ISD Lecture 13 The nature of resistance Flashcards
Resistance
Resistance is a complicated concept. It might be both positive (used as a resource) and negative, and it is hard to differ between background resistance and resistance related to a specific project. It might be used as a bad excuse for failing projects, exist only in the head of change agents, and change agent behaviour might increase ”resistance”.
Resistance can be used as a ressource to improve your ideas.
It’s often not a resistances against your idea but beacuse of the organisation.
Workarounds
Workarounds: Where a mismatch occurs between the expectations of technology and actual working practice, employees may implement a ‘workaround’ by deviating from set procedures. This notion of workaround is defined as: ‘informal temporary practices for handling exceptions to workflow’.
Workarounds : Employees are not using the systems as supposed.
Where does resistance comes from
Internal to persons or groups -
e.g. whether persons trust technology in general
Internal to systems -
e.g. usability
Interaction -
Sociotechnical
e.g.
For the social workers the morning meeting was not just about planning the day, but also about social relations with co-workers.
and political
e.g.
Some departments resisted the system, because they were used to locally decide how processes were designed and executed.
Three Assumptions about resistance
People-Determined -
Factors internal to people and groups
System-Determined -
System factors such as technical excellence and ergonomics
Interaction theory -
Interaction of system and context of use
Tactics for Person-Determined Theory of resistance
Selecting users: carefully selecting the people who will use a new system
Educating users: to change their cognitive styles
Increase commitment: getting users to participate
Management support: gaining support of the users’ bosses
New incentives: changing organizational structures or reward systems
Tactics for Systems-Determined Theory of resistance
Modify the system:
modifying packages to conform to the ways people think, work, or do business
Training system designers: to improve technical efficiency, ergonomic excellence, and a smooth man-machine interface
User participation:
involving users in the design process so that the design is better than that which would have been developed without user input
Tactics for Interaction-Determined Theory of resistance
o No tactics are useful in every situation. Therefore:
Analyze existing situation
Follow an integrated approach
Conisder and design the relationship between users and designers, don’t overcome resistance – avoid it, perceive resistance as a clue, focus on the benefits
What perspective is resistance
A biased Perspective
In favor of change agents
comes from perspective of those who want to change (maybe just an interpretation)
What is expectation effects
If resistance is expected – it might come:
What does most change agents use resistance for? (Sensemaking)
Resistance is an convenient way to explain failure:
What does change agents contribute to resistance?
Broken Agreements and the Violation of Trust -
Change agents who repair damaged relationships and restore trust both before and during change are less likely to encounter resistance than agents who do not.
Failing to repair damaged relationships and restore trust leads to responses that will be labeled resistance: cynicism, critical behaviors toward both change and change agents, and lower work motivation and commitment.
Communication Breakdown -
Justify the change:
Explain the benefits:
Take objections toward change serious and use them to improve:
Misrepresentation -
Just don’t do it:
bias towards optimism -
As a result of their optimism, agents may oversell the positive and undersell the negative.
No call for action -
Change is fundamentally about mobilizing action, and although talk is essential, not all talk leads to action.
Resisting Resitance -
Change agents may be resistant to the ideas, proposals, and counteroffers submitted by change recipients.
How can Resistance be used as a ressource
Keeping the change on the agenda:
Resistance helps keep conversations in existence
Engagement:
People might resist simply because they care and wants the best solution.
Strengthening:
Resistance is a form of conflict. Conflict has been found to strengthen not only the quality of decisions but also participants’ commitments to the implementation of those decisions. Resistance can provide a similar strengthening value during change.
How to reconstructing resistance
o Resistance to change can be understood as a dynamic among three elements
Recipient action
Agent sense making
Agent recipient relationship
Recipient resistance is public: not resistance if not publicly visible
Resistance is change agent sensemaking (not independent phenomenon)
A lot of things make change difficult – not necessarily resistance
Background resistance
Normal organizational activities and behaviour is not resistance
The relationship
Resistance might be positive
What can Resistance might lead to?
Workrounds
‘informal temporary practices for handling exceptions to workflow’.
e.g. Employees are not using the systems as supposed.
Describe the Compliance, Resistance Workaround model
Compliance -> Negative resistance, positive resistance ->
Harmless Workaround, Hindrance Workaround, Essential Workaround
A range of motives may move the user from compliance towards either positive or negative resistance.
From the perspectives of various stakeholders an occurrence of resistance may be viewed positively or negatively.
‘positive resistance’ can be used by developers to improve future versions.
