Methods to overcome resistance to change - A case study at Came S.p.A. –

Methods to overcome resistance to change

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A case study at Came S.p.A. –

Master thesis, MscBA, specialization Change Management

University of Groningen, Faculty of Management and Organization

June 14, 2010

Second supervisor/ university A. Boonstra

Supervisor/ field of study A. Rossi

ABSTRACT

Change is the only constant in life. Organizations have to change to handle crisis and to stay successful. Through literature research it is obvious that around 50% of all change efforts fail. As a consequence, for managers it must be one of their key skills to manage changes to promote success. One of the biggest challenges while

implementing a change effort is the resistance to change. Research has shown a causal relationship between resistance to change and the success of a changing

project. This study case examines which methods can decrease resistance to change at the Came Group. At Came a change in the marketing strategy is introduced. Twelve Came branch managers from different countries had to fill out a questionnaire and three interviews were done with particular Came managers. Participation,

TABLE OF CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION 4 1.1 The company 5 1.2 Cultural differences 5 1.3 Strategic change 6 1.4 Research question 7 2. THEORY 7 2.1 Resistance to change 8

2.2 Methods to overcome resistance to change 9

2.3 Participation 11 2.4 Communication 12 2.5 Organizational culture 14 2.6 Conceptual model 16 3. METHODS 17 3.1 Data collection 17 3.2 Data analysis 20 4. RESULTS 21 4.1 The questionnaire 21 4.2 The interview 25

4.3 Comparing questionnaire and interview 30

5. DISCUSSION 33 6. LITERATURE 41 7. APPENDIX 45 A. Visual results 46 B. Covering Letter 51 C. Questionnaire 62

D. Interview with the branch manager 57

1. INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, organizations are confronted by the economic crisis, which has to be addressed while keeping on track with globalization. For organizations to grow further rather than to go bankrupt they have to adapt rapidly to all kinds of changes. Change is needed in many organizations to increase the efficiency and to increase the shareholder value. That is why change management and related disciplines get more and more attention by researchers and practitioners. At the same time the literature gives a really miserable picture of change management, because it is not doing what it ought to do. According to Strebel (1996) the success rate of change projects lies between 20% and 50%. Beer & Nohria (2000) report that around two thirds of all organizational change projects fail. Most change projects take longer than expected, the costs are higher than predicted and they are emotionally loaded for both management and employees (Kotter & Schlesinger, 1979).

The implementation of a change project comes with a lot of challenges. One major problem which managers are confronted with is to deal and manage resistance to change (Atkinson, 2005). According to Van Dijk & Van Dijk (2009) resistance to change and the success of a change project have a causal relationship. Subsequently, a modern manager needs the ability to lead change successfully to survive in the business (Coetsee, 1999). At the same time, in many cultural change projects the leader is the person who will be replaced (Cummings & Worley, 1997). According to Burnes (2004) this is because the main resistance during a change project is caused by the middle and senior managers given that these managers are afraid to loose power and status. Besides, many managers have a lack of knowledge and ability to lead change (Beer & Nohria, 2000). The ability of managers to lead resistance to change is only one out of a number of change topics. A variety of authors (Lines, 2004; Schaefer, 1998; Strebel, 1996) propose a couple of different variables which can increase or decrease the resistance to change in organizations.

of a case study relevant information will be presented which can enhance our knowledge about resistance to change.

1.1 The company

Came Cancelli Automatici S.p.A. was founded in 1972. Since then the company grew to a multinational company, which produces and sells automatic systems, like parking control, access control and automatic doors. Nowadays, Came is one of the leading companies in the area of automatic systems. The head quarter of Came is located in Italy with around 150 employees. Additionally, there are 300 employees working for Came S.p.A. all over the world at 13 branches in countries like Germany, Russia and China. In this study I will refer to all offices in the 13 countries as branches.

To be able to keep on track with competitors, change projects are initiated on a continuous basis. Many change projects are managed from the head quarter in Italy. During the next months the marketing department of headquarters will introduce a new company focus to all branches. Therefore the marketing director will meet with the managers of the different branches and introduce their new strategy. At one branch a pilot will be done to examine the change affects the branch and customers and then all other countries will follow. As a consequence of globalization many companies like the idea that all branches of one company work the same way.

In the past I worked for the German branch of Came. Furthermore, I took part at an international meeting twice, once in Dubai and once in Napoli. Thereby I observed the behavior of the headquarter towards the branches. Therefore, I have sufficient experience with their strategies and goals to conduct this research. During the research I will stay at the company’s headquarters in Italy for a length of time.

1.2 Cultural differences

masculinity versus femininity, strong versus weak uncertainty avoidance and long-term versus short-term orientation. Consequently, it seems important to be aware of the cultural differences when an organization wants to work international.

Furthermore, Hofstede & Hofstede (2005) did research about international marketing. They concluded that it happens often that marketing directors with their global view think that their cultural decisions are universal decisions. This phenomenon occurs at many multinational organizations, because the company starts in one country and after that they expand in other countries. Besides, through mergers and acquisitions they are trying to sell a whole product range, which makes the management more and more complicated. The same is happening at Came. The company is working at divers markets, like Europe, Middle East, China and USA. If we have a closer look at the European market it becomes obvious that, even in Europe, big differences between the countries exist. For example in Italy and France the turnover for automatic systems is really high in contrast to other countries like Germany. This could be triggered by a different feeling of security and a different lifestyle.

1.3 Strategic change

Therefore, this research will be conducted to find actions which decrease the resistance to change and therefore increase the success of a change project.

