Change Management
Kotter's sequence: establishing a sense urgency creating a guiding coalition.
Change management: Best Buy's successful adoption of change
Change management: Best Buy's successful adoption of change
It is said that change is constant and the one constant in economic life is change. But despite the 'predictability' of change, the phenomenon of change resistance is another 'constant' in organizations. John Kotter in his book Leading Change offers an eight-step prescription to fight against change resistance, to create a positive environment that fosters change. The efficacy of Kotter's eight steps can be seen in Best Buy and its shift a results-only system of valuing employee's contributions, which stands in stark contrast to its previous attempts to institute change.
Establish a sense of urgency
At Best Buy, before adopting a results-only work environment, the organization was a "ferociously face-time place" (Smashing the Clock, 2006, Business Week). Burnout and attrition of high-quality employees was high, and working 8am to 8pm was common. One manager, as a way of increasing productivity instituted the change initiative by insisting "his team track its work -- every 15 minutes. As at many companies, the last one to turn out the lights won…managers were mired in analog-age inertia, often judging performance on how much they saw you, vs. how much you did" (Smashing the Clock, 2006, Business Week). Penalizing individuals for not working long enough hours simply created resentment,...
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