Question 1: The change that occurred in your workplace, and list the major steps or stages involved in this change.
Many organizational factors affect the need for change. Changes can be destabilizing (Cellars, 2007). For my workplace, the market in which the company operates has been facing a downturn. Due to the market condition, the company has been focusing on reducing costs of operations and increasing revenues and profitability. In the attempt to achieve these objectives, it adopted employee layoffs as a strategy.
The major steps involved in the change process included:
Step 1: Defining the change and aligning it to business goals
Step 2: Developing change plans
Step 3: Communication.
Step 4: Implementing change plans
Step 5: Evaluating progress
Question 2: Stages that were successful during this process, and which ones were problematic or handled poorly
The first and second steps were successful. The change was properly aligned to the business goals. Comprehensive change plans were also developed. The change plan detailed where the organization wanted to be and the objectives that the process hoped to achieve. The communication and implementation aspects of the change were poorly handled. While a communication framework gave an approach of how to communicate the change, most employees did not fully comprehend how the change would affect them. The implementation was also handled poorly and was met with resistance from different stakeholders. As a result, employees’ commitment to the change was weak and caused significant problems later down the line.
Question 3: Side-by-side comparison between the steps listed in the answer to Question 1 and the steps used in Lewin’s three steps.
Kurt Lewin’s model is characterized by three stages: unfreeze, Change and refreeze. Each stage has a number of practical steps. There are key similarities and differences between the steps listed above and Lewin’s three steps. A key similarity between the two is the development of a compelling message to demonstrate why the existing way of doing things should not continue. Communication is one of the components of the change phase of Lewin’s model. Other steps in this phase include dispelling rumors, empowering action and involving people in the process. The company pointed to increasing costs and poor financial results. Communication is one of the key drivers for change to occur successfully. Stakeholders need to feel connected to the organization throughout the transition period. Step 4 of the company’s change process in implementing change plans can also be found in Lewin’s model.
The first difference can be observed in the failure to prepare the organization to accept the change as required in the unfreezing stage of the Kurt Lewin’s model. Preparing the organization for change implementation is one of the steps in the unfreeze phase of the model. The unfreeze phase also involves determining what needs to be changed, ensuring there is strong support from leadership, creating the need for change, managing and understanding concerns or doubts (Levasseur, 2001). The company did not effectively address the existing status quo before implementing the change. This would involve challenging the values, beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that defined the company through training. Other components found in Refreeze phase of Lewin’s model but did not appear in the company’s change process include anchoring the changes into the culture, developing ways to sustain the change, providing support and training and celebration success.
Question 4: Based on your answers to Questions 2 and 3, do you think the change process would have gone better if management used Lewin’s three steps, Kotter’s eight steps, or the five-step approach of action research?
The change process would have gone better is the management used Lewin’s three steps. The change model is simple, comprehensive, practical and provides a high-level approach to change. It entails creating the perception that change is required, moving towards the desired level of behavior and finally solidifying the behavior as a norm. It recognizes that change is a process that may affect people in different ways and it can only be effective if people embrace it and help put it into practice. Additionally, it minimizes expected disruptions (Burnes, 2004).
References
Burnes, B. (2004). Kurt Lewin and the planned approach to change: a re‐appraisal. Journal of Management studies, 41(6), 977-1002.
Cellars, T. (2007). Change management models: A look at McKinsey's 7-S model, Lewin's change management model and Kotter's eight step change model. Published on internet by Associated content on May, 10, 2007.
Levasseur, R. E. (2001). People skills: Change management tools—Lewin's change model. Interfaces, 31(4), 71-73.
