Managerial Behavior and -Cognition in Overcoming Resistance to Change

This research uses the theory of change to investigate the relationship between managerial behavior, cognition, and overcoming resistance to change. Qualitative research by means of a case study is used to investigate the following question: ‘How does managerial behavior by following Change Theory E or O, combined with reconfiguring capabilities of top- and middle-managers influence overcoming resistance to change at Hogeschool Utrecht in lower organizational levels, regarding the restructuring of the organization in February 2017?’ Strategic change is crucial for organizations in order to survive. The strategic management literature therefore investigates how to successfully implement organizational change, and found that different factors have influence. This research focusing on organizational change is supported by the behavioral theory of the firm, and the theory on managerial cognition. The behavioral literature explains that the choice for a certain leadership style can lead to overcoming resistance to change (Schlesinger & Kotter, 1979) and the literature on managerial cognitive capabilities suggests that there exists a relationship between reconfiguring capabilities and overcoming resistance to change (Wilkens et al., 2016; Helfat & Peteraf, 2015). The mechanisms behind these relationships are not yet shown. Therefore, this study connects managerial behavior shown by leadership style, managerial cognition shown by reconfiguring capabilities, and the concept of overcoming resistance to change. First, managerial behavior is investigated based on the factors distinguishing the change theories of Economy (Theory E) and Organization (Theory O) (Beer & Nohria, 2000). The interviews show that top- and middle managers follow Change Theory O, which focuses on participation of employees. Second, managerial cognition is investigated based on reconfiguring capabilities. Managers at Hogeschool Utrecht have strong reconfiguring capabilities, seen by their focus on personal 3 communication, and perception of understanding interpersonal relations in lower organizational levels. A relationship between behavior in following Theory O and cognition in strong reconfiguring capabilities is found. The combination of this behavior and cognition show person-oriented behavior. Managers with personoriented behavior can overcome resistance to change in lower organizational levels, by using this in building a vision and a learning organization.