MODELS OF CHANGE

Session 5
Effective Change Program
 Our focus is primarily on intentional, goal oriented,
organizational, purposeful attempts by managers and
employees to improve the functioning of teams,
departments or entire organization.
- Cummings & Worley, 1997
 It may involve:
 Creating a readiness among employees
 Creating a shared vision of the desired future state
 Developing political support
 Managing the transition from current state
 Sustaining momentum for change to its completion
 • Creating readiness for change
Motivating • Overcoming resistance to change
Effective Change Program Change

• Energizing commitment
Creating a • Describing a future state
vision

• Assessing change agent power

• Identifying key stakeholders
Developing • Influencing stakeholders
political support

• Activity planning
• Commitment planning
Managing the • Management structure
transition

• Providing resources for change

• Building support systems for change agents
Sustaining • Developing new competencies and skills
momentum • Reinforcing new behavior
Systems Model of Change
 Meeting the challenges posed by the organization
change often means not doing things piecemeal. To be
successful, change usually must be organization wide.
(Armenakis, et al, 1999)
 The systems model of change describe organization as
6 interacting variables that could serve as the focus of
planned change:
 People
 Culture
 Task
 Technology
 Design
 Strategy
Systems Model of Change

People Culture

Task Technology

Design Strategy
Systems Model of Change
 People variable: employees and their individual differences like perception,
values, needs

 Culture variable: shared belief, values and norms of the organization

members

 Task variable: nature of work like whether the job is simple or complex,
novel or repetitive.

 Technology variable: application of knowledge and techniques like use of

IT, robotics, automation

 Design variable: formal organizational structure, system of communication,

control or responsibility

 Strategy variable: organizational planning process, how organization

chooses to compete
Lewin’s Process of Change
 One of the cornerstone models for understanding
organizational change was developed by Kurt
Lewin back in the 1950s, and still holds true today.

 His model is known as Unfreeze – Change –

Refreeze, refers to the three-stage process of
change he describes.

 If you have a large cube of ice, but realize that

what you want is a cone of ice, what do you do?
Lewin’s Process of Change
 First you must melt the ice to make it amenable to
change (unfreeze). Then you must mold the iced
water into the shape you want (change). Finally, you
must solidify the new shape (refreeze).
Lewin’s Process of Change
 Unfreeze:
 involves break down the existing status quo before you can build up a
new way of operating.
 you need to challenge the beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors that
currently define it.
 Change:
 the change stage is where people begin to resolve their uncertainty and
look for new ways to do things.
 Time and communication are the two keys to success for the changes to
occur. People need time to understand the changes and they also need
to feel highly connected to the organization throughout the transition
period.
 Refreeze:
 needs to help people and the organization internalize or institutionalize
the changes.
Greiner 5 stages of Growth
Greiner 5 stages of Growth
 Phase 1: Creativity . . .
 In the birth stage of an organization, the emphasis is on
creating both a product and a market.
 The company's founders are usually technically or
entrepreneurially oriented
 Communication among employees is frequent and informal.

 . . . & the leadership crisis:

 The founders find themselves burdened with unwanted
management responsibilities.
 a strong manager is needed who has the necessary
knowledge and skill to introduce new business techniques.
Greiner 5 stages of Growth
 Phase 2: Direction . . .
 Those companies that survive the first phase by
installing a capable business manager usually embark
on a period of sustained growth under able and
directive leadership.
 Managers direct the organization

 . . . & the autonomy crisis.

 Lower-level
employees find themselves restricted by a
cumbersome and centralized hierarchy.
Greiner 5 stages of Growth
 Phase 3: Delegation . . .
 The next era of growth evolves from the successful
application of a decentralized organization structure.
 Much greater responsibility is given to the managers of
plants and market territories.
 . . . & the control crisis:
A serious problem eventually evolves. however, as top
executives sense that they are losing control over a
highly diversified field operation.
Greiner 5 stages of Growth
 Phase 4: Coordination . . .
 During this phase, the evolutionary period is
characterized by the rise of formal systems for
achieving greater coordination
 Decentralized units are merged into product groups.
 Each product group is treated as an investment center
where return on invested capital is an important
criterion
 . . . & the red tape crisis:
 Procedures take precedence over problem solving, and
innovation is dampened.
Greiner 5 stages of Growth
 Phase 5: Collaboration . . .
 strong interpersonal collaboration in an attempt to
overcome the red-tape crisis.
 management action through teams and the skillful
confrontation of interpersonal differences.
 Social control and self-discipline take over from formal
control.
 Conferences of key managers are held frequently to focus
on major problem issues.
 . . . & the ? crisis:
 He imagines the revolution will center around the
"psychological saturation" of employees who grow
emotionally and physically exhausted by the intensity of
teamwork and the heavy pressure for innovative solutions.