Factors influencing resistance to change among employees in shipyard operation

Many industry including heavy industry embarked in business changes to enhance capability, improves performance and provide competitive advantage for business. In implementation of changes, the main failure of organization changes due to a common phenomenon known as resistance to change. The objectives of the research are investigating the relationship between four independent variables and resistance to change. Perceived personal impact, perceived outcome organizations, trust in
management and change communication are four factors hypothesized to have significant relationship towards resistance to change. Instrument used to obtain the data for this quantitative paper was a survey questionnaire. A total of 300 survey were distributed to the staff in Boustead Naval Shipyard. Of the distribution, only 256 responses have found completed and subsequently analyzed for statistical results by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 software. The study hypotheses have been tested by using correlation and multiple regression analysis. As a whole, the finding has indicated that four independent variables significantly predict resistance to change. ‘How’ an individual perceived, trust and communication is the key to manage employees’ resistance to organizational change. The result of the study is believed to assist the management practitioners to understand employees’ disposition towards change in order to attain effective change management at the workplace.