...UNIVERSITY | Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail | by John Kotter | | Calvin Beecher | 11/17/2013 | John P. Kotter’s frequently cited article, “Leading Change,” Kotter argues that many companies, when attempting to reorganize themselves and make fundamental changes to their business, make eight errors: not establishing a great enough sense of urgency, not creating a powerful enough guiding coalition, lacking a vision, under-communicating the vision by a factor of ten, not removing obstacles to the new vision, not systematically planning for and creating short-term wins, declaring victory too soon, and not anchoring changes in the corporation’s culture. In contrast, organizations that successfully transform themselves perform the following steps in the right order: establishing a sense of urgency, forming a powerful guiding coalition, creating a vision, communicating the vision, empowering others to act on the vision, planning for and creating short-term wins, consolidating improvements and producing still more change, and institutionalizing new approaches. Accomplishment of Objectives Kotter sets out to illustrate eight ways a company can fail to reengineer itself and eight steps a company can take to successfully transform to meet market needs. At this, he succeeds. More importantly, his arguments are reasonable and persuasive. Rather than simply give us yet another list of things to do to succeed, Kotter tells us how we will fail if we do not heed...
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...Managing Organizational Change A comparative and critical analysis of the articles “The work of leadership” by Ronald A. Heifetz and Donald L. Laurie and “Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail” by John P. Kotter Introduction Organizations operate in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment, where change occurs continuously. The automotive industry, the health care and biotech industry, financial services, telecommunication and media companies, commodities manufacturers and internet companies have nothing in common but the need to face profound and dramatic change to stay competitive in today’s business world. This context poses a serious challenge to the management of all the existing organizations, that is the need to manage change well in order to achieve long-term success in the transformation processes. Indeed, transformations are perceived to be critical for organizational success and achievement of sustainable competitive advantage. Successful transformations, however, require leadership. Indeed, any change process requires the creation of a new vision and a new set of rules that has to be eventually institutionalized and rooted in social norms, and shared values of the organization: leaders, not managers (whose task is that of maintaining the current system operating at its best) are those in charge of leading change. Successful leaders recognize and understand the opportunities and challenges that come with change. This being said, both “The work...
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...Understanding the Process of Change is a Key to Successfully Transformed Organization Japeth Jacob Massey school of Engineering 26 April 2010 Abstract Process of change is the key. Change can be brought about only and if we understand the process of change. This paper presents the major obstacle to change and the major failure leader often overlook. Change takes time and cost money. The objective of the paper is to discuss the failure of ineffective transformation and clarifying the process for change to save guide leaders to successfully implement effective transformation. Keywords: Five Ps, Resistance, Vision, Strategy, tactics and People INTRODUCTION Today change is universal. Change is essential in both public and private sector organization to be competitive in today’s turbulent environment. Often leaders failed to successfully transform their organizations in achieving their business goals. In fact, most of the leaders fails to understand the type of resistance involve, therefore ending up wasting a lot time in inappropriate measure of trying to solve the problem. Further more we often miss some of the significant part of the transformation process in which our change efforts turns to be not that effective as we expect to. In order to successfully bring transformation we need to sail out to all the three islands of change 1. RESISTANCE TO CHANGE Change is dealing more with the behaviors. As often when trying to get people out of their comfort zones it’s...
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...discusses John Kotter’s Eight-Stage Change Model and how it can be used as a guide when implementing change within an organization. The roles of various stakeholders including senior and emerging leaders, managers and employees throughout the eight stages are defined. In addition, factors which can contribute to a failed organization change initiative are discussed. Transforming an organization from a sub-optimizing enterprise of independently functioning departments to an organization that embraces cross-functional teams and customer centric integrated processes that focuses on delivering quality products and services requires a well defined and implemented plan of action. In addition, transforming an organization also requires a large amount time, financial resources and most importantly risk. Published success rates of some change management programs are as low as 10% (Oakland & Tanner, 2007). Shrinking profit margins and increasing competition both globally and locally require initiatives that are implemented by organizations to deliver the desired results. A number of organizational change models are available for an organization to use when transforming an organization. John Kotter’s Eight-Stage Change Model provides a framework that allows an organization the time needed to implement change as well as inclusion and participation of all stakeholders throughout the organizational transformation. John Kotter’s Eight-Stage Change Model is a “comprehensive implementation...
