Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio, Vol 9, No 2 (2015)

“Resistance to Change—A New Perspective: A Textbook for Managers Who Plan to Implement a Change”¹ by Daniela Bradutanu

James W. Barnes²

Change is inevitable—it’s in our experience wherever we turn. One area, however, where most people do not want to experience change is in the work place. Whether the change is beneficial or not, those who are subjected to a change in the workplace will almost without fail resist a change to their status quo. Managers have normally come to accept this and just plough ahead, coercing their subordinates into accepting the change. With the advent of Dr Daniela Bradutanu’s new book “Resistance to Change”, there is another way—a way of cooperation between managers and employees.

The author presents her material as a text book for facilitating the change process. She refers to it on her cover as “a textbook for managers who plan to implement a change”. In the first chapter she presents the question of change in a management setting and offers the common ways that resistance to change has been viewed from various researchers in the field. In each of these reflections she notes a given author’s reflections on why resistance is seen as negative, but it is clear that no one in the field has done what her book has done—presenting a thorough plan and model for a way forward through change implementation.

Resistance to change is presented from another view, the author bringing solid arguments that prove that resistance can actually be beneficial and can help improve the organizational change process. Even is many managers still consider resistance as a negative phenomenon, Dr Daniela Bradutanu, through her book, convinces the reader that resistance has a value, representing a potential asset. She encourages change agents to use resistance to their advantage, in this way gaining change supporters and not opponents.

For anyone involved in the relationships of the workplace, change to the status quo is one of the greatest causes of stress. What Bradutanu’s work brings to this universal situation is the opportunity to present a level playing field so that management and employees can work together to understand not only the effects of change in the workplace, but also a comprehensive way through conflicts, fears and resistance. The first way she does this is to examine the nature of the reasons for resistance in detail. She covers everything from an employee’s fear of losing their job security to the reality of personality conflicts. She recognizes that no change can become a part of the fabric of the workplace unless there is mutual cooperation amongst all parties which begins with recognition of the nature of resistance itself.

Since employees’ resistance can often be misinterpreted, in the model of the forces that generate resistance to change the author included the change agent himself. This is a bold approach as usually change agents are considered to be the people in charge of a change process, but Dr Bradutanu presents clearly the situations when the change agent can through his actions, encourage employees resistance.

In her last two chapters, Dr Bradutanu presents specific and very hands-on methods to move forward in the face of change and the inevitable resistance that comes from a change attempt. She offers specific ideas about the need for clear communication, involvement, training and delegation. Each of these elements offers a means to allow each player in the change game to have a part in the adjustments that have to be made and, therefore, to take ownership of the change and its residual effects in the organization. Because Bradutanu presents her book as a text book, each of these elements can be worked through in a collaborative fashion between management and employees so that everyone understands all the ramifications of the issues.

The proposed reducing resistance to change model is original, the author emphasizing first on applying the positive methods for reducing resistance to change and only if they do not have the desired outcome, to proceed to the application of the negative methods. Also, the importance of using employees’ resistance is emphasized, as the resistant parties “can provide valuable insights about how the proposed change may be amended in order to increase its chances of success”.

The most compelling aspect of Dr Bradutanu’s work is its ease of style and user-friendly approach. Although the book is thoroughly and comprehensively documented and footnoted with an extensive bibliography, she never ventures into an overly academic style that would lose the layperson, the employee or the busy change agent in the management field. Her writing style remains concise, clear and approachable at every step of the progression from describing the nature of resistance to presenting a model for taking the new perspective on resistance to change.

As a textbook for change management, “Resistance to Change” by Dr Daniela Bradutanu is an invaluable resource both in its all-inclusive definition of the issues of change in the workplace and in its offering of a model to create a cooperative and effective organization. Managers and employees in all sectors from education, industry, government agencies to volunteer organizations will find this book helpful in its fresh and comprehensive treatment of change and its effects in the work place.

Refbacks

• There are currently no refbacks.