Question 2
Kotter’s Eight-Step Model for Organizational Change
Today’s business world is very dynamic, with different forces exerting the organization, consequently compelling them to either adjust or drop out of the market (Crawford and Nahmias 2010, p. 405). As such, many models have been developed to manage changes in organizations. One such model that this discussion focuses on is the Kotter’s eight-step model. It outlines eight steps that a firm can adopt to manage any change successfully.
- Creating a sense of urgency
The initial step involves establishing a sense of change. The management should convince all staff members of the need for urgency to establish a new direction in the firm (Pollack, 2015). Kotter observes that the management should persuade at least 75% of the management and staff members to “buy” into the idea of the change (Pollack 2015, p. 52).
- Forming of a coalition
A task team should be formed to spearhead the change efforts. They should possess enough power, expertise, credibility, and excellent leadership skills (Pollack 2015, p. 52). More importantly, they should embrace a shared objective to forecast the success of the proposed change.
- Creating a vision
The third step is to create a vision that helps everyone involved to understand what the organization is endeavouring to achieve within the set timeframe (Pollack 2015, p. 52). Thus, it serves as the basis for motivating people to take actions in a coordinated and right direction.
- Communicating the Vision
The goal of this step is to create support and acceptance for the change among the staff members. Notably, the only way to achieve this is to talk about the vision with the staff (Rajan and Ganesa 2017, p. 182). Also, during this stage, it is important to consider the opinions and concerns of the employees. Kotter notes that the task force should avoid under-communication and inconsistencies (Lorenzi and Riley 2010, p. 117). Every communication channel should be used to broadcast the vision to the staff members.
- Removing obstacles through empowering employees for broad-based actions
The guiding task force should ensure that staff members have the necessary skills and tools to implement the change (Rajan and Ganesan 2017, 182). Also, it has the responsibility of removing any barriers that may limit people to have access to resources and tools that will bring out the change.
- Creating Short-term wins
Undoubtedly, nothing motivates people more than success. Therefore, it is paramount to make sure that employees have a taste of success throughout the change process (Rajan and Ganesan 2017, 183). To achieve this, the task force should develop short-term targets. Crawford and Nahmias (2010) note that companies that experience short-term wins are much more likely to achieve their long-term objective.
- Build on the Change
In most cases, change in an organization fails because it is a success is declared too early (Carnall 2007, p. 33). This is because it breaks the momentum. However, real change extends deep (Carnall, 2007, p.33). For this reason, it is important to look for areas that need improvement continuously.
- Anchor the Change into the Corporate Culture.
This is the final step, and it entails incorporating the new practises into the corporate culture (Rajan and Ganesan 2017, p. 184). Organisational culture refers to a system of shared beliefs, assumptions, and values that govern how people in an organization behave (Hickman and Silva 2018, p. 13). Thus, for the change to have a long-lasting effect, it should become part of the core of the corporate culture.
References
Carnall, C.A., 2007. Managing change in organizations. Pearson Education.
Crawford, L. and Nahmias, A.H., 2010. Competencies for managing change. International journal of project management, 28(4), pp.405-412.
Hickman, C.R. and Silva, M.A., 2018. Creating excellence: Managing corporate culture, strategy, and change in the new age. Routledge.
Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model. (2020). Retrieved 12 April 2020, from https://www.accipio.com/eleadership/mod/wiki/view.php?id=1874
Lorenzi, N.M. and Riley, R.T., 2010. Managing change: an overview. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 7(2), pp.116-124.
Pollack, J. 2015. Using Kotter’s eight stage process to manage an organisational change program: Presentation and practice. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 28(1), pp.51-66.
Rajan, R. and Ganesan, R., 2017. A critical analysis of John P. Kotter’s change management framework. Asian Journal of Research in Business Economics and Management, 7(7), pp.181-203.