Change ‘theory’ 1
Kotter (1996) suggests that there is a particular way to create major change in an organisation and it involves eight steps or stages.
The Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
• Examining the market and competitive realities
• Identifying and discussing crises, potential crises, or major opportunities
2. Creating the guiding coalition
• Putting together a group with enough power to lead the change
• Getting the group to work together like a team
3. Developing a vision and a strategy
• Creating a vision to help direct the change effort
• Developing strategies for achieving that vision
4. Communicating the vision
• Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate the new vision and strategies
• Having the guiding coalition role model the behaviour expected of employees
5. Empowering broad-based action
• Getting rid of obstacles
• Changing systems of structures that undermine the change vision
• Encouraging risk taking and non-traditional ideas, activities and actions
6. Generating short-term wins
• Planning for visible improvements in performance, or ‘wins’
• Creating those wins
• Visibly recognising and rewarding people who made the wins possible
7. Consolidating gains and producing more change
• Using increased credibility to change all systems, structures, and policies that don’t fit together and don’t fit the transformation vision
• Hiring, promoting and developing people who can implement the change vision
• Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes, and change agents
8. Anchoring new approaches in the culture
• Creating better performance through customer-and productivity-oriented behaviour, more and better leadership, and more effective management
• Articulating the connections between new behaviours and organisational success
• Developing means to ensure leadership development and succession
Change ‘theory’ 2
Johnson and...