A Critical Analysis Of Change Management Theories And Concepts In An Essay.

Theories and Concepts of Change Management

Change is inevitable may it be personal life or an organisation. In the changing business environment, change management is inevitable at operation and strategic level. An organisation can gain competitive advantage by creativity and innovation. Change is the key to innovation, prosperity and progress of the organisation. With the help of the new management styles and tools change can be managed. When the change is managed effectively with evidence based strategies, then it may increase the profit margin and increase the employee satisfaction.  It means change management can be defined as process of moving from the state of problem to the state of solution while reviewing the organisation’s directions, capabilities, and structure to meet the needs of the customers (Hayes 2014). Failure to manage the change implementing the appropriate strategies and models may lead to downfall of the organisation and bankruptcy. A good leadership quality is required to plan, organise, direct, control and channel the strategies. A leader of the organisation can be anyone such as CEO, Managers, Board of directors, Chairpersons and others.  There are different change management theories developed to manage change as per the organisational requirements and goals. The report aims to discuss the current theory on change management and compare contrast and evaluate the suitability of different models for various scenarios.  

Kotter’s 8 step model

One of the popular models for the managing the change is the Kotter’s 8 step model. This model was introduced by John Kotter 1996. This model is considered effective as it was developed after conducting the survey of the 100 organizations that underwent the process of change (Mishra 2013). The eight steps of the model (Pollack and Pollack 2015) are-

create a sense of urgency- Identifying the potential threats if the change is not managed and the opportunities and the profits of managing the change, In this stage the management initiates dialogue  and discusses with people to highlight the prevalent issues with valid reasons

Build a guiding team to initiate the change- in this stage the key stakeholders are and the change leaders are involved to form a change coalition. In this stage the team members are chosen from different levels in the organisation

Create a Vision- in this step the core values of the organisation are to be determined in addition to the vision and strategy for the change to be successful. The change is to be described by the people in a manner that can be understood by the followers.

Kotter’s 8 step model

Communicate the Vision- effective communication of vision is necessary so as to convince the stakeholders to accept the change. It may involve the connecting the vision to the aspects that are vital in the organisation such as performance bonus, training and others

Staff empowerment- this step involves the empowerment of staff and encouragement of new and unconventional ideas. In this step the obstacles are removed  

Create short term wins- It is necessary to keep the staff motivated with rewards and recognitions for short term that will accelerate the change process while increasing the contributions

Consolidate gains - this process involves analysis of success stories and improving from those experiences

Sustain the change-this step is the anchoring of change where it can become the integral part of the management. It may include extended support of the leaders

It is evident from the literature that this model provides clear guidance on the process of change. It is easy to implement. According to (Chappell et al. 2016) this model emphasise on the involvement and acceptability of the followers for successful change implementation. It does not focus on actual change process but emphasise on building acceptability.  It was argued by (Pollack and Pollack 2015) for the fact that it is step wise model and skipping even each stage may lead to failure. It is the time consuming process and is top-down that discourages the chance of co-creation. By giving due attention to individual needs, there is a scope of building dissatisfaction and frustration. 

Kurt Lewin theory is the simple change management theory and it is believed that other models are based upon this theory. It is the three step model and a practical model to understand the change process (Shirey 2013). This model focuses on the creating a sense of need of the change followed by movement to the new behaviour and then establishing the behaviour   

The three steps are-

Unfreezing- in this stage the goal is to overcome the resistance to the change and create awareness on how resistance is hampering the workflow. In this stage the communication is important to motivate people to accept the change and become unfrozen

Changing- It is the transitioning stage followed by the implementation of change. It is accompanied by learning of new behaviours and thinking pattern. It makes one prepared to change provided along with support, communication and education. In order to carefully plan and execute everyone must be mindful of the need of change and proposed benefits

Kurt Lewin Change Theory

Refreezing- It is the stage of reinforcing the new behaviours and sustaining the same as it aligns with the organisational goals, process and structure (Cummings et al. 2016).

This model is based on the driving and the restraining force. The former pushes the employees in desired direction and the later does the opposite. There is an advantage to this force field analysis. It includes the summary of all the factors that suppose and oppose a particular data. Qualitative factors are taken into consideration that can impact the success and failure (Burke 2017).  It is argued that this model is rational and plan oriented. The model does not consider the human feelings and experiences that may decrease the enthusiasm of the employees. This model demands full participation of the employees that is drawback. There may be a division in employee group into supporting and opposing parties, Further, in the refreeze period no one can rest as the change is continuous (Cummings and Worley 2014). 