1.4 Research question

As explained above, the topic of resistance to change needs further research. Therefore, this paper will provide additional information about why resistance evolves and what managers can do to decrease the resistance to change. Consequently the following research question is formulated: What methods can decrease the resistance to

change during a change project?

To be able to answer this research question this paper will start with a literature review to find out which obstacles increase resistance to change. In the third section the method will be presented, which includes how quantitative and qualitative data is gathered. Bryman & Bell (2003) advise researchers to use qualitative data, for example structured interviews, in conjunction with quantitative data, like self-completion

questionnaires. Through applying both methods it is possible to gain understanding of the perspectives of the participants.

Thereafter, in the fourth part, the results of the research will be presented. In the last section, the discussion, conclusions will be drawn about specific variables which can decrease the resistance to change.

2. THEORY

change ‘in which attempts to bring about change are conscious, deliberate, and intended, at least on the part of one ore more agents related to the change attempt’. Judson (1966: 6) defined organizational change ‘as any alteration that is initiated by management in an individual’s work situation or work environment.’ In the present research the term change implies that change aims to accomplish a certain goal and that this encounters

transformation of the organizational life.

This section will establish the theoretical framework of the research. First, the phenomenon of resistance to change will be explained. Thereafter, the independent variables will be introduced. The section will end with the presentation of the conceptual model, which follows out of the theory.

2.1 Resistance to change

Schaefer (1998) states, that many organizations avoid change that would improve performance, because the management is afraid of the negative consequences of change. One of these negative consequences is resistance to change. According to Kotter & Schlesinger (2008: 130) ‘reorganization is usually feared, because it means disturbance of the status quo, a threat to people’s vested interests in their jobs, and an upset to

According to Judson (1966) resistance is located on one sideof a continuum model whereby commitment or acceptance of change is located on the other side. With the help of this model the relation between the two dimensions becomes more obvious. Besides, Judson (1966) presents different kinds of resistance: passive versus active resistance. The term passive resistance describes behavior like ‘doing as little as possible’ and ‘non-learning’. In contrast the term active resistance classifies behavior like ‘committing errors’ and ‘spoilage’.

Van Dijk & van Dijk (2009) found that resistance to change has significant impact upon the success of an organizational change project. The opposite is true according to Dent & Goldberg (1999). These authors state that resistance to change is only a mental model. This mental model is fed with a lot of research over the last decades and at this point of time it seems to be reality for many managers and employees. Consistent with this opinion is Piderit (2000), who would like the phrase, ‘resistance to change,’ be retired. These opinions show that there is not a consistent conception of resistance to change. For this reason, I will take a closer look at resistance to change to find out whether it can be an obstacle in change projects or not. In my contact with Came for this research I observed that some branch managers worked with changes more successful than others. Through the literature review about change projects at organizations I found the interesting views of authors like van Dijk & van Dijk (2009). Through, I would like to make a case study to observe the influence of resistance to change at a change project in companies.

2.2. Methods to overcome resistance to change

Over the last decades a lot of research has been done about different factors which could minimize resistance to change. According to Lewin (in Burnes, 2004: 273) ‘for change to be effective, it must […] be a participative and collaborative process which involves all of those concerned’. Lewin was one of the first researchers who examined ways about how to overcome resistance. The main method for Lewin to overcome resistance to change is participation.

and flexibility. These variables are present in every change project and influence the amount of resistance. Besides, these eight variables can be influenced by the manager.

In 1979, Kotter & Schlesinger published an article with a guideline about how to deal with resistance. They found out that many managers underestimate the way employees react to change efforts. The managers are often not aware of the fact that they can, through a variety of methods, decrease the resistance to change. Kotter & Schlesinger (1979) found out that the interpersonal skills of the managers are the key for the success of a change project. Furthermore, they presented the following methods to handle resistance to change: education & communication, participation & involvement, facilitation & support, negotiation & agreement, manipulation & co-operation and explicit & implicit coercion.

Furthermore, Cummings & Worley (1997) present three major strategies to overcome resistance: empathy & support, communication, and participation & involvement. With the help of the first strategy, empathy & support, managers have to find out how

employees are experiencing the change effort. According to Cummings & Worley (1997) the employees will be less defensive when they encounter a manager that is interested in their feelings. The second strategy, communication, decreases the resistance through communicating the consequences of the change. Due to a lack of information rumors and gossip are created which increase the resistance. Resistance to change is also increased by the high uncertainty the employees encounter. The third strategy, participation &

involvement, increases the quality of a change project and decreases the resistance. At the same time the interest of the employees will be enhanced and they will work harder to achieve the goals of the change project.

In compliance with this record of different methods to overcome resistance to change, I choose participation and communication to elaborate their influence on resistance to change. I think that these two variables are relevant for this particular company. In my opinion, through the use of different languages and the amount of participation, resistance to change can be influenced.

employees handle conflicts that can arise when their norms and values are affected by change efforts.

2.3 Participation

According to Lines (2004), participation haspositive effects on strategic processes. Glew, Griffin & Van Fleet (1995: 402) defined that the essence of participation ‘is a conscious and intended effort by individuals at a higher level in an organization to provide visible extra role or role-expanding opportunities for individuals or groups at a lower level in the organization to have a greater voice in one or more areas of

organizational performance’. Through the participation of employees in the design phase of a change effort, managers can identify barriers to the implementation effort

(Cummings & Worley, 1997). Kotter & Schlesinger (2008) propose that during a participative change project the manager listens to the employees which are involved in the change and make use of their suggestions. Buckingham, Jeffrey & Throne (1975) state, that for organizational change to be successful a total and carefully structured involvement is necessary. Furthermore, Latham & Locke (1979) found evidence in their experiments that their goal-setting theory was even enhanced by using a participative approach.

