Responding to stakeholders' resistance to change in software projects — A literature review

Software project success rates are gradually improving over the last few years. However, this does not apply to large software projects as only 10 percent are successful. One of the most prominent reasons for high failure rates is resistance to change. Resistance to change has been studied for almost seven decades however a simple answer to this issue simply does not exist. In this paper, we present a review of research on resistance to change in software projects. More precisely, we first establish the need for a change in resistance to change terminology and define the term stakeholder resistance. Next, we deal with diagnosing stakeholder resistance as its root causes are often hidden in the complex inter-human relationships and cannot be identified easily. Finally, we present how to deal with stakeholder resistance. Project managers often use a generic method for dealing with stakeholder resistance, such as user participation. When stakeholder resistance actually manifests there is most often no response to it at all from the management. Blindly following a generic method for lowering stakeholder resistance is not efficient as methods need to be adapted to specific situations and address the right root causes. Also, the situation needs to be monitored and responses prepared in case stakeholder resistance manifests itself, persists or increases during the project.