Kotter's Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change

Analysis: Kotter's Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change

Abstract

Organization transformation occurs when new meaning is successfully established within the organization's environment (Lawrence 1998). With our rapid changing world, there are necessary changes that become obvious to individuals and organizations as they strive to survive and grow. Organizational change is only successful with the employees' ability to integrate the changes (Ivancevich, etc. 2011). The analysis of this paper will focus on the Eight-stage Process of Creating Major Change written in the book Leading Change by author John P. Kotter. The similarities and differences of the terms/concepts presented by Kotter will be compared with our current textbook for Organizational Behavior (OB).

Analysis: Kotter's Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change

Globalization is driven by forces associated with technological change, international integration, domestication with developed countries, and the collapse of communism (Kotter 1996). As described by Kotter (1996), the method of producing successful change is designed to alter strategies, reengineer processes, and improve quality must address barriers within the organization. The Eight-Stage Change Process was developed to facilitate this method. Kotter (1996) devised this process by association with the eight fundamental errors that undermine transformation efforts. According to Kotter (1996), any stage elimination will create problems. The first four stages solidify the organization's status quo. Stages five to seven helps with the introduction of new practices. The final stage creates and grounds the new culture established for the effectiveness of the organization change (Kotter 1996). Based on Kotter's (1996) themes and reasoning, an analysis of consistent or inconsistent concepts will be conducted in comparison of the Organizational Behavior textbook.

Stage 1 - Establishing a Sense of Urgency

According to Kotter (1996), establishing a sense of urgency helps organizations mitigate or eliminate complacency among employees. This stage demands bold actions associated with good leadership. In order to establish a sense of urgency, there must be an examination of market analysis as well as identifying potential crises or opportunities (Kotter 1996). In comparison with the textbook, establishing change priorities is determined by urgency, impact, and growth tendency (Ivancevich 2011). Therefore, a critical part of effective decision making is determining the significance of problems.

Stage 2 - Creating the Guiding Coalition

Guiding coalition is a group of individuals with the power to create change and also has the potential for strong teamwork (Lawrence 1998). As stated by Kotter (1996), a strong guiding coalition is needed in order to effectively create the effort to restructure, reengineer, or reestablish the organization strategy. There must be a level of trust, the right team composition, and goal congruency of employees with the organization (Kotter 1996). The consistent theory of Ivancevich (2011) is that an organization has requirements that arise from its stated goals. In order to accomplish these goals, group based employees will be assigned to perform these tasks. Both formal and informal groups are important forces in influencing organizational behavior which ultimately affects the organization's transformation. In addition, an organization needs both leadership and management working as a team (Lawrence 1998).

Stage 3 - Developing a Vision and Strategy

Vision and strategy are both important to organizations. Vision, strategy, and a logical plan inspire the actions needed to produce major change (Kotter 1996). He also explains that there are at least three characteristics of effective vision. The minimum characteristic of vision is the ease communication (explained in five minutes or less), describes the future of the organization, and articulates the benefits for all internal and external people that has stake in the organization. In comparison of Kotter's (1996) concept with the OB textbook, the political strategies and tactics are closely related and extremely important for accomplishing organizational goals (Ivancevich 2011).

Stage 4 - Communicating the Change Vision

The power of vision is that everyone has an understanding of the organizational goals and direction. This helps to motivate employees and coordinate the actions for change transformation (Lawrence 1998). According to Kotter (1996), the key elements of effective communication of vision are simplicity, analogies, formal/informal interactions, repetition, leadership example, inconsistencies, and listening and attentive skills. If the organization vision is not