The variable participation is found to benefit to the quality of the change project and to increase the quality of the working live (Geary & Sisson, 1994). Bouma (2009) found a positive relationship between employee participation and trust. Furthermore, the author examined a negative relationship linking participation with stress and conflict. In

addition, Lines (2004) found that participation has a strong positive relationship with goal achievement and organizational commitment. Lines also found a strong negative

In recent years, resistance to change occurred at the management level of the Came branches during the implementation of change projects. The findings above stress the importance of participation in a change effort. In accordance with my experience of work procedures during change projects at Came, I assume that the headquarters gives no space for participation for the managers of the branches. To examine this observed behavior, the following proposition is stated:

Proposition Ia: The management of Came does not use participation in change projects. Furthermore, I would like to elaborate whether the different branches would

appreciate a more participative change. For this reason the second hypothesis is formulated:

Proposition Ib: The Came branches are interested in more participation.

With the help of the third proposition about participation, I assume that no participation of the management of the branches will lead to resistance to change.

Proposition Ic: Resistance to change will be higher at the branches of Came were the head quarter did not apply participation to implement a change effort.

2.4. Communication

Burnes (2004) shows the essential function of communication for all change

activities. Communication can decrease the uncertainty of employees which decreases the resistance to change. Not only does communication allow the employees to be informed by the manager, but it also allows the employees to form the change through discussions and debates. Kotter & Schlesinger (1979) state that during a change project it is important to conduct a clear and open communication about what the change will be about and what consequences the change will have. Communication can be helpful for employees to realistically prepare for the change effort (Cumming & Worley, 1997). Ford, Ford and D’Amelio (2008) further clarify that change agents increase resistance to change through communication breakdowns. To prevent communication breakdowns, change agents need to provide information by means of communication to the occurrence of

through conversation model’. According to this research, managers can create positive emotions about work through conversations. These positive emotions of the employees build autonomy, competence and relatedness and can improve the change effort.

Kanter & Seggerman (1986) offer a couple of principles to realize and manage the human and organizational aspects of a change process. The authors highlight the need for more information to decrease the uncertainty of the employees. This can be done by strengthening the communication both up and down. The improvement of the

communication can be done by different channels, for example through regular meetings, newsletters and personal meetings with the team. Larkin & Larkin (2005) describe all different kinds of communication channels. In accordance with their research face-to-face communication is best to overcome resistance to change.

For Came it is difficult to communicate face-to-face, because of the global distribution of the branches. Most of the time, the communication between the headquarters and the branches is done by email or phone. Once in a year there is an international Came meeting to inform all branches about how the last year went and what upcomingchanges are planned. This is the only regular possibility to talk face-to-face with the management of the headquarters.

On account of the findings in the literature about the importance of communication during a change effort to overcome resistance the variable is used to examine the relation with resistance. Three propositions are stated to examine the influence of communication at Came. First, I assume that the headquarters does not provide enough information for the branches about how and why change efforts are implemented.

Proposition IIa: The management of Came does not communicate enough to accomplish change projects successfully.

The second proposition about communication hypothesizes that the Came branches need more communication from the headquarters in Italy.

Proposition IIb: The Came branches are interested in more communication during change projects.

Proposition IIc: When the management of Came communicate with the Came branches before and during the change projects there will not be a high degree of resistance.

2.5 Organizational culture

Organizational culture is defined as a ‘particular set of values, beliefs, customs and systems that are unique to that organization’ (Burnes, 2004: 169). As a result,

organizational culture describes how the employees in the organization are expected to behave. When employees identify with the organizational culture, they are expected to follow the organizational goals and enforce themselves in their work (Fröhlich &

Pekruhl, 1996). A number of different definitions of organizational culture are formulated and this suggests that there is some disagreement among researches (Hoogervorst, 1998). Besides the disagreement regarding the definitions there are also controversial views about how to measure organizational culture. In this research the definitions of Burnes, mentioned above, will be used.

According to Pümpin, Kobi & Wüthrich (in Lässing, 1999) different orientations of an organizational culture can be examined: customer orientated, innovation orientated, employees orientated, result orientated, cost orientated, company orientated, and technology orientated.

Strebel (1996) shows that resistance follows a violation of the personal compacts. Personal compacts describe the relationship between the organization and their employees which is defined by reciprocal obligations and mutual commitment. If a change effort occurs the personal compacts are disrupted, because it upsets the balance and it will increase the probability of resistance to change. The author advises managers to look at the change effort from the employee perspective. Strebel (1996: 87) states that: ‘Unless managers define new terms and persuade employees to accept them, it is

unrealistic for managers to expect employees to fully buy into changes that alter the status quo’. Strebel (1996) highlights that when a manager varies the status quo of the employees, the managers can count on resistance to change.

de Maat, 2004). Marglin (1990) reports that organizational culture influences the way employees handle conflicts. As a result, if during a change effort the norms and values of the employees are affected, this could cause an increase resistance. Van Dijk & Van Dijk (2009: 143) mentioned that ‘resistance to change can be understood as employee

utilization of self-enhancement strategies in response to a threat to their work-based identity’. Thus, resistance to change can occur when the norms and values of an employee are affected. Additionally Hoogervorst (1998) found out that through organizational culture the employees can reduce uncertainty. As a result, if the

organizational culture has to change, the uncertainty of the employees’ increases and this will result in resistance.

