The Nature of Passive Resistance

The Nature of Passive Resistance

The most significant element in the success or failure of Any group of Any size, from a small business to a country, is the level of passive resistance present in the environment.  In the book, The Machine That Changed The World, by James P. Womack, there is a discussion of workers in a mass production environment withholding knowledge and effort from the process as a result of the mass production system.  We need to acknowledge that the individual employee can no longer be separated from the success equation.  All employees, hourly or salaried, must focus together, share a common concept, and each – in their way – add value to the project.

In my opinion, one of the key indicators of a company’s quality and its ability to survive and prosper in the coming years will be the level of passive resistance in the organization.  Said in the opposite way, I believe the key indicators of a company’s quality, and prediction of its future success, is the level of employee commitment toward focused company goals.

Passive resistance is the lack of action or lack of commitment that employees express when they feel disenfranchised from the overall company or its decision-making process.  It is also possible for people to totally support the company yet be passively resistant to an individual superior.  This is a critical problem if multiple groups must work together to achieve success.  If a company needs a major change to ensure survival, the level of passive resistance may be the determining factor in the survival equation.  The human spirit is the company spirit, organizations have hearts and souls, they are families.  People spend the majority of their lives within the confines of the work environment.  A broken spirit equals a broken organization.

Passive resistance takes many forms.  Its basics are that of withholding information and effort, but the impact is much greater in an environment needing change.  Though information and effort are passive resistance’s major costs, the real price is in new and fresh ideas or ideas held as a chip in the poker game to ensure a person’s self-interest.  Passive resistance breeds a community spirit of mistrust; it creates cliques and animosity.  It enlarges turf wars and puts people into an environment constantly looking for flaws in other people.  It tears at the foundation of all positive human behavior.  If passive resistance is allowed to continue, a company that must compete will fail  – unless its competitors suffer from the same problem.  In contrast, a company that has engaged its employees will have a much greater chance of survival and success, even if it is not competitive in all other areas.

I had a discussion recently about whether a company’s work force is a fixed or variable expense.  During hard times, does an organization keep a full work force or just pare back the number of employees to the level required to return to profitability?  Many large United States firms have been confronted with this problem.  I believe that the larger the layoff, the more passive resistance has been present in the organization.

Lean and committed organizations do not over-employ; they do not layer with over-activity.  They can’t.  The employee’s commitment doesn’t allow this to happen.  The test to determine the level of passive resistance in any organization, large or small, is simply the difficulty the organization has in making changes.  The simple answer to fixing passive resistance is engaging the employee.  The words are easy.  The process involves a total change in the American manager’s belief systems.