Kotter Change Model Essay

Competitive imperatives of market forces and customer demands in today’s environment have led to the emergence of less hierarchical and more flexible organisations (Doyle, 2001). In working towards this paradigm shift, a distinction and clarification of the relationship between leadership and management in the change process needs to be addressed.

According to Caldwell (2003), change leaders are executives or senior managers at the very top of the organisation who envision, initiate or sponsor strategic change of far-reaching or transformational nature by challenging the status quo, communicating a vision that employees believe in, and empowering them to act. In contrast, change managers are usually middle level managers and functional specialists who carry forward and build support for change within business units and key functions (“Leadership & Management,” 2009).

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The two roles although different are complimentary for successful change as it demands a process that is driven by leadership and supported by management (Kotter, 1997). Although it is acknowledged that management is used to support a successful change process, this essay however, is only focused at addressing leadership in an organisation through the 8 general lessons that John Kotter has developed in his eight-step model of leading a planned change and how it can be effectively applied in the dynamic environment of today.

Leading a change initiative is one of the most difficult tasks a leader can face. It is face with tremendous risk and opportunities. For most leaders, managing this change initiative is a crucial role but the responsibilities can widely vary depending on the type of change pursued (Beatty & Lee, 1992). The vast majority of leaders today adopt a planned change approach to large-scale organisational change. In many circumstances, they apply a linear, step by step planned process in implementing the major change.

Victor, Greg and Neil (2004) explains that planned change models offer a rational model to change and a sequential framework that helps the planning and implementation of complex change. Such models therefore essentially chart the course of change and allow the manager to read the navigational signs (Goodstein & Burke, 1991). However, three things must be beared in mind as planned organisation change is implemented, that firstly more than one phase can occur at the same time, secondly, the phases are not mutually exclusive and lastly that contingency plans need to be in place, because rarely does anything turn out as planned Burke, 2008). One highly known linear approach to change is the eight-step model of Kotter. His model is highly influential in Australia and elsewhere as demonstrated by organisations that explicitly apply his framework like University of Adelaide and several government bodies in Australia. Kotter’s model was developed after his study of more than 100 organisations in which he found that the majority of change efforts failed (Kotter, 1997).

He identified two key lessons from his analysis of change failures: First that the change process goes through a series of phases, each lasting a considerable period of time and second, critical mistakes in any of the phases can have devastating impact on the momentum of the change process (Victor, et al. , 2004). His eight-stage change process was, therefore, designed to avoid the eight fundamental errors he had identified in his organisational study (Kotter, 1997, 2007). The role as a leader is to build the case for change and to engage people in being committed to the change.

This is the core idea of Kotter’s (1996) important first step – “create a sense of urgency” (Clarke, 2009). According to the CEO of Brisbane City Council, Jude Munro, “one must understand the drivers for change before even presenting a clear vision for change, only then can one build and a sense of urgency” (Victor, et al. , 2004). A way for understanding the drivers for change within an organisation is to understand that organisations are open systems and to monitor and gather as much information about the organisation’s external environment as possible (McNamara, 2005).

This may include using models such as the SWOT analysis and Michael Porter’s five forces. Leaders would then be able to determine how best to respond to the environment, establish a more effective alignment for the organisation and communicate this need for change that is convincing and accurate (McManus & Botten, 2006). Kotter’s step 2 of building a powerful coalition is often combined with step 3 of getting the vision right as organisations bring senior and middle managers as well as employees together with a shared vision for the organisation.

Participation and involvement from all levels of the organisations in building a successful coalition not only acts as a motivation for employees to support the change effort by reducing resistance but also facilitate a creation of a good vision that will help to clarify the direction in which the organisation needs to move and the strategies in achieving these desired vision (Armenakis & Harris, 2009). Without a sensible vision, a transformation effort can easily dissolve into a list of confusing and incompatible projects that can take the organisation in the wrong direction or nowhere at all (Kotter, 2007).