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...- Transformation - 8 - Innovation - 9 - 3-Bias Theory - 10 - Conclusion - 13 - References - 14 - Introduction ❖ Book (Non-Fiction) – Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game ❖ Author - Michael Lewis ❖ Publication Year - 2003 ❖ Key Learnings – Leadership, Innovation, Change Management, Organizational Culture, Risk-taking, Transformation, Strategising ❖ Synopsis – The book is about a US baseball team, Oakland Athletics and its performance in the year 2002. It is a real-life account of how despite financial constraints, the protagonist, Billy Beane assembles a strong baseball team using innovative techniques and strategies. It is the story of how Billy Beane changed the organizational culture of his organization, and influenced that of his competitors’. He re-invented a system that was working for years. Beane and his assistant concluded that by hiring under-valued players, it was possible to win with less than 40% of the budget of their competitors. They applied analytical, evidence-based, sabermetric approach and thus selected a competitive team. As a result, in the 2001-02 season, the team struck an all-time record with a 20 game-winning streak. Exposing himself and his team to ridicule, how he ignored his detractors and went ahead with his unorthodox strategies to ultimately achieve the winning combination, forms the crux of the book. ❖ Why this...
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...What is Transformation, and Why Is It So Hard to Manage? Dean Anderson Linda Ackerman Anderson 1 1242 Oak Drive, DWII Durango, CO 81301 (970) 385-5100 www.beingfirst.com www.changeleadersnetwork.com/blog What is Transformation, and Why Is It So Hard to Manage? 1 reorganizations, simple mergers or acquisitions, creation of new products or services that replace old ones, and IT implementations that do not radically impact people’s work or require a significant shift in culture or behavior to be effective. Two variables define transitional change: (1) you can determine your destination in detail before you begin, and can, therefore, “manage” your transition, and (2) people are largely impacted only at the levels of skills and actions, not the more personal levels of mindset, behavior and culture. Knowing which type of change your organization is undergoing is critical to your success. Three types exist, and each requires different change strategies, plans and degrees of employee engagement. A very common reason for failure in change is leaders inadvertently using approaches that do not fit the type of change they are leading. Is this happening in your organization? The three types of change occurring in organizations today are: (1) developmental, (2) transitional, and (3) transformational. Traditional project management and what is commonly called, “change management” effectively support developmental and transitional change, but they are woefully insufficient...
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...Managing Organisational Change Essay Topic: One set of authors state that “An organisation’s ability to manage change will have a significant effect on its performance and prosperity” (Graetz. F., et al, 2006, p2 in Grates F. et al, 2006, Managing Organisational Change, John Wiley & Sons, Australia), whereas another author claims that few corporate change efforts have ever been successful (Kotter, J.P., 2005, ‘Why Transformational Change Efforts Fail’, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1995, pp 59-67). Discuss these two statements and build an argument that explains this apparent contradiction with regard to relevant organizational behavioural theory. In my opinion, the statements presented above do not contradict one another, in fact the two statements presented support the need for successful organizational change and the need for concerted effort in implementing the change. In almost every case, the basic goal has been has been the same: to make fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with a new, more challenging market environment. Change is an organizational need, at one time or other and management needs rigorous support in achieving positive change outcomes. I want to look in detail the change management theory and practice including Transformational Change, The Tools and Techniques used for Change Management, Transforming Organisations for Organic Growth, Cultural Revitalisation and Behavioural Responses to Change and the successful...
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...Associated With Organizational Failure Substantial change has developed greatly in organizations due to influential economic transformation. There are numerous causes requiring organizational change to include: technological, global economic and opening market forces. Both more hazards and opportunities are created for organizations. Beneficial change is linked with a process that creates power and motivation substantial enough to overcome all sources of resistance and is motivated by quality leadership, and not solely on excellent management (Ingram, 2012). John Kotter, over his career has evaluated both the successes and failures in change initiatives in business. "The most general lesson to be learned from the more successful cases is that the change process goes through a series of phases that, in total, usually require a considerable length of time” (Kotter, 1996, p. 3). As a result of his many evaluations, Kotter identified eight primary reasons that organizations are unsuccessful when implementing efforts to change. ERROR #1: Allowing Too Much Complacency One of the major pitfalls when attempting to change organizations is to rapidly initiate the change without conveying a high sense of urgency in peer leadership and employees. This significant error results in change failure due to high levels of complacency. ERROR #4: Under Communicating The Vision By A Factor Of 10 (Or 100 Or Even 1,000) Major change is usually impossible unless most employees are willing...
