Change Initiative Paper
Changes are viewed as a necessary condition for organization development. However, managers often lose sight of the point that, by nature, most organizations resist changes (Marsee, 2002). The discrepancy is addressed through implementing change model that most closely matches organization’s strategic mission, culture, and resources. The validity of this assertion is examined in the context of a small company engaged in manufacturing and sale of window and roller blinds.
For many years, the company had no competitors in the local market, and enjoyed high profits. Under the economic crisis and tough competition of constantly emerging firms, the company should reconsider its approach to doing business. The case is analysed in terms of changes needed, change model, role of leader in change initiative, overcoming barriers to and sustaining change. While examining these issues, the paper argues that Kotter’s change model creates conditions for boosting competitiveness through establishing, maintaining, and sustaining change.
When Change Is Needed
When the two businessmen decided to start a firm in a small city, they considered two major factors. Firstly, there were no other companies selling blinds, so there was no competition. Secondly, the number of unemployed exceeded the number of vacancies, so it was possible to set low prices for labor, without risking face manpower shortage.A few years later, there were several companies in the market, and the firm faced with increased turnover. Employees gained valuable work experience, and did not want to continue to put up with unfair wages, strict system of fines, and poor working conditions.
They started to resign en masse, and offer their services to competitors that willingly paid for years of experience in the field. Currently, the company faces with two major problems. Firstly, the turnover is high, and is aggravated by the fact that the most skilled employees leave the company. Secondly, the pool of applicants is extremely small, since information about wages and working conditions in the company is spreading among potential employees like wildfire. The company needs to shift its culture to stay on the market. It is suggested to change organization culture by applying Kotter’s change model.Kotter’s Change ModelThe validity of Kotter’s change model is proven by 100 companies that tried “to remake themselves into significantly better competitors” (Kotter, 1995, p. 59). The analysis of their cases allowed Kotter (1995) concluding that, “the change process goes through a series of phases” (p. 59). The expert suggests that these are 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 (Kotter, 1995). Each step applies to the firm under consideration.
Establishing a sense of urgency involves examining market and competitive realities with an aim to identify crises or opportunities (Kotter, 1995). The firm faces with a crisis, as there emerge new companies that are willing to pay …
