Change management
Lewin conceived of change as modification of those forces keeping a system’s behaviour stable. Specifically, a particular set of behaviours at any moment in time is the result of 2 groups of forces: those striving to maintain status quo and those pushing for change.
1. Unfreeze – create initial motivation to change by convincing people that current state is undesirable.
2. Change – identify new behaviours and norms. Communicate. Adopt new attitudes and culture.
3. Refreeze – reinforce new behaviour through reward systems, communications, structure etc.
Unfreezing involves reducing those forces maintaining the organisation’s behaviour at its present level. This is sometimes accomplished through a process of “psychological disconfirmation”. By introducing information that shows discrepancies between behaviours desired by organisation members and those behaviours currently exhibited, members can be motivated to engage in change activities.
Moving/Changing – this shifts the behaviour of the organisation, department, or individual to a new level. It involves intervening in the system to develop new behaviours, values, and attitudes through changes in organisational structures and processes.
Refreezing stabilises the organisation at a new state of equilibrium. It is frequently accomplished through the use of supporting mechanisms that reinforce the new organisational state, such as organisational culture, rewards and structures.
Action-Research Model
This focuses on planned change as a cyclical process in which initial research about the organisation provides information to guide subsequent action. Then the results of the action are assessed to provide further information to guide further action, and so on.
1. Unfreeze – create initial motivation to change by convincing people that current state is undesirable.
2. Change – identify new behaviours and norms. Communicate. Adopt new attitudes and culture.
3. Refreeze – reinforce new behaviour through reward systems, communications, structure etc.
Unfreezing involves reducing those forces maintaining the organisation’s behaviour at its present level. This is sometimes accomplished through a process of “psychological disconfirmation”. By introducing information that shows discrepancies between behaviours desired by organisation members and those behaviours currently exhibited, members can be motivated to engage in change activities.
Moving/Changing – this shifts the behaviour of the organisation, department, or individual to a new level. It involves intervening in the system to develop new behaviours, values, and attitudes through changes in organisational structures and processes.
Refreezing stabilises the organisation at a new state of equilibrium. It is frequently accomplished through the use of supporting mechanisms that reinforce the new organisational state, such as organisational culture, rewards and structures.
Action-Research Model
This focuses on planned change as a cyclical process in which initial research about the organisation provides information to guide subsequent action. Then the results of the action are assessed to provide further information to guide further action, and so on.