In 2007, Came did a research in their headquarters about the organizational culture and employee satisfaction. The Human Resource manager presented the results of the intern research in the ‘Bilancio Sociale 07’. In this document the values of Came are presented. The first value of the company is that they are oriented towards innovation. The second value is about a continuing growth and achievement of profit. Productivity is presented as the third value. The last value highlights the importance of professionalism. Furthermore, in the ‘Bilancio Sociale 07’, the results are presented of the employee satisfaction research. The highest scores are found in the field of employee security. The average employee at Came feels a high sense of security. Furthermore, the employees reported that they have the chance for personal realization.

These findings suggest that the employees at the headquarters of Came have a common organizational culture. With the help of the first proposition, I want to find out whether all Came branches share the same organizational culture.

Proposition IIIa: The Came branches have a common organizational culture.

The second proposition about organizational culture states that the strategic change will change the organizational culture.

Proposition IIIb: The organizational culture of Came will be affected by the change effort.

Propostion IIIc: An organizational culture which is open to change will lead to less resistance to change.

2.6 Conceptual model

The presented literature and all nine propositions lead to the conceptual model (Figure 1). I expect that in the case study the three independent variables will influence the degree of resistance to change of the Came branches. I assume, that the headquarters of Came gives insufficient space for participation to the Came branches. This results in resistance to change at the branches of Came. Furthermore, I hypothesize that the head quarter of Came does not share enough information about the change effort to the branches. As a consequences of this lack of communication there is a higher degree of resistance to change at the management level of the branches of Came. Furthermore, I anticipate that the organizational culture of the head quarter of Came will differ from the organizational cultures of the Came branches. These differences in organizational cultures will increase the degree of resistance to change at the branches.

It is important to examine the influence of these three variables on resistance to change, because resistance to change can lead to a failure of the change effort at management level. This case study only examine these three independent variables, because I expect that they are influencing the resistance to change at the Came branches. In the literature review above, it is evident that a high degree of resistance to change will lead to a decrease of the success rate of a change effort. As a consequence, this

conceptual model has been created and will be examined in order toanswer the research question: What methods can decrease resistance to change?

The next chapter will describe how the research question and the hypotheses will be examined.

3. METHODS

When researchers want to find out about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of a problem statement the most preferred strategy is to use case studies (Yin, 1994). Therefore, a case study is used to conduct this research. Case studies are the preferred strategy when a

contemporary phenomenon within real–life circumstances has to be examined and when the researcher has little control about the occurrence of events. Further, a number of authors (Gilgun, 1994; Yin, 1994) advise that when a case study has to be conducted it is important to use multiple source of data.

3.1 Data collection

The organizational setting for this research was the multinational company Came with approximately 450 employees. The strategic change is conducted to keep on track with competitors. Besides, it is important for the company to be more visible to the end-user. The data is collected with the help of the human resource manager and the

marketing director. The marketing director informed all managers of the different branches about the purpose of the research. After that, all managers recieved an email (Appendix A) with a question to participate in this research. When all questionnaires were filled out the results were analyzed. With the results of the questionnaire the interviews were created. Three interviews with the managers of the branches in the Netherlands, Germany and with the headquarters in Italy were conducted. I chose these three country managers, because of the feasibility. It is important for the case study to conduct face-to-face interviews and these three managers were the only possible candidates . Furthermore, the similarities and differences between the Netherlands and Germany seemed interesting to me. The interview with the marketing director of the headquarters in Italy was vital,providing more information about their thoughts and behavior. It was important that the interview was held with the marketing director, because it was in this department that the big change is taking place.

Interviews are an appropriate method to gather more personal data of participants, like attitudes, values and motives (King, 2004). Besides, Miles & Huberman (1984: 15) show that qualitative data ‘are a source of well-grounded, rich descriptions and

explanations of processes occurring in local contexts’. Consequently, with the help of interviews, it is possible to get more insights into the thoughts of the participants and the reasons for behavior.

Questionnaire

the link of the online questionnaire in an email together with a cover letter (Appendix A & B). The questionnaire was given in English for all managers.

In the first part of the questionnaire the general questions were asked, for example the age and gender of the participants. This data is used as control variables. In the second part of the questionnaire statements about the workforce of the managers are given. With a Likert-scale the participants had to choose between 1 (strongly disagree) ranging to 5 (strongly agree). Closed-questions were used, because according to Bryman & Bell (2003) closed-questions are easier to answer.

The first four statements covered the subject of the independent variable participation. One example statement is: ‘I have the opportunity to participate in planning of change projects’. With the help of the first statement it can be examined whether the managers of the branches can participate in front or during change projects. Further, the last statement about participation asks whether the managers are interested in a more participative change effort. The following four statements investigate the subject of communication at Came. The participants are asked whether they think that the communication with the headquarters is sufficient. Furthermore, the managers of the Came branches are asked if they are informed about the upcoming change and if they need more or better

communication with the headquarters. An example statement is: ‘I receive enough information about new activities planned at the headquarters’. The next three statements are about the organization culture. The managers had to state their opinion about the example ‘In our branch clear norms and values exist’ and ‘To be open for change is part of our organizational culture’. Thereafter two statements are presented about other factors to overcome resistance to change, like ‘Our branch receives enough support when

Interview

Semi-structured interviews were used in order to open the possibility of adjusting the agenda in response to significant replies (Bryman & Bell, 2003). The interviews were conducted at the branches of the particular managers. The interviews with the branch managers of Came can be found in appendix C. The interview with the marketing director of the headquarters can be found in appendix D. The duration of the interviews was one to one and a half hours. At first, general questions were asked, for example about the age of the participant and for how long this persons works for Came. After that questions about the recognition of the different markets in the diverse countries were asked.

change?’ Finally, the particular manager was asked if they have further questions and the interviewer said “Thank you” to the manger for their participation.

