Employee Resistance to Organizational Change: Managerial Influence Tactics and Leader–member Exchange (lmx)

Employee Resistance to Organizational Change: Managerial Influence Tactics and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX)

The article, “Employee Resistance to Organizational Change: Managerial Influence Tactics and Leader–Member Exchange” examine employee’s resistance to organizational change based on a leader-member exchange approach and other tactics. It exposes the managerial influence behaviors and the relationship between the employee and supervisor who is the source of influence. Organizational change is inevitable due to internal and external factors, which is why organizations rely on leaders to direct employee efforts toward organizational goals. According to research, the primary link between the organization’s change strategy and the employees responsible for implementing that strategy is managers must be able to “unfreeze” employee beliefs that the status quo is acceptable and motivate employees to make a desired change (Furst & Cable, 2008). Furst et al. (2008), highlights three key points: 1) Employee/ Leader relationship (LMX), 2) Soft Managerial tactics, and 3) Hard Managerial tactics.

The Leader–Member Exchange theory is a relationship-based approach to leadership that focuses on a two-way relationship between leaders and followers. This theory suggests that employees develop distinctive relationships with their managers through constant interpersonal exchanges that shape the behaviors of both parties. The exchanges can be high or low. DuBrin (2016) stated there were major findings regarding the quality of the relationship with the leader (leader–member exchange, or LMX) and its impact on the effectiveness of influence tactics. Interactions in high-quality LMX relationships were depicted by loyalty, emotional support, mutual trust, and liking whereas exchanges in low-quality LMX relationships were impersonal, all business, and grounded in contractual exchanges between both parties. According to Furst et al. (2008), a study showed that subordinate satisfaction was contingent upon their managers’ use of delegation tactics and the strength of LMX. When levels of delegation were high, High LMX subordinates reported the highest job satisfaction and viewed the delegated tasks as developmental and supportive, whereas low LMX subordinates reported the lowest satisfaction and viewed the delegated tasks as a punishment and insignificant. Although LMX has several advantages, one disadvantage is the theory focuses on the individual relationships between leaders and followers and fail to address the effects of these relationships on group dynamics.

Employee resistance to change is directly related to managerial influence behaviors and how their resistance relates to both hard and soft tactics. Furst et al. (2008) addressed two hard tactic managers use, which are Sanctions