Steve Jackson Faces Resistance to Change
Case number:
A12-11-0010
Abstract
Steve Jackson, a project professional at Western Construction (an international construction conglomerate), is attempting to introduce BSO, a new software package. Engineers at Western who would be using BSO seem to support the change, and BSO has already been adopted successfully by Western’s competitor. However, Mike Barnett, a long-term Western employee of undisclosed hierarchical status and strong personal ties to the top, is leveraging every opportunity to kill the BSO project. Knowing that he must find a way to win Barnett over, Jackson attempts a variety of approaches to overcoming resistance to change, including turning to his own boss for assistance.
Teaching
A major value of this case is its resonance for students. Whereas many cases about resistance to change take the perspective of the top executives as related to grand-scale organization-wide change, this case exemplifies the much more common struggle of those at the middle who face resistance in implementing their own narrower change initiatives.
Case number:
A12-11-0010
Subject:
Marketing
Year:
Setting:
U.S.
Length:
3 Pages
Source:
General experience