy go hand in hand. Through Financial literacy and education, wedisseminate information on the general banking concepts to diverse target groups, including school andcollege students, women, rural and urban poor, pensioners and senior citizens to enable them to makeinformed financial decisions. To support this we have nearly 800 financial literacy centres set up bybanks. We have designed a mass scale Financial Literacy Program with an objective to integrate thefinancially excluded population with low level of income and low literacy level with the formal financialsystem. Financial Literacy Centres organize Outdoor Literacy camps which are spread over a period of

three months and delivered in three phases wherein along with creating awareness, accounts are alsoopened in the Literacy camps.

Way forward - Issues and Challenges

Structure

With adoption of new branchless delivery channels by banks, there is a need for banks to revamp thestructure for carrying out banking operations. There cannot be a fixed structured defined which can beadopted by all the banks. Each bank has to based on its current architecture develop a structure that canenhance its financial inclusion efforts. This would entail the following:-

Review of the HR policies with respect to recruitment of staff in view of the FI requirements.

Separate cadre of staff can be thought off for catering to the needs of providing banking servicesin far flung rural areas.

Banks have to think and act differently and make themselves more flexible so as to meet eventhe smallest requirements of the rural population.

BC Model

There are many challenges being faced while implementing BC model. Sustainability and scalability ofthe BC model is essential. More and more innovative products will have to be introduced which would


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benefit both banks as well as the rural people and at the same time make the BC model more viable.Review of the cash management practices for delivery of banking services through the branchless modesneed to be done for ensuring scaling up of the various models.

Transactions

During the first phase of our FI initiative, we have had success as regards opening of banking outlets bybanks and also in opening bank accounts for large number of individuals. Going forward our idea is toenable more transactions in these accounts by providing more credit products, which will not only helprural people to avail of credit at comparatively lower rates of interest but at the same time also make theBC model viable for banks. Banks have been advised to leverage upon the Direct Benefit Transferinitiative of the Government of India for linking all the individuals to the banking system and for utilizingthe large amounts likely to be credited in these accounts for encouraging issue of deposit and creditproducts.

Collaboration

Finally, financial inclusion cannot be achieved without the active involvement of all stakeholders like RBI,other financial regulators, banks, governments, NGOs, civil societies, etc. The current policy objective of

inclusive growth with financial stability cannot be achieved without ensuring universal financial inclusion.Banks alone will not be able to achieve this unless an entire support system would be partnering withthem in this mission. All the stakeholders need to join hands and make it possible.

These are the strategy adopted by IT firms and financial inclusions in india for resistance to change, so

that the firms and companies can survive proper in the market.

Strategies to Overcome Organisational Resistance

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