Managing Organizational Change

Strength and Weaknesses of Management’s Implementation of Change: Kotter’s Framework

Strength

Creation of the vision for change

The management created a perfect vision for change even before the actual change was implemented. When the Chief Executive Officer of the company was officially informing the staff of the decision and impending move to Dandenong, he particularly outlined the rationalization behind the decision. This was particularly aimed at drawing to the affected staff the overall vision in order that they could easily grasp and remember.

Communication of the vision

Advantage Credit Union, through its management, also took the initiative to inform its staff members of the arranged impending move early enough. In particular, the communication was made four months before the projected date of moving. This was early enough to allow workers room to prepare psychologically for the vision.

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Removal of Obstacles

The management also instituted plans to remove obstacles to the proposed transfer. Workers were given options to choose from in as far as their stand on the decision was concerned. The introduction of a ‘guiding committee’ was strategic in order to foresee possible issues that could arise and consequently offer appropriate procedures for addressing the resultant issues.

Weaknesses

Failure to create urgency

The management failed to initiate the process through developing some sense of urgency. The rest of the company lacked the important sense of urgency, which would have been particularly significant to spark the initial motivation.

Lack of a powerful coalition

The management did not convince the workers about the necessity of the change. Most of the staff members who were getting directly affected were not convinced by the decision, and constantly saw its negative side only (Cohen, 2005).

The Driving and Resisting Forces of Change: Lewin’s Force-Field Analysis

The driving force of change in this instance is represented by the management. Several efforts employed by the management, such as outlining the benefits of the plan, setting up of a committee to foresee the plan, and taking workers out to tour the facility at Dandenong are all representative of the driving force for change. On the other hand, workers who are against the plan are representative of the resisting force. Their actions, including use of family, divorce, and school metaphors to describe the scenario, as well as the numerous resignations and requests for transfers by staff who were going to be directly affected are all indicative of the resisting forces of change.

Understanding Lewin’s Force-Field theory would have particularly been of a greater significance to the management in handling the change. It would have provided the management with various alternatives to increasing the driving force or reducing the resisting force in order to achieve the desired change. For instance, the management would have reduced the resistance from workers by introducing pay perks and other benefits for all workers who were getting affected directly by the plans to change.

Suggested Recommendations

The change process could have been enhanced further by allowing employees to be part of the change committee that involved the company’s management. This way, they would have felt as though their contributions were integrated in the final decisions and plans by the management to institute the change. The management could as well have attached attractive benefits to all the affected workers in order to build on their motivation. Such benefits could have included increased salaries and benefits such as transport allowances to and from work, among others so as to deal with the negative feeling effectively.

References

Cohen, D. S. (2005). The heart of change field guide: Tools and tactics for leading change in your organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing