Managing Deviant Behavior and Resistance to Change

The paper focuses on how to manage deviant behaviors and resistance to change. Case study method was used toexamine practical implementation of change processes in some selected organizations.It was discovered that change affects four basic aspects of the company: its strategy, technology, structure andemployees. All these present individuals with new situations, new problems, challenges, ambiguity anduncertainty and threaten the status quo. Change influences authoritative allocation of both human and materialresources and encourages competition which heats up the political climate in organizations. Resistance to changemight be expressed through deviant behaviors to truncate the process or prevent implementation. The studyidentifies proper education, effective communication, facilitation, motivation, negotiation, manipulation,co-optation and coercion as possible methods for managing resistance to change. The use of any of thesemethods or combination of some, however, depends on the type of organization, nature of resistance and stage ofintervention.The paper concludes that capacity to manage deviant behavior and smoothly implement change is critical toorganizational survival. Managing deviant behavior and resistance to change should be accorded strategicimportance to facilitate effectiveness and efficiency in organizations.