M5.4: Case Study: Resistance

For the most part, individuals, groups and organizations resist change because it is not beneficial to them. A new car, a new house, and a new job are all aspects that are (most likely) beneficial to someone, and they raised resist an improvement in your living standards. No doubt, all are changes, but they are not resisted because they benefit the recipient.
Using knowledge gained from the course thus far and, in particular, Chapters 8 and 9, review Exercise 8.3. Following your review and analysis, compose an essay where you answer/address the 5 questions at the end of Exercise 8.3, paying particular attention to addressing the benefits, causes, and systems of resistance to change, along with including at least 2 strategies that should be utilized to best manage change within an organization. Your case should be at least 2–3 pages,
The New York Times best seller Moneyball (Lewis, 2003) is a book about baseball. It describes how Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, revolutionized Major League Baseball (MLB) by introducing a new approach (sabermetrics) to assessing the value of a player to a team (see Wolfe et al., 2006). The established approach to assessing player talent favored future potential, but sabermetrics focused on past performance. Also, the established approach focused on the statistics of batting average (BA) and earned run average (ERA). The new approach was based on the argument that different statistics such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage (OSP) were better predictors of a player’s performance. Beane introduced sabermetrics, but the underlying concept was not his. The writer Bill James had argued (and been ignored) for three decades that research attested to its superiority as a basis for determining a player’s true value to a team.
Beane’s application of the new approach was successful, and the Oakland Athletics moved close to the top of the league despite being outspent by most of their competitors. As a result, the team had approaches from many interested businesses and sporting bodies, including teams from the NFL and MLB, Fortune 500 companies, and Wall Street firms.
However, other MLB teams continued to show a lack of interest in the new approach, and some were openly hostile to it. Why? The MLB was bound in tradition and characterized by deep respect for convention and precedent. Sabermetrics challenged treasured orthodoxies for two reasons. First, it questioned the value of established predictors of performance. Second, sabermetrics based decisions on statistics, and thus reduced the importance of professional judgement. In other words, sabermetrics sidelined the field managers who had previously enjoyed significant control over talent selection and in-game tactics. Sabermetrics thus threatened the job security of many who had been appointed on the strength of their knowledge of individual characteristics and aspects of the game that were no longer considered to be important.
We can explore how the introduction of sabermetrics affected team management and players in the movie Moneyball (2011, director Bennett Miller). Brad Pitt plays Oakland’s manager, Billy Beane, who is losing his star players to wealthier clubs. The Athletics’ owner Stephen Schott (Bobby Kotick) will not provide more money. How can he build a competitive team with a limited budget? Beane hires an economics graduate, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill). Brand introduces him to James’ statistics-based approach to picking talent, looking at the complementary skills of the players in the team as well as focusing on individual capabilities. Using this method, Beane puts together a team of previously unknown players. However, Beane’s senior manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) will not allow Beane to use these recruits, and refuses to discuss the matter. The team’s talent scouts do not like the new method either. As you watch this movie, consider the following questions:
1. Who is resisting this change and why?
2. What behaviors are used to demonstrate that resistance?
3. What role do emotions play, on both sides of this argument?
4. What tactics and behaviors do Billy Beane and Peter Brand use to overcome resistance to their new approach?
5. What lessons can you take from this experience concerning the nature of resistance and methods for overcoming resistance to change?
Managing Organizational Change: A Multiple Perspectives Approach (3rd ed.) Chapters 8 & 9, by Palmer, Dunford, and Buchanan

M5.4 Case Study: Resistance

Change within an organization often faces resistance from the members. Resistance to change is one of the major problems that organizations face in the implementation of change. In this paper, resistance to change, the various factors that influence it, and the strategies that can be used to overcome resistance to change are discussed. The role of emotions in resistance to change and the lessons that management can learn from change resistance are also discussed. The Moneyball case study, which discusses how the manager of Oakland Athletics changed the Major League Baseball (MLB) through the introduction of a new innovative approach to player value assessment (sabermetrics), is used as an illustrative case.

The new approach introduced proved to be successful, pushing Oakland Athletics closer to the top. However, many teams in the MLB were not interested in it, while others showed hostility towards it. The Moneyball movie (Miller, 2011) brings to light various resistance to change issues. The approach introduced by Brand was resisted by many team members and the manager, Beane. There are various reasons why the approach and changes were resisted by Beane and the team members. First, if the new approach failed to work, the team would suffer severely. Second, resistance could be as a result of fear. Fear is a common factor that supports resistance to change when there are no valid arguments to explain resistance (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2006). It is a strong emotion that cannot be shaken off using rational arguments. Fear can only be overcome through persuasion techniques and ensuring that everyone completely understands the change (Hon, Bloom, & Crant, 2014).

Some behaviors observable in the film show the resistance that the new approach faced during implementation. The Oakland team scouts are initially hostile to Brand. Grady confronts Beane and gets fired for it (Miller, 2011). There is a lot of verbal confrontation between the athletics manager, Beane, Art, and Brand. Emotions play a huge role in the resistance, on both sides of the argument. Both sides of the argument, those in support and those opposing the change, express anger through their actions, aggressive behavior, and speech. Grady was aggressive and angry when dealing with Beane. Brand and Bean take a more assertive and composed approach when handling their emotions and those of their ‘rivals’.

There are various ways that Beane and Brand could have used to beat resistance. First, it is important to determine the source of resistance to change (Palmer et al., 2006). This can be done by listening to the concerns and feedback from the parties opposing change. In the case of Beane and Brand, the source of resistance was fear. The two should have used this knowledge to resolve the problem by using persuasion targeting fear. For instance, they should have explained the risks of failing to implement the new approach, considering the fact that the team was not performing well. They should have appealed to the emotions of the team members.

In conclusion, various lessons can be learned from the Moneyball case. The role of emotions and the factors that influence resistance to change have been discussed, as well as the various ways through which a manager can overcome resistance to ensure effective implementation of change. By appealing to the emotions of people, it is easy to persuade them into accepting change. It is also important that change is explained to deal with fear.

References

Hon, A. H., Bloom, M., & Crant, J. M. (2014). Overcoming resistance to change and enhancing creative performance. Journal of Management, 40(3), 919-941.

Miller, B. (2011). Moneyball. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2006). Managing organizational change. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.