1. Managing Organizational Change, Resistance, & Conflict
Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

2. Change and Organizational Impact
Projects often cause changes in organizations, and some people may lose their jobs when a project is completed.
Project managers must learn to identify, understand, and work with a variety of stakeholders
Examples of Stakeholder Impacts from cases

3. Reactions to Change
We have all been through change - but how do we think about and manage it?
Dealing with the people issues, or soft side of technology, is an area that most technical people do not enjoy.
Many technical people and managers naively believe that the users within the organization will gladly embrace a new system if it is built properly.

4. Managers & Technical People May Have The False Beliefs
People want this change. Monday morning we’ll turn on the system and they’ll use it. A good training program will answer all of their questions and then they’ll love it. Our people have been through a lot of change – what’s one more change going to matter? We see the need for helping our people adjust, but we had to cut something. They have two choices. They can change or they can leave.

5. In Reality, …

6. Change Management Defined by the Gartner Group
The transforming of the organization so it is aligned with the execution of a chosen corporate business strategy. It is the management of the human element in a large-scale change project.

7. Assimilating Change Change Threshold Assimilation of change require
Time

8. Change is a Process Present Transition Desired State State State
Driving Forces
Resisting Forces
Desired
State
Transition
State
Present
State
Unfreezing
Changing
Refreezing
Force Field Analysis – Lewin, 1951

9. Emotional Responses to Change
active
anger
bargaining
acceptance
stability
testing
denial
shock
depression
passive
Time
Elizabeth Kubler- Ross, 1969

10. Five Stages of Grieving
Denial
Shock and disbelief
Anger
Blaming others for the change
Bargaining
Attempts to make deals to avoid the change
Looks for ways to extend the status quo
Depression
Admits that change is inevitable and understands the impact
Acceptance
Coming to grips with the change
Moving on to the new state

11. Impact of Organizational Change (Leavitt’s Model)
People
Structure
Technology
Task

12. Reactions to Change Change may Be an ending Mean giving something up
Be stressful
Be easier for those initiating the change
Be the basis for resistance and conflict
Change the “rules for success”

13. Change Management Plan

14. Assess Willingness, Readiness, and Ability to Change

15. Develop or Adopt a Strategy for Change
Rational–Empirical Approach
Normative-Reeducation Approach
Power-Coercive Approach
Environmental-Adaptive Approach

16. Implement the Change Management Plan and Track Progress

17. Evaluate Experience and Develop Lessons Learned
Experiences should be documented and made available to other project teams

18. Best Practices
Provide consistent communication and involvement – WIIFM (What’s In It For Me)
Determine support needs - where do people go for help and information?
Measure and communicate progress (Quick Wins)
Build the need for change (“Burning Platform”)
Ensure visible, consistent sponsorship
Allow the disenchanted to vent
Listen, listen, … and listen some more

19. Resistance and Conflict

20. Why Do People Resist Change?

21. Conflict Management
Focuses on preventing, managing, or resolving conflicts. It is important to identify potential conflicts as early as possible so that the conflict can be addressed. Although conflict can be positive and help form new ideas and establish commitment, negative conflict left unresolved can lead to damaged relationships, mistrust, unresolved issues, continued stress, dysfunctional behavior, and low productivity and morale.

22. Although conflict is one of the things most of us dislike intensely, it is inevitable. Most often when we try to avoid conflict, it will nevertheless seek us out. Some people wrongly hope that conflict will go away if it is ignored. In fact, conflict ignored is more likely to get worse, which can significantly reduce project performance. The best way to reduce conflict is to confront it.
(Verma, 1998, p. 367)

23. Conflict Management Style Quiz
Add the corresponding statements for each of the styles below to find out how you would handle conflicts: Style 1: 1, 5, 7 Style 2: 4, 9, 12 Style 3: 6, 10, 15 Style 4: 3, 11, 14 Style 5: 2, 8, 13

24. Types of Conflict
Traditional View Contemporary View Interactionist View

25. Approaches to Conflict

26. Approach to Conflict Situation
Each conflict situation is unique and the choice of an approach to resolve conflict depends on:

27. Conflict and the Project Team
Project managers must lead their teams in performing various project activities
After assessing team performance and related information, the project manager must decide:
if changes should be requested to the project
if corrective or preventive actions should be recommended
if updates are needed to the project management plan or organizational process assets.

28. Conflict Handling Modes
Confrontation
Compromise
Smoothing
Forcing
Withdrawal
Collaborating

29. Can Conflict Be Good?

30. Common Sources of Conflict
Work scope
Resource assignments
Schedule
Costs
Technical opinions
Priorities of resource time
Administrative procedures
Responsibilities
Personality clashes

31. Root Cause of Conflict
The PM has final responsibility to resolve or manage any conflict that affects project success.
For example, suppose two people are yelling at each other during a meeting. Asking them to not yell fixes the symptom, but not the root cause of the conflict, which may be a difference of opinion about an issue due to different assumptions being made by each person.
Part 3 - Project Teams & Conflict

32. Five Dysfunctions of a Team
The five dysfunctions of teams are
Absence of trust
Fear of conflict
Lack of commitment
Avoidance of accountability
Inattention to results
*Lencioni, Patrick, “Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA (2005), p. 3.

33. General Advice on Teams
Be patient with your team Fix the problem instead of blaming people Establish regular, effective meetings Allow time for teams to go through the basic team-building stages Limit the size of work teams to three to seven members