Change Management College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Change Management College - Essay Example (Cummings. Worley: 1993). Organizational development and change management are concurrent fields which have a common basis and aim that of overall progress of the organization. However each field has specific nuances which are being discussed herein. (Davis: 1998). The aim of change management is to enhance organizational competitiveness. This can be achieved by strategic change and congruence in various facets of an organization, such as aligning the people, processes structures and culture. Change management is designed to change behavior before attitudes. (Davis: 1998). It is commonly believed that a large number of projects fail to achieve the expectations of the senior management. (Responding to Change). A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and MORI carried out in the late 1990's revealed that 9 out of 10 barriers to change were related to people and included lack of change management skills, ineffective communications and resistance by employees. (Responding to Change). The phenomenon of organizational change is complex as it involves a number of inter related factors to include the stake holders, the people and the technologies. The key factors in change management are what are known as the softer issues of transforming behavior and training of the staff to accept change. (Responding to Change). ... Two models of change popularly known as the Lewin Model and the Bullock model are being examined herein. Lewin Model of Change - Salient Features Kurt Lewin's model of change evolves from the social-psychological approach to change management which had its matrix in Lewin's observations in the area of field theory, action science, group dynamics and organizational development. The main theme of the model is that an individual is shaped by the social environment rather than his genes. Thus the model entails three steps of unfreezing from the present state, moving to the new state and refreezing in the new state. The first state involves creating dissatisfaction, while the second stage involves organizing and mobilizing resources for change and the final stage, embedding the transformation in the organization. (Change Management : 2006). Thus a transformation from an existing quasi equilibrium to a new quasi equilibrium takes place as indicated in Figure 1. Figure 1 Transition and Forces of Change State A as seen in Figure 1 depicts the status quo of a social system which is held by two sets of forces which are shown by the arrows, that of change and status quo, which results in constancy at L2. In State B change is achieved by increasing forces for change and decreasing resistance thereby accomplishing change through high tension. While State C which takes up limited energy is as proposed by Lewin, wherein the resisting forces are reduced by a number of initiatives which consumes lesser energy than that required to expand the forces of change. (Schumacher). Thus learning is the primary mode of bringing about behavioral changes in people which is undertaken by increasing knowledge and broadening horizons of people affected,