Kotter Change Model

Competitive imperatives of market forces and customer demands in today’s environment have led to the emergence of less hierarchical and more flexible organisations (Doyle, 2001). In working towards this paradigm shift, a distinction and clarification of the relationship between leadership and management in the change process needs to be addressed. According to Caldwell (2003), change leaders are executives or senior managers at the very top of the organisation who envision, initiate or sponsor strategic change of far-reaching or transformational nature by challenging the status quo, communicating a vision that employees believe in, and empowering them to act. In contrast, change managers are usually middle level managers and functional specialists who carry forward and build support for change within business units and key functions ("Leadership & Management," 2009). The two roles although different are complimentary for successful change as it demands a process that is driven by leadership and supported by management (Kotter, 1997). Although it is acknowledged that management is used to support a successful change process, this essay however, is only focused at addressing leadership in an organisation through the 8 general lessons that John Kotter has developed in his eight-step model of leading a planned change and how it can be effectively applied in the dynamic environment of today.
Leading a change initiative is one of the most difficult tasks a leader can face. It is face with tremendous risk and opportunities. For most leaders, managing this change initiative is a crucial role but the responsibilities can widely vary depending on the type of change pursued (Beatty & Lee, 1992). The vast majority of leaders today adopt a planned change approach to large-scale organisational change. In many circumstances, they apply a linear, step by step planned process in implementing the major change. Victor, Greg and Neil (2004) explains that planned change models offer a

References: Armenakis, A. A., & Harris, S. G. (2009). Reflections: our Journey in Organizational Change Research and Practice. Journal of Change Management, 9(2), 127 - 142. Beatty, C. A., & Lee, G. L. (1992). Leadership Among Middle Managers - An Exploration in the Context of Technological Change. Human Relations, 45(9), 957. Beaudan, E. (2006). Making change last: How to get beyond change fatigue. Ivey Business Journal, 70(3), 1-7. Brooker, K., & Schlosser, J. (2002). The un-CEO. Fortune, 146(5), 88-96. Buchanan, D., Fitzgerald, L., Ketley, D., Gollop, R., Jones, J. L., Lamont, S. S., et al. (2005). No going back: A review of the literature on sustaining organizational change. International Journal of Management Reviews, 7(3), 189-205. Burke, W. W. (2008). Organisational Change: Theory and practice (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Burnes, B. (2004). Kurt Lewin and the Planned Approach to Change: A Re-appraisal. Journal of Management Studies, 41(6), 977-1002. Caldwell, R. (2003). Change leaders and change managers: different or complementary? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 24(5), 285 - 293. Carter, E. (2008). Successful Change Requires More Than Change Management. Journal for Quality & Participation, 31(1), 20-23. Clarke, K. (2009). Wake Up! Associations Now, 5(2), 28-33. Doyle, M. (2001). Dispersing change agency in high velocity change organisations: issues and implications. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 22(7), 321 - 329. Elving, W. J. L. (2005). The role of communication in organisational change. Corporate Communications, 10 (2), 129 - 138. Finney, R. Z., Campbell, N., & Orwig, R. (2004). From strategy to sustainable competitive advantage: Resource Management as the missing link. Marketing Management Journal, 14(1), 71-81. Goodstein, L. D., & Burke, W. W. (1991). Creating Successful Organization Change. Organizational Dynamics, 19(4), 4-17. Jones, E., Watson, B., Gardner, J., & Gallois, C. (2004). Organizational Communication: Challenges for the New Century. The Journal of Communication, 54(4), 722-750. Kanter, R. M. (1991). Championing Change: An Interview With Bell Atlantic 's CEO Raymond Smith, Harvard Business Review (Vol. 69, pp. 118-130): Harvard Business School Publication Corp. Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. (cover story). Harvard Business Review, 73(2), 59-67. Kotter, J. P. (1997). Leading change: A conversation with John P. Kotter. Strategy & Leadership, 25 (1), 18 - 23. Kotter, J. P. (2007). Leading Change. Harvard Business Review, 85(1), 96-103. Leadership & Management (2009). Manager: British Journal of Administrative Management(65), 35-35. McManus, J., & Botten, N. (2006). Competitive analysis: Thinking beyond stage one. Management Services, 50(2), 10. McNamara, C. (2005). Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development. Minneapolis: Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Quinn, R. E., Spreitzer, G. M., & Brown, M. V. (2000). Changing Others through Changing Ourselves: The Transformation of Human Systems. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(2), 147-164. Rafferty, A. E., & Griffin, M. A. (2006). Perceptions of Organizational Change: A Stress and Coping Perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(5), 1154-1162. Tichy, N. M., & Charan, R. (1995). The CEO As Coach: An Interview with AlliedSignal 's Lawrence A. Bossidy. Harvard Business Review, 73, 68-78. Tillman, M. (2003). A model for change. Contract Management, 43(3), 8. Victor, J. C., Greg, L., & Neil, P. (2004). The best-laid plans: Uncertainty, complexity and large-scale organisational change. Mt Eliza Business Review, 7(1), 10.