SML · Week 2.2: Management Challenges

Interactive Activity

Change Challenges — Swim Lane Sorter

Drag each challenge card into the correct swim lane

Card Pool — drag from here

Senior managers pay lip service to the new strategy but continue allocating budget to old priorities.

The new cross-functional model can’t be implemented because the legacy ERP system doesn’t support cross-department data sharing.

Employees in a results-focused firm dismiss the wellbeing programme as ‘soft’ and irrelevant to real work.

A union formally opposes the restructuring plan, filing grievances and threatening industrial action.

A rigid approval hierarchy means every minor decision requires sign-off from three levels of management, stalling agile transformation.

In a company with a ‘never fail’ culture, employees refuse to pilot new approaches because failure is seen as career-damaging.

People Resistance
Individuals or groups pushing back

Structural Barriers
Systems and processes blocking change

Cultural Friction
Embedded values and norms resisting