3.2 Data analysis

The analysis of the data will start with a report about the questionnaire. It is not possible to computesignificant outcomes, because the number of participants is too small. The opinions of the participants to the particular statements will be presented separately and summarized. After that, the results of the interviews will be shown separately. At the end of the results section the results of the three interviews will be compared among each other and together with the results of the questionnaire.

4. RESULTS

4.1 The questionnaire

The questionnaires have been filled out by twelve managers of the different Came branches. The Came branches which took part in the research are working in the following countries: China, Russia, Germany, Benelux, France, Spain, Portugal, China, United Kingdom and USA. In some countries more than one branch took part,therefore only ten countries took part but twelve managers filled in the questionnaire. The research focused on the managers of the branches, because the main resistance during a change project is caused by management (Burnes, 2004). The managers of 15 branches were asked to fill in the questionnaire. After a period of three month all twelve managers had responded. The response rate was eighty percent.

Through the use of the following control variables additional information was gathered: gender, age, time working for Came, time working at current position and number of employees at branch. 83,33% of the participants who filled in the

minimum 0,2 years and maximum of 23 years with an average of 6,56 years. An average branch of Came has 26,17 employees, with a range from one to a maximum of 130 employees.

Furthermore, three interviews were conducted to enhance our knowledge about resistance to change at Came and their branches. The interviews were created with the help of the results of the questionnaires. Two managers of Came branches in Europe were interviewed. Additionally, an interview with the marketing director of the headquarters of Came was carried out. Two of the three questioned managers were male and one was female. The average age of the three interview partners was 45, with a minimum age of 39 and a maximum age of 51. The participants’ duration of employment for Came ranged from one to 21 years with an average time of 13 years.

With the help of nine propositions, statements for the questionnaire were formulated. In the following part the proposition will be presented together with particular statements. First of all the results of the questionnaire will be presented. With the help of the

propositions the questionnaire is divided into six parts. The first part is about general questions concerning change. This is followed by a part concerning participation of Came managers in change projects. After that the opinions of the Came managers about

communication with the headquarters will be presented. The next part will be about the organizational culture of Came. Thereafter, the subject will be examined whether the managers of the Came branches think that every national market has its specific mechanisms. The last part will be about the resistance to the new marketing strategy. Referring to all statements and their results in Appendix A the visual results can be found in the form of diagrams.

General questions

Participation

The first proposition states that the management of Came does not use participation in change projects. Half of the participants strongly agreed with the statement, that they have the opportunity to participate in the planning of change projects. One third of the participants agreed with this statement. The majority of the Came managers says that they participate in the planning of change projects. The same is true for the participation during the implementation of change projects. The majority of particpants state that they have the opportunity to participate during the implementation of change projects. Five managers strongly agreed with the statement and five managers agreed with the statement. The other two managers neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement. Therefore the first proposition can not be approved correct.

The second proposition is: the Came branches are interested in more participation. The majority of the Came branch managers stated that they would like to participate even more in the planning of change projects, rather seven managers strongly agreed, four agreed and only one strongly disagreed with the statement. Accordingly the second proposition is approved.

In conclusion, the management of the headquarters of Came uses participation in their change projects. In addition, the majority of the branch managers want more participation during change efforts.

Communication

The first proposition about communication questions whether the management of the headquarters at Came communicates enough to accomplish change projects successfully. There is no majority opinion about the statement if the managers of the branches meet often with the field staff at Came to exchange information. Six managers answered that they neither agree nor disagree with the statement. Three managers strongly agreed and two managers agreed with the statement. One branch manager disagreed with the

The next proposition is: the Came branches are interested in more communication during change projects. Eight Came managers agreed with the statement that more communication is needed between the headquarter and the branches. Consequently, it seems that the most managers would appreciate more communication about change projects. Hence, the second proposition can be approved with the help of the statements of the branch managers.

Therefore, there is no majority opinion about the communication flow from the headquarter of Came towards their branches. Besides, most of the branch managers want more communication in change projects.

Organizational culture

The first proposition about the organizational culture of Came is: the Came branches have a common organizational culture. The majority of the Came managers agreed that clear norms and values exist in their branch. Ten of the branch managers stated that they agreed/strongly agreed with the statement. Furthermore, eight managers stated that the new marketing strategy will influence their organizational culture. This statement belongs to the second proposition: the organizational culture will be affected by the change effort. According to the results the second proposition about organizational culture seems to be true. Furthermore, the majority of the Came managers agreed with the statement that openness to change is part of their organizational culture. Ten managers answered that they agree or strongly agree with the statement about openness to change.

To conclude, the branch managers stated that they have a common organizational culture. Furthermore, the managers are aware of the fact that the new marketing strategy will influence the organizational culture and the way they used to work.

International differences

Resistance to change

The mainstream opinion of the Came managers about the new marketing strategy is that the new strategy is important. Ten branch managers stated that they agree/strongly agree with statement about the new strategy. The opinion of the managers are really diverse when questioned whether they like the new marketing strategy or not. Only a small majority could be found which support the new marketing strategy. One manager strongly disagreed, one manger disagreed, four managers neither agreed nor disagreed, three managers agreed and two managers strongly agreed with the statement whether they like the new marketing strategy. One branch manager gave no answer to statement. Most of the managers agreed with the statement whether they will work with the new

marketing strategy. Six managers agreed or strongly agreed with the statement. On the other hand the managers have diverse opinions about whether it will be difficult to implement the new marketing strategy at their particular branch. The majority of the managers neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement, all possible answers are present.