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...Book Review “Leading Change” by John Kotter 1996 Review by Chris Shea John P. Kotter is internationally known and widely regarded as the foremost speaker on the topics of leadership and change. He is the premier voice on how the best organizations actually achieve successful transformations. The Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School and a graduate of MIT and Harvard, Kotter’s vast experience and knowledge on successful change and leadership have been proven time and time again. The book Leading Change looks at an eight stage process for implementing successful transformations in today’s firms as well as the eight errors that are common to change efforts. The ideas and methods in this book should be considered a roadmap to successful change for any manager or leader in today’s modern organizations. Leading Change is broken up into three parts. Part one begins by discussing the potential downside of change and the eight errors commonly made during transformation efforts and their consequences. He then goes into detail on the economic and social forces that drive the need for major change in today’s organizations. This is also where Kotter introduces his eight step process for creating change. In Part two Kotter goes into great detail about his eight step process for successful change highlighting what to focus on and avoid at each step of the process. Part three looks at the implications for the 21st century, he goes into detail...
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...Resources Leading Change Group Members 1 Moses Jimu 2 Elizabeth Makota 3 Simbarashe Mazorodze 4 5 Walter Busangavanye Clements Muvami Introduction The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades.” John P. Kotter What is Change? What is not happening that should be happening? is happening that should not be happening? better? is happening that could happen What What Change Defined An alteration in people , structure or technology. To cause to be different or to undergo transformation. a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) Reengineering, restructuring, downsizing, right-sizing, mergers, acquisition, new technology, new markets, new customer demands, b) new government regulations, global competition c) and vacillating world economy all add up to change. a) Change has no boundaries, it knows no time limit. It cuts across every political divide, economic sector and all social classes Change is constant and unstoppable and so powerful that no one can detour it, except the all mighty God, for he was the same yesterday, is the same today and will ever be the same forever Thus change is constant and inevitable. Change can be classified into two categories namely: 1. unplanned change and 2. planned change. Unplanned change is forced on an organization by external environment. Planned change results...
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...THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING Finally, the necessary climbing skills for the lean expedition must be addressed. Business transformation of this magnitude quickly overwhelms training and employee development resources. Therefore, the most qualified and respected managers need to be converted to become certified trainers. This group can be augmented by outside resources, using one of the few consulting companies who have the credible skills and experience to be effective in this arena. Examples of such companies include the Lean Enterprise Institute and Productivity, Inc. Next, comprehensive training schedules must be developed to assure that training fully supports the work cell roll-out for lean implementation. Change leaders can be selected on the basis of attributes described earlier, but even with the best raw material, significant training is needed to create knowledgeable employees. Training hours completed throughout the organization is a key metric of lean implementation. Unfortunately, the transformation landscape is littered with the remains of unsuccessful expeditions that tried shortcuts in training or focused on classroom hours without equivalent application hours that allow knowledge to be reinforced and absorbed. To avoid wasted investment, applying the newly acquired skills in a problem-solving scenario must quickly follow classroom sessions to transfer knowledge and ensure it is retained. Ideally, each training and application experience should occur with natural...
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...Stories of Change Dr. Vanessa Graham HRM 560-Managing Organizational Change 01/26/2014 An organization has to be strategic when managing change. A business must also be able to reinvent itself in order to maintain a competitive edge. There can be many reasons why change is necessary including technology, customer needs, opportunities to grow, globalization, and the economy. “Today, organizations must have the capacity to adapt quickly and effectively in order to survive. Often the speed and complexity of change severely test the capabilities of leaders and employees to adapt rapidly enough, but if organizations fail to change, the cost of that failure may be quite high. Hence, leaders and employees must understand the nature of the changes needed and the likely effects of alternative approaches to bring about that change” (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, p. 510). Using Kotter’s Model, Identify the Three (3) Most Significant Errors Made Out of All of the Change Stories Presented and Describe the Ramifications of Those Mistakes. Any organization that wants to grow and stay ahead of the competition should embrace change. Despite this fact, there are many things that can go wrong when an organization decides to make a change. Resistance from employees is one factor that plays a part in an organizations change process failure. The change process must be effectively managed in an effort to lessen...
