Overcoming resistance for better performance management 

Managers have long been baffled and befuddled by the tendency of organizations to resist even minor changes. Some managers have likened resistance to organizational change to punching an airbag: It just keeps coming back in new shapes or forms.

Employees and managers have a plethora of ways to resist change. It has been argued that knowing how to change organizations is just as important, and quite possibly more practical, than knowing what to change. Efforts to improve performance include a long-standing search for lessons, tips, and rules that assist managers to overcome employee fear, uncertainty, and resistance.

More about performance management

Pathways to Performance

Organizing work for better performance management

Managing employees for better performance management

Measuring performance

Overcoming resistance for better performance management 

The meaning of the term performance is similar to that of the term productivity as, for example, the effective and efficient use of resources to achieve outcomes. However, performance is broader than some narrow meanings of productivity (efficiency, for example). Many private sector applications emphasize only efficiency, but a distinguishing feature of public performance is that it is guided and assessed by multiple, equally important standards of effectiveness, efficiency, and equity.