¶ … Kotter's and Lewin's models and discusses their roles as diagnostic tools and as implementation agents. It is the nature of organizations to face constant change, whether the source comes from competitive pressures, new opportunities, technological advances or new initiatives and so forth. Both models offer a methodology for effectively managing change.
Kotter's 8-Step Change Model
Change management models help organizations to effect change in a systematic manner while avoiding some of the pitfalls associated with organizational change development. According to John Kotter, organizations frequently make the same mistakes when they try to bring about change; they allow too much complacency or they fail to communicate and so forth (Reynolds, 2009).
Kotter's 8-step change model has been shown to be a powerful and successful method for implementing change. The purpose of Kotter's model is to efficiently and effectively achieve change management. People respond better to change when they are actively involved in its planning and implementation. For many, change can be unsettling and demanding. By creating a structured methodology surrounding change, the chances for successful change are enhanced.
Each stage of Kotter's model refers to a key principle that Kotter identified that describes how people relate and respond to change. The components of Kotter's model comprise eight steps which describe key activities in the change management process. According to Kotter, the process begins with creating a sense of urgency. In order for change to take place, the entire organization must be behind the change and believe in it. It is necessary to inspire people to move, to make objectives real and relevant to them (Chapman, 2010).
The next step requires forming a change coalition, by identifying the leaders in an organization and obtaining an emotional commitment from them. This stage of change management focuses on getting the right people in place with the correct emotional commitment, as well as the correct mix of skills and skill levels (Chapman, 2010).
The third step of Kotter's model involves creating a vision for change so that people can understand why they're being asked to do something. This step also involves creating a strategy for executing that vision and is closely aligned with crafting a vision statement. Getting the vision right requires that the team set up a vision and strategy, and that they focus on the creative and emotional aspects that are needed to promote service and efficiency (Chapman, 2010).
Step four involves communicating the vision, which includes candidly addressing people's concerns. The purpose of this communication is to achieve buy-in, involving as many people as possible, communicating the essentials while appealing to people and responding to their needs. Step five consists of removing obstacles in order to empower people to be able to execute the vision. This step also entails enabling constructive feedback and support from leaders, as well as rewarding and recognizing progress and achievements. Step six requires creating short-term wins to motivate the team by giving them a taste of success. Kotter recommends setting aims that are easy to achieve and doing it in bite-size chunks, with a manageable number of initiatives; likewise he recommends finishing current stages before starting new ones (Chapman, 2010).
Step seven involves building on the change. Following each win, it is important to analyze what went right as well as what went wrong. Also important in this phase is encouraging determination and persistence, as well as ongoing change and progress reporting. The final step consists of anchoring the changes in corporate culture, and making sure that the change sticks. This phase focuses on reinforcing the value of successful change by way of recruitment and promotion of new change leaders, and by way of weaving change into the culture (Chapman, 2010).
Kotter's change model can be used to support strategic change in an organization by providing a change management methodology. By helping managers to understand the process of change as well as the role of human nature, Kotter's model is useful for showing an organization how to effectively deal with moving a company in a new direction. The model is especially beneficial for helping individuals understand why change within the organization is necessary so that the employees are able to embrace change and move forward (Faucheux, 2009).
Among the strengths of Kotter's model is its ability to successfully identify the components that are required for effective change management. On the other hand, there are criticisms as well. Kotter's is a top down model which works well with large corporations and large projects. However, in a setting where people expect a more participative or bottom...
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