1: Sensitize organizations to pressures for change: Innumerable pressures for change operate

both externally and internally to organizations. modern organizations face environmental

pressures to change themselves, including heavy foreign competition, rapidly changing
technology, and the draw of global markets. Internal pressures to change include new leadership,
poor product quality, high production costs, and excessive employee absenteeism and turnover.
however, organizations must be sensitive to them.
Organizations can make themselves more sensitive to pressures for change by encouraging
leaders to surround themselves with devil’s advocates; by cultivating external networks that
comprise people or organizations with different perspectives and views; by visiting other
organizations to gain exposure to new ideas and methods; and by using external standards of
performance, such as competitors’ progress or benchmarks, rather than the organization’s own
past standards of performance.
2: identify gaps between actual and desired state:
Information about the organization’s current functioning is gathered and compared with desired
states of operation. These desired states may include organizational goals and standards, as well
as a general vision of a more desirable future state. Significant discrepancies between actual and
ideal states can motivate organization members to initiate corrective changes, particularly when
members are committed to achieving those ideals.
A major goal of diagnosis, is to provide members with feedback about current organizational
functioning so that the information can be compared with goals or with desired future states.
Such feedback can energize action to improve the organization.
3: Convey credible positive expectations for the change:
Organization members invariably have expectations about the results of organizational changes.
These expectations can play an important role in generating motivation for change. Research
suggests that information about why the change is occurring, how it will benefit the organization,
and how people will be involved in the design and implementation of the change was most
helpful. Organization members also can be taught about the benefits of positive expectations
and be encouraged to set credible positive expectations for the change program.

At the organization level, resistance to change can come from three sources:
1. Technical resistance.
2. Political
3. Cultural resistance.
1: Empathy and support. A first step in overcoming resistance is learning how people are
experiencing change. This strategy can identify people who are having trouble accepting the
changes, the nature of their resistance, and possible ways to overcome it, but it requires a great
deal of empathy and support. It demands a willingness to suspend judgment and to see the
situation from another’s perspective, a process called active listening. When people feel that
those people who are responsible for managing change are genuinely interested in their feelings
and perceptions, they are likely to be less defensive and more willing to share their concerns and
fears. This more open relationship not only provides useful information about resistance.
2: Communication. People resist change when they are uncertain about its consequences.
Effective communication about changes and their likely results can reduce this speculation.
However, communication is also one of the most frustrating aspects of managing change.
Organization members constantly receive data about current operations and future plans as well
as informal rumors about people, changes, and politics. Managers and OD practitioners must
think seriously about how to break through this stream of information.
One strategy is to make change information more important by communicating through a new
or different channel. If most information is delivered through memos and emails, then change
information can be delivered through meetings and presentations.
3: involve members in planning and decision making:
One of the oldest and most effective strategies for overcoming resistance is to involve
organization members directly in planning and implementing change. Members can provide a
diversity of information and ideas, which can contribute in effective communication. They also
can identify pitfalls and barriers to implementation. Involvement in planning the changes
increases the likelihood that members’ interests and needs will be accounted for during the
intervention. The act of participation itself can be motivating.