Concord Paper
Concord Paper
Deejah Klein
HCS 587
December 24, 2012
Introduction Change is inevitable. According to Borkowski (2005), “change is a very complex phenomenon involving the multiplicity of man’s motivations in both micro and macro systems and that man gets satisfied with his equilibrium and is resistant to changing his status quo.” Most organizational efforts will be met by resistance. The Concord Bookshop is initiating a change due to the store’s financial situation. The President of the bookshop announced that a new general manager will be hired. This will not lead to any salary cuts or employee lay off. Employees were not happy with this change and met with board members to express their concerns but the board members had already made up their minds and told employees to decide on how they want to proceed. This approach backfired, which led some of the employees to quit or give their notice (Spector, 2010). This paper discusses the phases in the organizational change process and also discusses the phases that was not completed or implemented at the concord bookshop that led to the change failure.
Phases in the Organizational Change Process In 1947, Kurt Lewin developed a three stage process of implementing change which is necessary for effective change within an organization. The three stages are:
Unfreezing: Recognizing the need for change is very vital. This is the first phase that involves preparing the organization to accept that change is necessary. The existing status quo has to be broken down before a new way of operating is built. Organizations need to give reasons why things cannot continue the present way. This gives employees an understanding of the need for change. This stage also involves investigating the resisting forces. According to Borkowski (2005), unfreezing takes place when managers effectively communicate the need for change and the organizational and personal benefits that would come out of it. This stage can also be described as
Deejah Klein
HCS 587
December 24, 2012
Introduction Change is inevitable. According to Borkowski (2005), “change is a very complex phenomenon involving the multiplicity of man’s motivations in both micro and macro systems and that man gets satisfied with his equilibrium and is resistant to changing his status quo.” Most organizational efforts will be met by resistance. The Concord Bookshop is initiating a change due to the store’s financial situation. The President of the bookshop announced that a new general manager will be hired. This will not lead to any salary cuts or employee lay off. Employees were not happy with this change and met with board members to express their concerns but the board members had already made up their minds and told employees to decide on how they want to proceed. This approach backfired, which led some of the employees to quit or give their notice (Spector, 2010). This paper discusses the phases in the organizational change process and also discusses the phases that was not completed or implemented at the concord bookshop that led to the change failure.
Phases in the Organizational Change Process In 1947, Kurt Lewin developed a three stage process of implementing change which is necessary for effective change within an organization. The three stages are:
Unfreezing: Recognizing the need for change is very vital. This is the first phase that involves preparing the organization to accept that change is necessary. The existing status quo has to be broken down before a new way of operating is built. Organizations need to give reasons why things cannot continue the present way. This gives employees an understanding of the need for change. This stage also involves investigating the resisting forces. According to Borkowski (2005), unfreezing takes place when managers effectively communicate the need for change and the organizational and personal benefits that would come out of it. This stage can also be described as
References: Borkowski, N. (2005). Organizational behavior in health care. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Spector, B. (2010). Implementing organizational change: Theory into practice (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice hall.