Defining Resistance:

In order to comprehend the concept of employee resistance, it is necessary to first define the term resistance. In, we present a few well known definitions of resistance.

Resistance Defined

• "Behaviour that is intended to protect an individual from the effects of real or imagined change." (Alvin Zander, in the year of 1950 cited in Dent and Goldberg, 1999 and p. 34).
• "Any conduct that serves to manage the status quo in the face of pressure to alter the status quo." (Zaltman and Duncan, in the year of 1977 cited in Bradley, 2000, p. 76).
• "Employee behaviour that finds to challenge, disrupt/invert prevailing assumptions, discourses, & power relations." (Skarlicki, in the year of 1999, p. 36).

In a nutshell, resistance to modify is an emotional / behavioural response to real or imagined threats to an established work routine. Notwithstanding the cause, resistance could be powerful and it might really be an encumbrance to the implementation of any change procedure.  As Rick Maurer (1996) in his book Beyond the Wall of Resistance indicates, more than 50 percent of all change efforts in organisations are unsuccessful majorly because of employees' resistance.