Causes of change and resistance to it

Change is driven by internal factors (new leadership, growth, new technology, poor performance) and external ones (PESTLE: competitors, legislation, recession, technology).

Why staff resist change: fear of the unknown and of job losses, loss of status or control, poor communication, mistrust of management, the effort of learning new skills, and simple inertia.

Overcoming resistance: communicate early and honestly, involve and consult staff, train and support, negotiate, phase the change, and — as a last resort — impose it.

Lewin: force field analysis and the three-step model

Force field analysis weighs the driving forces pushing change forward against the restraining forces holding it back. Each force is scored for strength. Change succeeds only if the drivers outweigh the restrainers — so a manager can either strengthen the drivers or, usually more effectively, weaken the restrainers.

Lewin's three-step model: unfreeze (create the case for change and unsettle the status quo) → change (implement, communicate, support) → refreeze (embed the new behaviour in systems, culture and rewards so it sticks).

Your turn — force field analysis

Kotter's eight steps

Kotter argued most change programmes fail because steps are skipped. His sequence:

• 1. Create urgency · 2. Build a guiding coalition · 3. Form a strategic vision · 4. Communicate the vision
• 5. Remove obstacles and empower action · 6. Generate short-term wins · 7. Build on the change (do not declare victory early) · 8. Anchor the change in the culture

Compare the models: Lewin is simple and easy to apply but treats change as a one-off event with a stable "after". Kotter is richer and stresses leadership and communication, but it is prescriptive, slow and linear — awkward in a market where change is continuous.

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Organisational culture — Handy

Culture is "the way we do things around here": the shared values, beliefs and norms that shape behaviour. Charles Handy identified four types:

• Power culture — control radiates from one central figure. Fast decisions; depends entirely on that person and can be arbitrary.
• Role culture — a bureaucracy of rules and job descriptions. Predictable, efficient in stable markets; slow and inflexible.
• Task culture — teams formed around projects; expertise counts more than rank. Flexible and creative; can duplicate resources.
• Person culture — the organisation exists to serve the professionals in it (barristers' chambers, GP partnerships). Hard to give strategic direction.

Changing culture is the hardest change of all. It requires leaders to model the new behaviour, and to align recruitment, appraisal, promotion and reward with it — otherwise the old culture reasserts itself. A culture clash is the most common cause of failed takeovers.

Sort Handy's cultures

Tap a description, then tap the culture it describes.

Business ethics

Ethics are the moral principles that guide behaviour — doing what is right, which is not always the same as what is legal or what is profitable.

Ethical issues: supply-chain labour conditions, environmental damage, marketing to children, tax avoidance, animal testing, executive pay, misleading claims.

• The case for acting ethically: it protects the brand and reduces the risk of a boycott or exposé; it attracts and retains staff and ethically minded customers; it can support a price premium; it pre-empts regulation.
• The cost: ethical sourcing, fair wages and clean technology raise unit costs and may make the firm uncompetitive against rivals who cut corners. There is also a real danger of greenwashing — being found out is far worse than never having claimed.

The trade-off with profit is short-term real; long-term the ethical business often wins, because reputation compounds.

Your turn — does ethics pay?

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Corporate social responsibility

CSR is the idea that a business is accountable to all its stakeholders and to society, not just to shareholders. Carroll's pyramid stacks the responsibilities: economic (be profitable) → legal (obey the law) → ethical (do what is right) → philanthropic (contribute to the community).

The triple bottom line judges a business on profit, people and planet.

Two views: Milton Friedman argued the only social responsibility of business is to increase profits within the rules. The stakeholder view is that CSR is in shareholders' long-run interest — because reputation, staff retention and licence to operate are what protect future profits.

The legal framework

• Employment law — contracts, minimum wage, working hours, discrimination and equal pay, unfair dismissal, redundancy. Raises costs, but improves motivation, retention and the employer brand.
• Consumer law — goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described; refunds and returns; no misleading advertising.
• Competition law — the CMA polices price-fixing, cartels, predatory pricing and mergers that harm consumers.
• Health and safety law — risk assessments, training, equipment. Compliance costs money; non-compliance risks fines, prosecution and reputational catastrophe.
• Data protection (GDPR) — how customer data may be collected, stored and used.

Sustainability and the environment

Sustainable business meets today's needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

• Carbon footprint — total greenhouse gas emissions caused by the business; reduced through renewable energy, efficient logistics and lower-carbon materials.
• Circular economy — design out waste: reduce, reuse, repair, recycle; take-back schemes and recyclable packaging.
• Pressure comes from regulation and carbon taxes, investors (ESG screening), customers, and employees.

Cost or investment? Sustainability spending raises short-term costs, but often cuts long-run costs (less energy, less waste), reduces regulatory and reputational risk, and increasingly determines access to capital. That is the evaluation OCR wants.

Your turn — carbon reduction

Match the model or term to its meaning

Tap a card on the left, then its partner on the right.

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Communicating and leading change

Change fails on people, not on plans. What works:

• Communicate early, honestly and repeatedly — rumour fills any vacuum, and rumour is always worse than the truth.
• Involve those affected in designing the change: participation converts resistance into ownership.
• Train and support — much resistance is really fear of not being able to cope.
• Consult the trade union early; a negotiated change is far cheaper than a disputed one.
• Deliver short-term wins (Kotter) to build belief, then anchor the change in reward and promotion systems.

Evaluation: the right pace depends on urgency. A crisis may justify rapid, imposed change; where there is time, a slower, participative approach produces change that actually sticks.

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Your turn — critical path

Your turn — float

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