Employee Responses to Organisational Change:

We all know which employees react to organisational change within a variety of ways. You would be aware of the responses of employee-associations towards reforms in power sector. The similar is true in other areas of privatisation: banking, outsourcing, and many more. Experience tells us which only a few of the reactions are affirmative. It is, thus, significant for managers to appreciate which these reactions are a normal part of the procedure employees go by during periods of change. We now define some classical responses of employees to change. We starts with negative responses.

•  "Not me!"

While any organisational change takes place & employees are asked to do a various job or change the way(s) they have been used to doing a particular job and initially there could be shock / denial. Reactions like as "I can't do this," "that can't be happening to me" are quite general. Employees might respond through saying, "Not me!......... Anyone else is much better suited for the job" /deny that they themselves are capable of making the proposed change.

This initial reaction is because of the natural human tendency for maintaining status quo as well as fear of the unknown.

•  "What will this do to my job security?"

Employees would such as to know exactly how this change would affect them within terms of their working hours, job security, finance & family. That is natural for employees to view change first from the perspective of their own job security. The requirement of the organisation might come second in their priority          

•  Anger

Depending on the nature of change, the employees might feel anger and display resentment/sadness. "This isn't fair" or "Why are they doing this to me?" are the normal reactions. A few employees are so resistant to change which they become frustrated & angry. Their anger might be repressed, causing an increase in stress levels; or overt, resulting in emotional outbursts. While repressed or overt, anger is a typical reaction whenever employees feel a loss of control over their work environment or worry in which their job security is being threatened.

•  Gossip

Gossip, always an organisational challenge, frequent shoots up during periods of change. An employee who feels a loss of power and control might respond along with frustration, anger & disbelief and resort to vicious gossip or "back-stabbing" activities.

• "Who's in charge?"

While a company/organisation is restructured, it is natural for employees to question leadership. An Employee, who will have to work in a new environment while the change is implemented, may experience hard within changing their allegiance to leadership. And if the employees have not been remain in the communication loop and are unable to see the positive aspects of the change, they are such as to question the wisdom of the new leadership.

•  Panic!

Those employees, who search comfort in a predictable routine a panic at the mere mention of change. They worry about changes within the way they generally proceed along with their jobs. They might resist, not out of stubbornness, other than out of fear about how the changes will impact them personally. They may be too plagued along with panic to deal rationally along with the new regime, & a few might facts become physically ill. Therefore, such individuals required to be imparted training for continuous professional development.

•  "I quit!"

There might be a few employees who opt for quitting rather than making the required changes.

These were examples of negative responses. Employees, who have a higher degree of self-esteem and personal competence & self-confidence, respond to the change process in a positive way. These employees typically have the ability to keep open-minded in response for change, & to view it as a positive thing - for them personally and for the organisation. While in alignment along with their supervisors, employees within this positive attitude could help support and sell organisational change to other employees.