Learned Behavior: The Key to Understanding and Preventing Employee Resistance to Change

The article develops a conceptual model that describes how and why employees learn to resist planned change within an organizational set ting. The argument is made that planned change, when introduced by management, has the potential of blocking affected employees from satis fying their dominant need structures. As a result, the employees learn to associate negative tension states, i.e., anxiety, frustration, or fear, with the introduction of change. It is further argued that the existence of a perceived link between change and blocked need satisfaction increases the probability that employees will resist future change programs. A set of change strategies is developed for management to break this perceived link and thereby reduce the probability of employee resistance.