In a recent study of major change, it was found that employees are highly critical of even well thought-out attempts to communicate change and multiple communication channels are preferred when communicating a change vision, plan and process (Elving, 2005; Jones, Watson, Gardner, & Gallois, 2004). Communication also goes beyond the oral expression and involves actions that support the organisational goals (Quinn, Spreitzer, & Brown, 2000). Hence, the role of a leader of change should be focus on being a coach, a champion and an architect of change (Kanter, 1991; Tichy & Charan, 1995).

This is seen by the breakthrough of success at Procter & Gamble (P&G) by CEO Alan George Lafley, who managed to revamp P&G by “walking the talk” through alignment of his own behaviour to the organisation’s change vision (Brooker & Schlosser, 2002). Therefore, Kotter’s fourth lesson of communicating the vision clearly suggest that good two-way communication that includes both actions and words is central in keeping people motivated during the more confusing periods of change and can provide higher levels of support for the employees both in reducing employee uncertainty and in initiating an organisation change (Rafferty & Griffin, 2006).

In the movement stage of change where the actual changes are being implemented, participation is key to success. According to Burnes (2004) for change to be effective, it has to be participative and collaborative which ultimately impacts upon the acceptance, support and sustenance of the change effort. Following Kotter’s fifth step in the plan change process of empowering a broad base of people to take action, another key element to a successful change is in the removal of obstacles that is hindering the new vision and change process (Kotter, 1997, 2007).

This would include changing systems or structures that seriously undermine the change vision and acting upon managers and supervisors that is resisting the change and make demands that are inconsistent with the overall change effort (Tillman, 2003). For the change vision to be successful, risk taking, non-traditional ideas, activities and ideas should be encouraged and rewarded and processes and systems that is inconsistent with the change vision should be abolished (Kotter, 1995, 1997, 2007). This is in line with step six of Kotter’s plan change model of lanning and creating short-term wins. By creating short –term goals and celebrating it, a momentum is created as people are able to see the visible change and understand the contribution of the change effort to the organisation (Beaudan, 2006). The creation of short-term goals can be achieved in a number of ways such as actively seeking for clear performance improvements, establishing small goals into the yearly planning system, achieving of objectives and the rewarding of the people involved with recognition (Kotter, 1995, 1997, 2007).

According to Kotter (2007), short-term wins therefore helps to ensure a high level of urgency and force detailed analytical thinking that can clarify or revise visions. Although short-terms wins has its many benefits, declaring victory too soon can prove to be detrimental in any change effort. To address this is Kotter’s step seven that reminds leaders that in enthusiasm of a change victory or a short-term win, leaders has to bear in mind that organisation change is never truly complete till the behaviours, systems and structures are a part of the organisation’s culture or in other words “the way things are around here” (Carter, 2008).

Instead of prematurely claiming victory that may make changes come to a halt, the decline in the sense of urgency and tradition from creeping back in, leaders should take these short-term wins as a motivator and encouragement to further change systems, structures and policies that is not aligned to the vision through the increased credibility of the change effort (Victor, et al. , 2004).

Long term strategies of achieving the change vision should be introduced such as hiring, promoting and developing employees who can implement and support the change vision by reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes and act as a change agent within the organisations (Kotter, 2007). These practices and approach will allow for the transition into final stage where the changes has occurred and Kotter’s final step of institutionalising new approaches comes into place. Buchanan, et al (2005) identified this as a phase of sustainability where new thinking, attitudes and behaviours has become integrated as a mainstream way of working.

Successful institutionalising requires commitment to remain actively involved in ensuring that all employees understand how their new behaviours led to the organisation’s success until the required new behaviours and systems have replaced those that existed prior to the change. Managers must also develop and ensure leadership development and succession is aligned to the new vision and that the change effort will not be undermined with the new leadership (Finney, Campbell, & Orwig, 2004; Kotter, 1995, 1997, 2007). This ensures continuity of the change effort and sustenance of these changes.

In conclusion, the reality is that although change efforts are mostly messy and full of surprises, a vision of the change process such as the use of Kotter’s eight step change model can help reduce the common errors that organisations makes when undertaking a change (Kotter, 2007; Victor, et al. , 2004). Each step in Kotter’s change model though simplistic in explanation is often far more complicated in context and may take years to accomplish, however with proper planning, supporting strategies and resources the chances of success can be greatly be improved. References Armenakis, A.

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