Organizational Change Management: Models of Change Management

Discuss about the Organizational Change Management for the Models of Change Management.

Answer:

Introduction

Change management is systematic approaches, which ensure that organizational changes are smoothly and thoroughly implemented. Effective change management also ensures a long lasting benefit over the organization as well as employees (Smollan, 2013). Various change management theory defines the transformational process of employee behavior towards new changes, while they remains resistant towards changes. This study will describe four change management theories through Kurt Lewin theory, ADKAR model, Kotter’s 8 step theory and William Bridges's Transition Model. The study will also describe the suitability of these models through the implementation in four companies namely Eagle Boys, Wesfarmers, Westpac Bank of Australia and Telstra.

Literature on Theories

Kurt Lewin Theory

Change

In this stage, ultimate change occurs in the organization. According to Nordin et al., (2012), change is not an event; rather it is a process or transition. On the other hand, Nastase, Giuclea and Bold, (2012) opined that change stage convert the change into ultimate reality. Employees are to accommodate themselves with new set of work process. Therefore, this stage is marked as uncertainty and fear for the employees. The managers of organization should provide adequate support and equipment to the employees so that they can make the change successful.

ADKAR Model

(Source: Barends et al., 2014)

Kotter’s 8 Step model

William Bridges's Transition Model

In this stage, employees are presented with the new organizational changes. Employees often show resistant and emotional upheavals in accepting the changes. The employees are forced to accept the changes, which are against their interest. Various emotions like anger, frustration, fear, denial and sadness can be found within employees (Fugate, Prussia and Kinicki, 2012). Employees in this stage need to be given time for accepting changes. The managers should listen to the feeling of employees towards the changes and make them understand the rationality of changes.

Neutral Zone

Interpretation of theories on various scenarios

Kurt Lewin Theory in Eagle Boys

In such a situation, the organization has implemented Kurt Lewin Theory to successfully implementing changes. According to this theory, in freezing stage, the leaders of this organization has first communicates the rationality of this new system with their employees. According to Burnes and Cooke, (2013), the employees have understood that it will benefit the organization in terms of increased sales. On the other hand, van der Smissen, Schalk and Freese, (2013) opined that the employees have also realized their own benefit in terms of flexibility. In this way, the leaders become successful in convincing the employees towards new changes. In change stage, the managers of the organization have provided enough technical training and support to understand the new process of the work. In this stage, employees tried hard in coping up with new online ordering system. In the third stage, the organization has enjoyed the success of the new system. According to Appelbaum et al., (2012), continuous reminders from the part of management are provided to the employees so that change becomes stable.

ADKAR Model implementation in Westfarmers

Shepherd et al., (2014) pointed out that Westfarmers has been one of the most successful retail organizations in Australia but in the year 2014, it has to face huge competitive issues from Woolworths. This resulted in huge financial loss. In order to be sustainable, the organization thought of changing the internal operations. The management thought of designing reports and necessary requisites at the end of each month. This resulted in huge restrictions from the operational heads as it would be very hard for them to set up a concrete report at every thirty days. As a result of this ADKAR model was implemented by the organization. Initially, the organization tried to entertain and educate the employees about the requirements of such reports and guide them about the particular methods that they must undertake (Hornstein, 2015). Such awareness helped in building up knowledge and finally the organization was able to compete with market players in terms of sales.

Kotter’s 8 Step model’ implementation for Westpac Bank of Australia

William Bridges's Transition Model implementation for Telstra

Conclusion

Reference List

Appelbaum, S.H., Habashy, S., Malo, J.L. and Shafiq, H., 2012. Back to the future: revisiting Kotter's 1996 change model. Journal of Management Development, 31(8), pp.764-782.

Barends, E., Janssen, B., ten Have, W. and ten Have, S., 2014. Difficult but doable: Increasing the internal validity of organizational change management studies. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 50, pp.50-54.

Hornstein, H.A., 2015. The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp.291-298.

Jacobs, G., van Witteloostuijn, A. and Christe-Zeyse, J., 2013. A theoretical framework of organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 26(5), pp.772-792.

Smollan, R.K., 2013. Trust in change managers: the role of affect. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 26(4), pp.725-747.

van der Smissen, S., Schalk, R. and Freese, C., 2013. Organizational change and the psychological contract: How change influences the perceived fulfillment of obligations. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 26(6), pp.1071-1090.