Psychological inertia in organizational change

It is in our human nature to resist change, even if it is an improvement. The enemy of many people and organizations is “the way things were always done”.
It is so small or so unconscious that you can hardly see it. A little devil that stops us from taking the necessary steps to change. That little devil is called inertia.
There is no single solution to tackle that devil. Being aware of it as a manager is a good start. Then, in your approach to change, look for ways to help people conquer their devil.

Psychological inertia is common in organizational change or manifested primarily in the lack of change. It is the tendency to maintain the status quo unless forced by a psychological motive to intervene.

The phenomenon is similar to the status-quo bias, but psychological inertia is about inhibiting any possible action, whereas status-quo bias is about avoiding any change that is perceived as a loss. Psychological inertia is mainly caused by fear, such as fear of telling the truth.

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