Comments on: Obstacles and Challenges During Major Organizational Changes http://orgreadiness.com/2008/04/15/obstacles-and-challenges-during-major-organizational-changes.html Perspectives on Change Leadership and Change Management Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:01:34 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Stephen Rock http://orgreadiness.com/2008/04/15/obstacles-and-challenges-during-major-organizational-changes.html/comment-page-1#comment-3 Stephen Rock Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:42:53 +0000 http://orgreadiness.com/2008/04/15/obstacles-and-challenges-during-major-organizational-changes/#comment-3 Thanks for the observation. I have a couple responses. 1) the statistic is 70% of the time the change runs into resistance from employees - not 70% of the employees resist the change. You are right though - if folks misinterpret the statistic, then it misled. (I play a game with my kids on statistics with the weather report by asking the question - is that 50% chance of of rain in 100% of the area, or is it 100% chance of rain in 50% of the area? Either way, the weather forecaster is correct by saying a 50% chance of rain. I'm going to be teaching them the phrase "Liars figure, and figures lie" shortly.) 2) I have some statistics on the where the resistance occurs in the organization. Unfortunately, in re-orgs, the resistance is at the middle manager level. Where the resistance is in the organization is as important as how many people are resistant. You have inspired another post. Thanks. Thanks for the observation. I have a couple responses.

1) the statistic is 70% of the time the change runs into resistance from employees – not 70% of the employees resist the change. You are right though – if folks misinterpret the statistic, then it misled.

(I play a game with my kids on statistics with the weather report by asking the question – is that 50% chance of of rain in 100% of the area, or is it 100% chance of rain in 50% of the area? Either way, the weather forecaster is correct by saying a 50% chance of rain. I’m going to be teaching them the phrase “Liars figure, and figures lie” shortly.)

2) I have some statistics on the where the resistance occurs in the organization. Unfortunately, in re-orgs, the resistance is at the middle manager level. Where the resistance is in the organization is as important as how many people are resistant. You have inspired another post. Thanks.

]]> By: Steve Rosenbaum http://orgreadiness.com/2008/04/15/obstacles-and-challenges-during-major-organizational-changes.html/comment-page-1#comment-2 Steve Rosenbaum Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:58:38 +0000 http://orgreadiness.com/2008/04/15/obstacles-and-challenges-during-major-organizational-changes/#comment-2 The figure on employee resistance is a little misleading. The overt, outright resistance to change in any organization is rather low. It runs around 15%. That's the squeaky wheel that gets all the attention. The majority of the resistance to change is the 70% of employees who do nothing hoping the change will go away. They are passive and will appear to go along with the change. They just aren't going to do anything about it. To make a change stick, it's critical to deal with this silent majority. The figure on employee resistance is a little misleading. The overt, outright resistance to change in any organization is rather low. It runs around 15%. That’s the squeaky wheel that gets all the attention. The majority of the resistance to change is the 70% of employees who do nothing hoping the change will go away. They are passive and will appear to go along with the change. They just aren’t going to do anything about it.

To make a change stick, it’s critical to deal with this silent majority.

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