A3 Unmanaged organizational resistance to change

Topic

The starting point for this approach is the leader—someone who already possesses authority, whether it is charismatic and derived from a central position within a network, or formally assigned through a specific role. The fact that the leader already holds this authority before deciding how to exercise it means that the specific technique applied to the team—rather than the source of the authority itself—determines the effect that technique has on the team.

Because Lewin, Lippitt, and White distinguished between autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire styles based on their measurable impact on the group or team climate, a leader's technique—and not merely their authority—becomes the primary factor that can be measured within the team being led.

Since no single style is superior in the abstract, the correct approach—directing, coaching, supporting, or delegating—depends on the team's level of maturity or autonomy; this represents the situational step Hersey and Blanchard took beyond the previously established stylistic distinctions.

The addition of the transactional versus transformational dimension by Burns and Bass means that, alongside the situational question of how much direction a team requires, a distinct question arises regarding the leader's technique: whether they exchange compliance for rewards or elevate the team's motivation beyond immediate self-interest.

Whether a leader assumes their team avoids effort and requires control (Theory X) or seeks responsibility and commits when given space (Theory Y) dictates their initial choice of leadership technique; this is McGregor’s explanation for why a leader gravitates toward a particular style before putting it into practice. The fact that introducing a change in structure, process, or the very leadership technique applied to a team differs from maintaining or tweaking an existing method means that such a change must—as John Kotter described—pass through a series of change management stages to become consolidated. Two of these stages are, specifically, generating a sense of urgency before introducing the change and anchoring the change within the organizational culture before deeming it complete.

If a change in structure, process, or leadership technique is introduced without navigating these change management stages—specifically, without generating a sense of urgency or anchoring the change in the organizational culture before finalizing it—unmanaged organizational resistance to change arises.

Therefore, unmanaged organizational resistance serves to highlight—within the scope of the leader's authority and the context of the approach being discussed—that simply deciding to change a team's structure, process, or leadership technique is insufficient. Unless the change first generates the sense of urgency that justifies it and is subsequently anchored in the sustaining organizational culture, the team will resist it, and the change will never truly be completed.

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