Nine branch managers agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that they already have a customer focus as opposed to a focus on the product. The same is also true for the whole Came Group. Seven branch managers stated that the whole Came group has a customer focus. Four managers neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement and only one manager strongly disagreed with this statement.

In conclusion, the opinions about the new marketing strategy are diverse. Most of the branch managers think that the new marking strategy is important. Besides, when it comes to the implementation of the change the branch managers do not have a

homogeneous opinion. The majority of the branch managers stated that they already have a customer focus. Thus, no coherent conclusion can be drawn.

4.2 The interviews

General information’s

The first manager who was interviewed worked for Came since 1988. The manager said that in his opinion every national market has its specific mechanisms. He mentioned that every country has its own identity. Each has its own behavior and each is different. According to the participant it is important that the marketing adjusts to the national market. He gave the example about a car which can be really popular in Italy, but unpopular in Germany. Further he mentioned that, in his opinion, the mentality even between Germany and the Benelux is very different. The German people are not as flexible as the inhabitants of Belgium. Belgians are searching for a compromise and are therefore more flexible.

The second interview partner has workedfor Came for 17 years. According to her, every national market has its specific mechanisms. By this she means that every country has its own culture. The products of Came have a different demand status in all countries. For example, in Germany the products of Came are luxury and in Italy and France the products fulfill the basic needs of the inhabitants. In Italy all the people who own a house also own a door driver. Further, the dealers in Germany sell this product next to a lot of other products. In contrast to Germany, in Italy there are specific dealers who are specialized to sell only this product.

The third interview was conducted with the manager of the marketing department of the Came headquarters in Italy. The manager has worked one year for Came. He uses the same standard marketing strategy in every country. To some point he does recognize the specific mechanisms in the different national markets and he said that within the standard marketing strategy different tools are used in the countries. In his opinion it is a combination of a brand communication and the specific markets. That’s why at this moment he is visiting every branch.

Participation

According to the second interview partner, she does not always have the opportunity to participate in change projects. Often she gets informed of a new activity much too late. The Came branch manager would like to participate more in change projects, for instance through a better information flow, in order to get more information on time about

upcoming change projects.

The marketing director believes that the Came branches have the opportunity to participate in change projects. Besides he is aware about a lack in the communication.

Communication

According to the first manager,communication within Came could be enhanced, which could be done by team building or something like that. The international meetings are a good activity and could be done more often. With the help of the international meetings the managers of the Came branches get the opportunity to talk about problems and new ideas. The manager also said the communication between the same departments in different countries has to be enhanced. Furthermore, the Came branch manager stated that for all countries it is important that somebody from headquarters be more present at the branches. According to this Came branch manager, the branches do not receive enough information about new activities. He also states that the information flow has improved over the last years, but it still has to be enhanced. The same is true for the topic about support. For a long time the mentality of the headquarters was that they create the products and the branches have to follow. At this moment, there is more exchange of information and experience. Most of the time, the headquarters implements something and thereafter they looked how everybody reacts to the change.

advanced, a key person is needed to which the technical staff of the branch can talk to, which is complicated bythe language barrier.

The marketing director admits that until now there has not been a good

communication flow between the headquarters in Italy and the branches. He states that in this year this kind of communication started. Furthermore, he confesses that at this moment the information about new activities are not enough, but they are trying to improve the communication. At this moment there is only the communication between the managers. In his opinion the communication can be advanced with more meetings, visits and international road shows. Additionally, it is important for him to get the information from the branches about the activities they have planned in the future.

Organizational culture

According to the first interviewed manager clear norms and values exists in his company. For him service is the most important variable. By this he means that the quality is 100 percent and they try to avoid errors. He thinks that the norms and values in Italy at the headquarters are different. At the headquarters the price of the product is very important. Openness to change is also an important feature of their organizational culture. He said that the weakest point at that moment is the marketing. That’s why he endorses the idea of a new marketing strategy. The manager mentioned his idea about an external company or person who could do research about the way things are going. This could be a control instrument to see where things are going good and what could be enhanced. The company or person could conduct market research in all countries and find out what could be the best strategy for which country. This could be distinguished between technical, development and supply sectors.

results in their work. This is also true when Came has undertaken mergers and the branch have to work together with new firms. She states that openness to change is part of the organizational culture.

According to the marketing director clear norms and values exists at Came Italy. For example, the communication of the brand identity and for the products; the

positioning and quality are important. He thinks that comparable norms and values of the headquarters and the branches would foster continuous growth. Furthermore, he stated that the new marketing strategy will influence the norms and values, because the new marketing strategy is based on sharing values and norms. He also stated that openness to change is part of their organizational culture.

New marketing strategy

The new marketing strategy is perceived as an important strategy to the first interview partner. The communication to the end-user is valuable, but this is different in different countries. Besides, the branch manager poses the question, if the quality can be enhanced when changing the strategy. According to him the new marketing strategy is working in France. Their television commercial was presented and it was a big success. For the Benelux, this would be much more complicated and expensive. The market is divided in smaller markets and therefore a television commercial would be two times as expensive as in France, but the impact would be much smaller. This is supported by the different languages spoken in the two country. He thinks that at this moment his company does not have a customer focus and that also the headquarters does not have a customer focus in contrast with a focus on the product.