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...SYSTEMS Change Management: Best Practice Strategies for ERP Implementation By: Andrew Handoko 1601226176 LC11-LEC BINUS UNIVERSITY 2015 ABSTRACT The implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, have become more complex and crucial in information systems infrastructure within large organizations. However, most of these large companies deal with common people issues. Their potential users across different departments of organization resist the implementation process for some reasons. Enterprise units are being lack of communication from top management to functional units within implementation project. As a result, companies are struggle for ERP systems practice as well as to get rid of worker’s social problem and infrastructure’s transitions from old system to a new system. Ultimately, a successful ERP implementation projects are less about technology and more focus on people and process. Change Management is the best practice for “critical success factor” in ERP implementation literature. The purpose of this research is to have a better understanding about how change management is essential to be a part of ERP implementation process. This paper describes the main success factor of Change Management in order to create a successful ERP implementation and how should organizational change be managed. KEYWORDS Change Strategies, Enterprise Resource Planning, Resistance, Organizational Change, ERP, Implementation Strategies, Business Process, Change Management ...
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...The Hard Side of Change Management LEADERSHIP THE HARD SIDE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT BY HAROLD L. SIRKIN, PERRY KEENAN, AND ALAN JACKSON FROM THE OCTOBER 2005 ISSUE 1 W $8.95 HEN FRENCH NOVELIST JEAN-BAPTISTE ALPHONSE KARR WROTE “PLUS ÇA CHANGE, PLUS C’EST LA MÊME CHOSE,” HE COULD HAVE BEEN PENNING AN EPIGRAM ABOUT CHANGE MANAGEMENT. FOR OVER THREE DECADES, ACADEMICS, MANAGERS, AND CONSULTANTS, REALIZING THAT TRANSFORMING ORGANIZATIONS IS DIFFICULT, HAVE DISSECTED THE SUBJECT. THEY’VE SUNG THE PRAISES OF LEADERS WHO COMMUNICATE VISION AND WALK THE TALK IN ORDER TO MAKE CHANGE EFFORTS SUCCEED. THEY’VE SANCTIFIED THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND EMPLOYEES’ ATTITUDES. THEY’VE TEASED OUT THE TENSIONS BETWEEN TOP-DOWN TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS AND PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES TO CHANGE. AND THEY’VE EXHORTED COMPANIES TO LAUNCH CAMPAIGNS THAT APPEAL TO PEOPLE’S HEARTS AND MINDS. STILL, STUDIES SHOW THAT IN MOST ORGANIZATIONS, TWO OUT OF THREE TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVES FAIL. THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME. MANAGING CHANGE IS TOUGH, BUT PART OF THE PROBLEM IS THAT THERE IS LITTLE AGREEMENT ON WHAT FACTORS MOST INFLUENCE TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVES. ASK FIVE EXECUTIVES TO NAME THE ONE FACTOR CRITICAL FOR THE SUCCESS OF THESE PROGRAMS, AND YOU’LL PROBABLY GET FIVE DIFFERENT ANSWERS. THAT’S BECAUSE EACH MANAGER LOOKS AT AN INITIATIVE FROM HIS OR HER VIEWPOINT AND, BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE...
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...Forces for Change Author Note This paper was prepared for Management 689, Managing Change and Organizational Learning taught by Professor Doyle. Forces for Change Discussion of the readings It is evident that change within a business or organization is integral to its solvency and profitability. Even more important is to execute the process of change in a deliberate, methodical and precise manner. If a company brings about change too quickly and erratically, it can burn out quickly like a supernova leaving loss of focus in its wake. Conversely, if change is done slowly or not at all, it can miss a crucial window of opportunity that can never be recaptured causing the company to lose market share or file bankruptcy. Visual media has changed tremendously over the years due to the dynamic technology improving digital media. Consumers rented movie videos from their local video stores and cable television was emerging. Ever changing technology changed formats from the Video Home System (VHS) to compact discs (CDs) and digital video discs (DVDs). The latter format had improved picture quality and longer viewing capacity. Visiting a video store was an enjoyable jaunt for many families, who wanted to enjoy movies in the convenience of their own home when the weekends rolled around. With this in mind, I was saddened to hear the demise of Blockbuster Video, which first opened in 1985 and recently announced this year that it was closing all its brick and mortar...
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