Leading Change--Jack Welch
LEADING CHANGE: WHY TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS FAIL Page 1
Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail
Lynda Greene
MMOL 601A
Dr. Toni Pauls
October 23, 2012
Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail Page 2
Summary of Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail John Kotter, a former professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School, has studied both success and failure 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. Skipping steps creates only the illusion of speed and never produces satisfactory results” and “making critical mistakes in any of the phases can have a devastating impact, slowing momentum and negating hard-won gains.” (HBR, 2007) The positive will be focused on, rather than pitfalls, for this paper. Kotter summarizes the eight stages in his case study, Leading Change Why Transformation Efforts Fail as follows: 1. Establish a sense of urgency 2. Form a powerful guiding coalition 3. Create a vision 4. Communicate the vision 5. Empower others to act on the vision 6. Plan for and create short-term wins 7. Consolidate improvements and produce more change 8. Institutionalize new approaches
These eight stages in the case study, Leading Change Why Transformation Efforts Fail will be compared with a change model example on page 257 in the textbook, Practicing Organization Development for this paper. There are many similarities in the change management theories in the case study and the textbook. The case study contains eight stages
Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail Page 3 and the textbook example explains it in three stages with 20 total steps. A few of the eight steps include more than one main idea that is discussed in several ideas in the textbook. “Change is inevitable for
Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail
Lynda Greene
MMOL 601A
Dr. Toni Pauls
October 23, 2012
Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail Page 2
Summary of Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail John Kotter, a former professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School, has studied both success and failure 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. Skipping steps creates only the illusion of speed and never produces satisfactory results” and “making critical mistakes in any of the phases can have a devastating impact, slowing momentum and negating hard-won gains.” (HBR, 2007) The positive will be focused on, rather than pitfalls, for this paper. Kotter summarizes the eight stages in his case study, Leading Change Why Transformation Efforts Fail as follows: 1. Establish a sense of urgency 2. Form a powerful guiding coalition 3. Create a vision 4. Communicate the vision 5. Empower others to act on the vision 6. Plan for and create short-term wins 7. Consolidate improvements and produce more change 8. Institutionalize new approaches
These eight stages in the case study, Leading Change Why Transformation Efforts Fail will be compared with a change model example on page 257 in the textbook, Practicing Organization Development for this paper. There are many similarities in the change management theories in the case study and the textbook. The case study contains eight stages
Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail Page 3 and the textbook example explains it in three stages with 20 total steps. A few of the eight steps include more than one main idea that is discussed in several ideas in the textbook. “Change is inevitable for
References: Kotter, J P. (January, 2007). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing. R0701J Rothwell, WJ. Stavros, JM., Sullivan, RL., & Sullivan, A (Eds.) (2010). Practicing organization development: A guide for leading change (3rd Ed.) USA: Pfeiffer. ISBN-13:9780470405444. http://slooowdown.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/summary-of-leading-change-by-john-p-kotter. October 22, 2012.