The marketing director was asked whether he thinks that when new activities are implemented, if the branches receive enough support. He thinks that the branch

marketing managers are in the position to give the support rather than the headquarters in Italy. He stated that he gives support by giving the possibility to share a unique marketing strategy and especially make a marketing plan in which annual activities are done in the same way. The interview partner thinks that the new marketing strategy is important to the Came Group, because now is the right moment to start such a change. He admits that there are differences between the countries; some countries are more ready to do these changes than others. The marketing director of the headquarters in Italy said that it will be difficult to implement the new marketing strategy, because it requires a change in the mentality and management culture of the organization. In his opinion the mentality change will need more than only one presentation. It is a process and will take approximately one or two years. On the question whether Came Italy has a customer focus or a focus on the product, the marketing director said that the focus is still on the product. They started to consider the new way of conversation. This is about market share and growth. According to him it is important to first realize what is necessary and useful for each market. He said that in some countries the way to work with the customers has already changed.

4.3 Comparing questionnaire and interview

In this part the results of the questionnaire and the interview will be compared. With the help of the propositions the opinions will be compared.

Participation

is not enough space to participate during change projects. Therefore, the first proposition is not true.

Most of the branch managers would like to participate more in change projects. The same is true for the two interviewed managers. Both stated that they would appreciate more participation in the planning of change projects and during the

implementation. Even the marketing director would be pleased about more participation. This supports the proposition Ib that the Came branches are interested in more

participation.

The third proposition about participation is the following: Resistance to change will be higher at the branches of Came where the headquarters did not apply participation to implement a change effort. This proposition is opposed to the view of the Came

managers. There is no Came manager who states in the questionnaire that they can not participate during or at the start of a change projects. Therefore, this third proposition can not be answered through the use of the results of the questionnaire. Two of the managers who filled in the questionnaire were also interviewed. During the interview both Came branch managers told that they would appreciate more participation in change efforts. Furthermore, both managers stated that they like the new marketing strategy, but also that they are not sure if they really want to implement the strategy at their branch. Through the use of the interviews the third propositions seems to be true.

Communication

communication with the headquarters of Came in Italy. It can be concluded that the second proposition about communication is true. The third proposition about

communication is the following: when the management of Came Italy communicate with the Came branches before and during the change projects there won’t be a high degree of resistance. This proposition can only be answered by using the results of the interviews. According to both interviewed managers more communication is needed. Furthermore, the managers are not sure whether they will use the new marketing strategy or not. This underlines the third proposition, but it is not enough support to consider it correct. It is hard to say whether the managers would implement the new strategy right now if they had enough information’s about the new strategy at the start.

Organizational Culture

The first proposition about the organizational culture is as follows: the Came branches have a common organizational culture. The majority of the Came managers agree that they have clear norms and values at their branch. The first interviewed managers stated that quality and service are the most important norms and values at his branch. The same is true for the second interviewed manager. As well as the marketing director of the headquarters, who states that quality is one of the most important norms and values of the organization. Consequently it can be said that all countries have a particular organizational culture and that at least in three countries this organizational culture is similar.

Furthermore, the mainstream opinion of the Came managers is that the new

marketing strategy will influence their organizational culture. The interviewed managers expressed the same opinion. This is in accordance with proposition IIIb which states that the organizational culture of Came will be affected by the change effort.

changed strategy. Therefore, the third proposition about organizational culture can neither be approved nor disapproved.

5. DISCUSSION

Regarding the research question: what methods can decrease resistance to change, there are various points to consider. The case study is done in collaboration with the Came Group. Twelve Came branch managers filled in the questionnaire and three Came managers were interviewed. At this moment, Came changes its marketing strategy at all of its branches . With the help of the questionnaires and the interviews, a detailed cutout is given about the current situation at Came and the thought and feelings of the managers about the upcoming change.

In the beginning of this section the nine propositions will be discussed. After that other important variables will be presented which seem to stay in relationship with resistance to change. Subsequently, the research question will be answered. Thereafter, implications will be presented for the Came Group and all other companies who are changing to implement change successfully. Finally, suggestions will be given for further research.

Propositions

Perhaps the managers were not sure about the secrecy of their information and therefore most of the managers said that there is enough participation.

The second proposition states that the manager of the Came branches are interested in more participation. All managers responded in the questionnaire as well as in the

interview that they would like to participate more in change projects. Subsequently, the headquarters does not use enough participation. In future change projects, it would be beneficial for the headquarters of Came to use a more participative approach. The third proposition is as follows: resistance to change will be higher at the branches of Came where the headquarters did not apply participation to implement a change effort.

Unfortunately the results of the questionnaire can not give a causal relationship. Through the interviews it seems to be true, because both interviewed managers want a more participative approach and are at the same time not sure about whether they will use the new marketing strategy. Regrettably, there is not enough evidence for this proposition.

The next three propositions are about the variable communication. According to researches on the subject of resistance to change, communication is one of the most important variables which can influence the success rate of a change project. For example, Kanter & Seggerman (1986) highlight the need for more information during change projects to decrease the uncertainty of the employees. Therefore, the first proposition about communication is that the management of the headquarters does not use enough communication in change projects. This proposition could not be approved with the help of the questionnaires. However,in the interviews it becomes obvious that there is not enough communication between the branches and the headquarters. Hence, this is not enough evidence to approve the proposition.

particular change. Unfortunately, it is not possible to approved or disprove this proposition.

The managers who filled in the questionnaire gave contradict answers. On the one hand they said that there is enough communication in change projects and on the other hand they said that more communication with the headquarters is needed. For this reason I am not sure if the participants answers exactly portraited their true feelings. Hence they gave an answer that would be good for them, but not for the research. For the real opinion of the participants it would be better to interview all managers face-to-face.

