Approaches to Managing Organizational Change

Prepared By

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Manu Melwin JoyAssistant Professor

Ilahia School of Management Studies

Kerala, India.Phone – 9744551114

Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

Three stage model• One of the cornerstone models

for understanding organizational change was developed by Kurt Lewin back in the 1940s, and still holds true today.

• His model is known as Unfreeze – Change – Refreeze, refers to the three-stage process of change he describes.

• Kurt Lewin, a physicist as well as social scientist, explained organizational change using the analogy of changing the shape of a block of ice.

Three stage model

Unfreezing RefreezingMoving

• Provide rationale for change

• Create minor levels of guilt/anxiety about not changing

• Create sense of psychological safety concerning change

• Provide information that suspects proposed changes

• Bring about actual shifts in behavior

• Implement new evaluation systems

• Implement new hiring and promotion systems

Kurt Lewin

Three stage model

Three stage model• Unfreezing is the process which involves

finding a method of making it possible for people to let go of an old pattern that was counterproductive in some way.

• Unfreezing is necessary to overcome the strains of individual resistance and group conformity.

• Unfreezing can be achieved by the use of these three methods. – Increase the driving forces that direct

behavior away from the existing situation or status quo.

– Decrease the restraining forces that negatively affect the movement from the existing equilibrium.

– Find a combination of the two methods listed above.

Three stage model• Movement stage involves a process of

change in thoughts, feeling, behavior, or all three, that is in some way more liberating or more productive.

• Once team members have opened up their minds, change can start. The change process can be dynamic and, if it is to be effective, it will probably take some time and involve a transition period.

• In order to gain efficiency, people will have to take on new tasks and responsibilities, which entail a learning curve that will at first slow the organization down.

• A change process has to be viewed as an investment, both in terms of time and the allocation of resources: after the new organization and processes have been rolled out.

Three stage model

• Change will only reach its full effect if it’s made permanent. Once the organizational changes have been made and the structure has regained its effectiveness, efforts should be made to cement them and make sure the new organization reaches the standard.

• “Re-freezing” gives people the opportunity to thrive in the new organization and take full advantage of the change.

Changing People: Some Basic Steps

Recognizing theneed for change

Attempting tocreate a new stateof affairs

Incorporating the changes,creating and maintaining anew organizational system

Step 1: Unfreezing

Step 3: Refreezing

Step 2: Changing

Current State

New State

Case study• The oil company had three

divisional offices in the West, located in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

• The decision was made to consolidate the divisions in to a single regional office to be located in San Francisco.

• The reorganization meant transferring over 150 employees, eliminating some duplicate managerial positions, and instituting a new hierarchy of command

UNFREEZING

• The status quo can be considered to be an equilibrium state. To move from this equilibrium to overcome the pressures of both individual resistance and group conformity unfreezing is necessary. It can be achieved in one of three ways.

• The driving forces, which direct behavior away from the status quo, can be increased.

• The restraining forces, which hinder movement from the existing equilibrium, can be decreased.

• A third alternative is to combine the first two approaches.

Movement• The oil company’s management

could expect employee resistance to the consolidation. To deal with that resistance, management could use positive incentive to encourage employees to accept the change, such as these;

• Increase in pay can be offered to those who accept the transfer.

• The company can pay liberal moving expenses.

• Management might offer low cost mortgage funds to allow employees to buy new homes in San Francisco.

Movement• Employees could be counseled individually.

Each employee’s concerns and apprehensions could be heard and specifically clarified.

• Assuming that most of the fears are unjustified, the counselor could assure the employees that there was nothing to fear and then demonstrate, through tangible evidence, that restraining forces are unwarranted.

• If resistance is extremely high, management mat have to resort to both reducing resistance and increasing the attractiveness of the alternative if the unfreezing is to be successful.

• To be effective, change has to happen quickly. Organizations that build up to change do less well than those that get to and through the movement stage quickly.

Refreezing• Once the consolidation change has

been implemented, if it is to be successful, the new situation needs to be refrozen so that it can be sustained over time.

• Unless this last step is taken, there is a very high chance that the change will be short lived and that employees will attempt to revert to the previous equilibrium state.

• The objective of refreezing, then, is to stabilize the new situation by balancing the driving and restraining forces.

Force Field Analysis

• It provides a framework for looking at the factors (forces) that influence a situation, originally social situations.

• It looks at forces that are either driving movement toward a goal (helping forces) or blocking movement toward a goal (hindering forces).

• The principle, developed by Kurt Lewin.

Force Field Analysis

• Driving forces are forces that push in a direction that causes change to occur.

• Driving forces facilitate change because they push the person in the desired direction.

• They cause a shift in the equilibrium towards change.

Force Field Analysis

• Restraining forces are forces that counter driving forces.

• Restraining forces hinder change because they push the person in the opposition direction

• Restraining forces cause a shift in the equilibrium which opposes change.

Force Field Analysis

• Equilibrium is a state of being where driving forces equal restraining forces and no change occurs

• Equilibrium can be raised or lowered by changes that occur between the driving and restraining forces.

DesiredConditions

CurrentConditions

BeforeChange

AfterChange

DrivingForces

RestrainingForces

Force Field Analysis

DuringChange

DrivingForces

RestrainingForces Driving

Forces

RestrainingForces

KOTTER’S EIGHT STEP MODEL

• 30 years of research by leadership guru Dr. John Kotter have proven that 70% of all major change efforts in organizations fail.

• Why do they fail?• Because organizations often do not take

the holistic approach required to see the change through.

• However, by following the 8 Step Process outlined by Professor Kotter, organizations can avoid failure and become adept at change. By improving their ability to change, organizations can increase their chances of success, both today and in the future.

KOTTER’S EIGHT STEP MODEL

• In “Leading Change” (1996), Dr. John Kotter outlined an 8-Stage Process to Creating Major Change:

Step 1: Create Urgency• Develop a sense of urgency around the

need for change. This may help you spark the initial motivation to get things moving.

• Open an honest and convincing dialogue about what's happening in the marketplace and with your competition.

• What you can do:– Identify potential threats, and develop

scenarios showing what could happen in the future.

– Examine opportunities that should be, or could be, exploited.

– Start honest discussions, and give dynamic and convincing reasons to get people talking and thinking.

Step 2: Form a Powerful Coalition

• Bring together a coalition, or team, of influential people whose power comes from a variety of sources, including job title, status, expertise, and political importance.

• Once formed, your "change coalition" needs to work as a team.

• What you can do:– Identify the true leaders in your

organization.– Ask for an emotional commitment

from these key people.– Work on team building within your

change coalition.– Check your team for weak areas.

Step 3: Create a Vision for Change

• Link ideas and concepts to an overall vision.

• A clear vision can help everyone understand why you're asking them to do something.

• What you can do:– Determine the values that are central

to the change.– Develop a short summary (one or two

sentences) that captures what you "see" as the future of your organization.

– Create a strategy to execute that vision.

Step 4: Communicate the Vision

• Communicate the vision more frequently and powerfully, and embed it within everything that you do.

• Use the vision daily to make decisions and solve problems. When you keep it fresh on everyone's minds, they'll remember it and respond to it.

• What you can do:– Talk often about your change vision.– Openly and honestly address peoples'

concerns and anxieties.– Apply your vision to all aspects of

operations – from training to performance reviews.

– Tie everything back to the vision.

Step 5: Remove Obstacles• Put in place the structure for change,

and continually check for barriers to it.

• Removing obstacles can empower the people you need to execute your vision, and it can help the change move forward.

• What you can do:– Identify, or hire, change leaders whose

main roles are to deliver the change.– Recognize and reward people for

making change happen.- Identify people who are resisting the change.

– Take action to quickly remove barriers (human or otherwise).

Step 6: Create Short-term Wins

• Create short-term targets – not just one long-term goal.

• Each "win" that you produce can further motivate the entire staff.

• What you can do:– Look for sure-fire projects that

you can implement without help from any strong critics of the change.

– Don't choose early targets that are expensive.

– Reward the people who help you meet the targets.

Step 7: Build on the Change

• Each success provides an opportunity to build on what went right and identify what you can improve.

• What you can do:– After every win, analyze what

went right and what needs improving.

– Set goals to continue building on the momentum you've achieved.

– Keep ideas fresh by bringing in new change agents and leaders for your change coalition.

Step 8: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture

• Make continuous efforts to ensure that the change

is seen in every aspect of your organization.

• It's also important that your company's leaders

continue to support the change. This includes

existing staff and new leaders who are brought in.

• What you can do:

– Talk about progress every chance you get.

- Include the change ideals and values when

hiring and training new staff.

– Create plans to replace key leaders of change

as they move on. This will help ensure that

their legacy is not lost or forgotten.

