Employee interpretations of change: exploring the other side of the resistance story

Abstract

This study examines change resistance in Indian organizations by departing from change-agent perspective, and focusing on the employee interpretation o f change. Change ‘resistors ’ were identified based on inputs from HR managers implementing change, follow ing which indepth interviews were conducted with fifty-four such employees. The interviews were qualitatively analyzed to understand employee perspective. Findings revealed that employees may not perceive their actions as resistance and legitimize their behavior based on ideological reasons or their assumption that they are behaving in long-term interests o f the organization. Poorly framed communication can lead to negative response towards the change, even if employees do not find the proposed change problematic.