Change management can be described as changing the organization’s current practices to new ways of doing things. This can be achieved by a series of activities that include education, communication, leadership, and teamwork. All the stakeholders must change their values such as teamwork, tolerance, as well as responsibility to ensure that there is flexibility in the organization (Cameron & Green, 2004). This paper discusses the different organization management models that can be used by businesses to respond to various environmental changes such as consumer behavior.
The Three-Step Planned Change Model
The model was initially conceptualized in 1947 by Kurt Lewin. To date, it is widely used by contemporary change managers in many organizations. A three-step planned change model consists of three tools, which include unfreezing human behavior, learning a new behavior, and refreezing equilibrium to ensure new behaviors. Unfreezing component motivates both managers and employees to initiate changes. This tool also develops a framework that persuades all the members to discard the past behaviors, attitudes, and expectations, thus gaining knowledge of the new ones (Burke, Lake & Paine, 2009). In businesses, change managers can use strategies such as incentives and rewards for the intended behaviors. After gaining the desired changes, the stakeholders start to unfreeze the older patterns of behaviors and attitudes (Cameron & Green, 2004).
In moving step, the tool guides all stakeholders to discover new values, attitudes, expectations, and behaviors needed to sustain the new organizational dispensation. In this step, organizations change their mission statement, strategies, organizational structure, new corporate culture, technology. Finally, the refreezing assists organizations to shift their focus to reinforcing new values, behaviors, expectations, and attitudes with the aim of developing a long-term operational success. Another objective of this tool is to help concerned stakeholders to adapt new practices that support various organizational changes. Different contemporary organizations use this management tool in their operation. For instance, a company such as Ericsson, which is a leading provider of telecommunication and other related services, uses the Lewin's three-step model to change the decentralized structure and adapt a more centralized model that align with various business strategies (Iveroth, 2010).
John P. Kotter's Eight Steps of Change Management
The eight steps give a useful insight on how to manage change in organizations by incorporating people’s participation and responsibility in identifying and implementing strategies. The eight steps of this model are described as follows;
Establish a Sense of Urgency
It is important for organizations to be ready and responsive to changes that emerge in the market. Therefore, organizations should have a sense of urgency and prepare their teams to catch-up with any change that may encounter the company (Lee, 2006).
Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition
For any organization to effectively adapt to changes, all staff members should ensure that there is a team work in the daily activities.
Create a Vision
It is crucial for organizations to develop a sensible vision for change. This must be accompanied by effective strategies.
Communicate the Vision
After establishing an organizational vision, the top management should communicate to every department in the organization. Tools of communication and target group must be considered to ensure that there is a proper utilization of resources in the business.
Encourage Others to Act on the Vision
Management should be in a position to eliminate various obstacles that hinder the achievement of implemented vision and strategies (Lee, 2006).
Plan for and Create Short-Term Wins
The top management should set achievable short-term goals and review them periodically. The review provides the organization with an opportunity to identify other ways to achieve the vision of the company.
Consolidate Improvements
Improvement of human resources activities such as hiring, personal development, and promotion ensures that the organization moves forward in achieving its vision (Lee, 2006).
Institutionalize New Approaches
For an organization to achieve long-term changes, the kind of thinking should align with organizational culture, structure, process, and human resource development.
References
Burke, W. W., Lake, D. G., & Paine, J. W. (2009). Organization change: A comprehensive reader. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2004). Making sense of change management. London: Kogan Page.
Lee, H. (2006). Kotter's eight steps change model applicability in the 21st century way of doing business. California: Fresno Pacific University, 2006
