Overcoming resistance to change in engineering and construction: Change management factors for owner organizations

•Sixteen AEC owner organizations implementing the same organizational change objectives•Identification of change management factors that impact project team resistance•Realistic expectations of change efforts can reduce resistance during implementation.•Presence of internal change agents reduced resistance by 75%.

For owner organizations in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, successful implementation of new processes for procuring, contracting, and managing requires a concerted change management effort. The objective of this study was to empirically measure the impact of individual change management factors on minimizing resistance from organizational members during implementation, which is often cited as a major reason for organizational change failure. Project team resistance to the implementation of a new project delivery system was tracked across sixteen owner organizations. Findings include identification of six change management factors that contribute to minimizing resistance to change, including certain aspects of project scope, size and duration, organizational expectations of change implementation speed, the establishment of formal change agents, and the level of change agent involvement with implementation activities. Implications for change leaders and practitioners are discussed to recommend strategies for reducing resistance to change.