Kotter’s Organizational Change Models (Essay Sample)

Kotter’s Organizational Change Models
Introduction
Environmental shifts are the main causes of organizational change. Whenever a firm suspects such a shift they generate a response that will ensure the organization best fits the environment. According to Silver and Porras, for an institution to practice change, it must be having a reason to change due to the influence of outside factors (Wentworth, Behson & Kelley, 2020). Research has shown that change for the organization is a very complex dynamic of time. There is a very big difference between organizational change and organizational development. Factors outside the organization cause change, where it is a response to these factors. On the other hand, development is the techniques, strategies, and values that are employed by an organization to manage change. Besides, development stimulates change that enables the firm to align with the environment better (Appelbaum, Habashy & Shafiq 2012).
According to Kotter’s, organizations start experiencing change whenever the management feels they are not comfortable with the present-day position of the company. The dissatisfaction that arises from a situation. These changes in the organization may be planned while others are not. Good planning and having a valid vision is a very important thing in an organization. This lies wholly in the leadership of any corporation. They have to make employees know the vision and develop and good plan for its achievement. The management ought to understand and adopt the three phases of organizational change. These are unfreezing, moving, and finally refreezing (Wentworth, Behson & Kelley, 2020). According to Fleming, unfreezing involves changing the attitudes and behavior of the workers and the working atmosphere. This is a very crucial phase since for any change to occur in an organization the participants must have seen the need to change. This phase is important in reducing the likely frictions and resistance from the employees.
The role of the leader is also very critical in this phase since the implementation must be well structured to manage the attitudes and conduct of the workers (Wentworth, Behson & Kelley, 2020). The moving phase is the actualizing phase. In this phase, the management is expected to categorize, plan, and implement strategies that are fit for the change. It is in this phase where a decision has to be made on whether to go the radical way or incremental to enact change. This is where the vision of the leader comes in, to aid in planning and implementation of the structure (Pollack & Pollack, 2015).
The last phase is refreezing, this a critical phase as well in that it helps stabilize the changes that have already occurred. It is the process of making change parts of the organization. If the change was not very appealing, some may wish to go back to the old working days. The behavior may resume. If such a thing happens the situation may get worse than it was initially (Campbell, 2008). There is always a challenge in re-introducing a challenging change, this implies that as you implement it make sure it is maintained until it becomes a norm. Refreezing itself lays a foundation for a future change, if a change is implemented perfectly there is always hope that the workers may never resist any in the future (Appelbaum, Habashy & Shafiq 2012). It would have led to developing a culture where people are always ready to embrace change that helps reach the goals of the company.
Challenges associated with organizational change
Organizational change is itself actualizing the future of a business. During the establishment of the organization, there was a vision and a goal to achieve. The policies first employed may not work perfectly for the attainment of the goal (Wentworth, Behson & Kelley, 2020). Therefore, there is the need to develop others to replace the original ones or modify them to fit the situation at hand. Offering services by a firm is a way of solving the challenges of society. These problems keep changing as society grows, there is always a new problem after solving the first since life will always pose a challenge.
It was earlier seen that generally man does not like change. Especially any that disorients him. As such, there are