ADKAR is the goal-oriented change management model founded by Jeff Hiatt. It guides both the organisational and the individual change.  The name of the model stands for “awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement”. This model provides clear goals and the change management outcomes. It can be used by employees, senior leaders and mangers. This framework is simple and more or less matches with the Kotter change model (Halsey et al. 2016).

Awareness is the element that refers to knowing the need of change along with the consequences of not implementing the change. Desire is the element that signifies the willingness to participate in the change. Many internal and external factors are responsible for creating the desire to change. Knowledge is the factor telling how to change. This element is gained by training and accessing the information on way to change. Ability is the demonstration of the implementation of the change and how well it is executed defines the ability of the team.  Reinforcement refers to sustaining the change through external and internal factors. External factors can be rewards and recognitions. The internal factor can be the feeling of accomplishment among the employees regarding the change (Shepherd et al. 2014).

The advantage of the model is the match of the rate of individual change to that of the organisation. It is best model to use in the organisation when the change is occurring and the individual needs to grow and learn at different rates. It useful when the change occurs at large scale unlike the full participation of the employees demanded by the Lewin model. The drawback of this model includes the failure to see the macro level of the programme management (Halsey et al. 2016).

ADKAR Model of Change

From the above critical analysis it is clear that each of the models is following the same basic framework of change management. However, each model looks for change management from different perspective.  For instance, the Kotter’s model sees the change into eight steps while Lewin sees the change in three stages. Kotter’s emphasised on the market analysis that creates the sense of urgency of need. It explains how well the change can be communicated to the staff to motivate them. On contrary, the Lewin model is the generalised one that indicates the stages before change, during and after the change (Hughes et al. 2016). Lewin model fails to work that is in big organisations and high innovation. When the combined strength of the driving force exceeds the restraining force, there is high likeliness of the change to occur. Distinguished from both the models is the ADKAR model as it focus on individualistic point rather than the change itself. It covers all the major aspects of the change such as awareness to create desire for change and knowledge to deal with the change (Shepherd et al. 2014).

To discuss about the implementation of the models let us consider an hypothetical scenario. An care organization X wants to launch the new software tool to record patient details which is more efficient than previous one. To implement the change ADKAR model can be implemented. Therefore, the first step includes creating awareness about the issues and challenges due to the old software. It can be explained by senior leaders as to what are the benefits of new software to the vendor. The next step will be to explain the employees about how they will be benefitted by the new software to create desire. The third step may include training and development for increasing knowledge on the change and adapt to new software.  The next step will be to bridge the gap between knowledge and ability to use the software to assist patients and prevent medication error. It can be followed by reinforcement strategies to prevent the health care workers from reverting to old habits. More training and coaching will be given to prevent errors using new software and continue to work smoothly. Kotter’s can also be used but the change is not very big in this case. Lewin may be used as the change is incremental in nature (Cummings et al. 2016).

Talking about other scenario where Mr. X is the owner of the local carwash. Mr. X needs a change for his business as there are two franchise carwash locations newly build within ten miles of distance. To maintain the steady flow of customers, Mr X. has introduced interior shampooing service to the menu. In order to implement the new change it is necessary to guide the process and gain competitive advantage. Kotter’s model is most appropriate for this scenario than Lewin and ADKAR as the change is very urgent and altogether a new service is being launched. ADKAR can also be used here. Lewin may be the last preference.

Discussion

Now let’s consider a scenario where a motor company is in need of radical change. Currently the company is in stage of bankruptcy due to dipping market share and issues of high debts. There is a need of robust plan of change. In this case the Lewin model cannot be applied but kotter’s model is more effective and may be ADKAR too. Since the business condition is highly turbulent and there is high level of uncertainty, Lewin may not be preferred at all. It is because the Lewin model ignores the power and politics and avoids transformational change (Shirey 2013).

Conclusion

It cannot be avoided and the only way to get best out of it is to manage the change. Change management is the complex ordeal. There are different change management models discussed in the report. All the models follow the same principle. It can be concluded that effective   leadership is essential to lead the change in desired direction. Another factor that is utmost important is the planned implementation of the change. Change is highly likely to occur if carried in the staged approach. Right approach and mindset up is required. Different organisations have different goals and the change management strategies must be consistent with the objectives of the organisation. From a personal perspective, Kotter’s model seems to be the most effective model. Kotter and the ADKAR model are quite similar as they both focus on the individual than the organisation. Lewin model ignores the power and politics and avoids transformational change. 

References

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