The last three propositions are about organizational culture. According to Strebel (1996), resistance follows a violation of the personal compact. Consequently, if the change will disrupt the personal compacts of the employees or managers than the

Additional factors

Through analyzing the results of the questionnaire and while preparing and

conducting the interviews additional factors are found which can influence the amount of resistance to change. The first factor concerns globalization. The Came Group tries to implement the same marketing strategy within all markets. For the headquarters this is the cheapest option. However, for the branches this is a dangerous adventure. All managers which participated in this research are aware of the fact that there are big differences between the countries. The second interview partner highlighted the

information that the product which Came sells is a normal security product in Italy and France, but a luxury product in countries like Germany and the Netherlands. Another factor which could increase resistance to change is the language barrier. There are

countries which can communicate much easier than others. Besides, there are countries in which the new marketing strategy would be three times as expensive as in other

countries, because multiple languages are spoken. In the new marketing strategy, the end user is most important. To really get in contact with the end user, the company has to present the product in,for example, a television commercial on different channels and in different languages. This is the case for the Benelux. Moreover, they do not have as much inhabitants as Germany, and have to effort much more to get in contact with the end user. These are important factors the headquarters will have to keep in mind when they want to implement a new strategy.

Research question

With the help of the literature research, the research questions was created. Subsequently, through the use of the questionnaires and the interviews it was tried and answered. Consequently the following research question is examined: What methods can decrease the resistance to change during a change project? Through the use of

propositions, the research question is divided in different subjects.

second interview partner said that in the past many changes were announced too late. The first manager stated that each branch manager has the most knowledge of their own country. It is important to have a two sided communication flow to adjust the ideas of the headquarters to their own country. Moreover, all the managers mentioned that they are open to change. At the same time resistance to change was shown, when the managers stated that there are not sure whether they will use the new marketing strategy. Besides, it is important for the headquarters to be aware of the market differences. In conclusion, more participation and communication can decrease resistance to change by a particular amount. Furthermore, the headquarters must be alert about the organizational culture of the particular branches and whether this culture has to change when implementing a new change and be aware of the outcome.

Implications for Came and other multinational companies

For future change projects at Came it is important to use a more participative approach. This means that the headquarters has to inform the Came branches about possible changes on time. With the use of participation, the headquarters can decrease resistance to change, because with participation barriers can be identified. Moreover, the communication flow has to be increased. For instance it would be helpful to have clear rules, such as who is responsible for what. The marketing director mentioned during the interview, that he thinks that he does not have to give support to the branches to

implement the new marketing strategy. According to him, this is the task of the branch marketing managers. Besides, Larkin & Larkin (2005) found out that face-to-face communication is the best way to overcome resistance to change. Through the results of the questionnaire it its obvious, that more than 50% of the branch managers do not meet often with the field staff of the headquarters to exchange information. Consequently, more face-to-face communication has to take place.

that the change will last about one or two years until it is completed. Through the interviews I realized that the branch managers were not aware of this long duration. Therefore, an exchange of explicit information is needed.

Finally, to make a change in the organizational culture possible, participation and communication are needed. This is true for all changing organizations and has to be in the mind of the leading managers.

Limitations

While analyzing the results of this case study it became obvious that the data pool is too small. Some propositions could not be approved because no mainstream opinion was given. Through the use of more interviews the thoughts behind the answers could be discovered. This is important to be able to make real conclusions. Furthermore, the findings of this research are typical for western society. Only two non-western countries took part in this research. Therefore, further research should be rolled out to companies which are more diverse.

Another limitation of this research is that only three main variables are examined. Some variables, for example international differences, are not studied enough. This is because during the research I realized that this could be a reason for resistance to change. During the research the importance of market differences became obvious and requires more attention in further research.

Furthermore, it is possible that the participants who filled in the questionnaire gave answers which are socially modified. Perhaps the branch managers were afraid that the manager of the headquarters could see their answer and would be disappointed. That is why they answered more positively than they would normally. Therefore for further research it would be better tif the manager of the headquarters would not introduce the upcoming research. It would be better if a researcher from outside the company

announces the research.

Further research

In this research the gathered data through interviews was good detailed information about the situation at Came. The questionnaires are a effective in gaining an idea about what is going on at the branches. For further research it would be better to have in-depth interviews with all managers and to let the employees at the branches fill in

questionnaires to recieve information on another level. Furthermore, it would be good to examine a wider variety of variables. Finally, a larger sample size is needed to be able to present significant results.

Conclusion

This case study was performed at a multinational organization to find methods to overcome resistance to change. The management at the headquarters of Came uses participation in their change projects, but the majority of the branch managers want more participation during change efforts. There is no majority opinion about the

communication flow from the headquarters of Came towards their branches. Besides, most of the branch managers want more communication in change projects. Eventhough at this point in time the headquarters does use participation and communication during change projects, all managers need more participation and communication to accomplish successfully change efforts.

In the questionnaire the branch managers stated that they have a common

organizational culture at the headquarters and the branches of Came. All managers are aware of the fact that the new marketing strategy will influence the organizational culture and the way they used to work. This information is important for the headquarters. When the organizational culture has to be changed to implement the new strategy many

variables have to be considered, like time and the kind of organizational culture. These considerations require further research and could be important variables in the

emergence of resistance to change.

became obvious that the headquarters needs to communicate more about this change and the consequences for the branches.

Furthermore, relating to the statement that every national market has its specific mechanisms, the branch managers gave equal responses. All managers agreed with this statement. Consequently, all managers have the opinion that the markets at the different countries are dissimilar. Through the interviews I found out that these market differences are important for the branch managers. The managers are proud of their countries and they know the most about the processes in the countries and what the users want. Thus, the headquarters needs to communicate more with the branch managers. They could recieve first hand information about the market differences and use this information as an advantage.

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