Systems Theory

• Systems Theory was first introduced by Van Bertalanffy (1950) and was introduced into the organisational setting by Kataz and Khan (1966).

• Systems theory is an approach to organisations which likens the enterprise to an organism with interdependent parts, each with its own specific function and interrelated responsibilities.

Systems Theory

• The system may be the whole organisation, a division, department or team; but whether the whole or a part, it is important for the OD practitioner to understand how the system operates, and the relationship the parts of the organisation have.

Systems Theory

• The emphasis in OD is that that real systems are open to, and interact with, their environments, and it is possible to acquire new properties through emergence, resulting in continual evolution.

• Rather than reducing an organisation to the properties of its parts or elements, systems theory focuses on the arrangement of and relations between the parts which connect them into a whole.

Systems Theory• The organization is an open system, which

interacts with the environment and is continually adapting and improving.

• The organisation influences and is influenced by the environment in which it operates

• If an organisation is to be effective it must pay attention to the external environment, and take steps to adjust itself to accommodate the changes in order to remain relevant

• All part of the organisation are interconnected and interdependent

• If one part of the system is affected, all parts are.

• It is not possible to know everything about the system, but if you look hard enough there are plenty of clues.

Burke-Litwin change model

• The Burke-Litwin change model revolves around defining and establishing a cause-and-effect relationship between 12 organizational dimensions that are key to organizational change.

• Let’s take a look at how this change model can make the process easier.

Burke-Litwin change model• External Environment: The key

external factors that have an impact on the organization must be identified and their direct and indirect impact on the organization should be clearly established.

• Mission and Strategy: the vision, mission and the strategy of the organization, as defined by the top management should be examined in terms of the employees’ point-of-view about them.

Burke-Litwin change model• Leadership: A study of the

leadership structure of the organization should be carried out, which clearly identifies the chief role models in the organization.

• Organizational Culture: An organizational culture study should seek information on the explicit as well as the implied rules, regulations, customs, principles and values that influence the organizational behavior.

Burke-Litwin change model• Structure: The study of structure

should not be confined to hierarchical structure; rather it should be a function based structure focusing on the responsibiliity , authority, communication, decision making and control structure that exists between the people of the organization.

• Systems: Systems includes all types of policies and procedures with regards to both the people and the operations of the organization.

Burke-Litwin change model• Management Practices: This would

entail a study of how well the mangers conform to the organization’s strategy when dealing with employees and the resources.

• Work Unit Climate: It is a collective study of how the employees think, feel and what do they expect. The kind of relationships the employees share with their team members and members of other teams is also an important aspect of work unit climate.

Burke-Litwin change model• Tasks and Skills: This involves

understanding what a specific job position demands and the kind of skills and knowledge that an employee must have in order to fulfill the task responsibilities of that job position. It’s important to see how well jobs and employees have been matched.

• Individual Values and Needs: This dimension seeks to explore the employee’s opinion about their work so as to identify the quality factors that will result in job enrichment and better job satisfaction.

Burke-Litwin change model• Motivation Level: Identifying the

motivation level of the employees will make it easier to determine how willingly they would put in their efforts to achieve organizational goals. This would also involve identifying motivational triggers.

• Individual and Overall Performance: This dimension takes into account the level of performance, on individual and organizational levels, in key areas like productivity, quality, efficiency, budget and customer satisfaction etc.

Porras & Robertson Model

• Porras & Robertson outline four types of organizational change based on the category of change (planned or unplanned) and its order (first or second).

Porras & Robertson Model

• Planned change originates with a decision made by the organization itself with the deliberate purpose of improving its functioning.

• It is also common to engage an outside resource to help in the processes of making these improvements.

• Planned change is typically initiated to respond to new external demands imposed upon the organization.

• Planned change will often affect many unforeseen segments of the organization.

Porras & Robertson Model

• Unplanned change is change that originates outside of the organizational system and to which the organization must respond.

• This adaptive response is often focused on the alteration of relatively clearly defined and narrow segments of the organization.

• It is spontaneous, evolutionary, fortuitous, or accidental.

Porras & Robertson Model

• First-order change, linear and continuous in nature, involves alterations in system characteristics without any shift in either fundamental assumptions about key organizational cause-and-effect relationships or in the basic paradigm used by the system to guide its functioning.

Porras & Robertson Model

• Second-order change is a

multi-dimensional, multi-

level, qualitative,

discontinuous, radical

organizational change

involving a paradigmatic

shift.