The Heart of Change
Integrative Paper: The Heart of Change
Bridget J. Capers
MNGT 5590: Organizational Behavior
Instructor: Francis Lonsway
December 6, 2011
Introduction
The book “The Heart of Change” is a book of real-life stories of four hundred individuals from one-hundred and thirty businesses. According to Kotter and Cohen, organizations change when their people change. And, people change for emotional reasons. Kotter and Cohen warn against relying on spreadsheets or reports to promote change. They insist that the best way to engage the emotions is not to "tell" but to "show" through the use of videos, displays or even office design. At the end of each chapter, there are excellent exercises that will ensure the reader understands the material. Additionally, Kotter and Cohen believe change is an eight step process.
Discussion
Step 1: Increase Urgency
According to the authors, the first stage of large-scale transformation should be to create a sense of urgency that the change is necessary. Urgency helps motivate personnel to overcome contentment, fear, anger, or negativity, which result in conflict. In order to increase urgency without also increasing fear and anger first you have to establish a clear problem definition and using illustrations that shows why the change is of urgency. An example is illustrations that include videos of valued customers’ complaints with the company.
Step 2: Build the Guiding Team
Successful change needs effective leadership to provide the vision and to manage the process. The guiding team requires individuals with the right attitude, skills, and power. These skills include: relevant knowledge of the competitive environment and internal operations, credibility, connections, leadership and managerial skills. Useful teams require real teamwork. They share a similar sense of urgency, are guided by clear leadership, and coordinate their efforts
Bridget J. Capers
MNGT 5590: Organizational Behavior
Instructor: Francis Lonsway
December 6, 2011
Introduction
The book “The Heart of Change” is a book of real-life stories of four hundred individuals from one-hundred and thirty businesses. According to Kotter and Cohen, organizations change when their people change. And, people change for emotional reasons. Kotter and Cohen warn against relying on spreadsheets or reports to promote change. They insist that the best way to engage the emotions is not to "tell" but to "show" through the use of videos, displays or even office design. At the end of each chapter, there are excellent exercises that will ensure the reader understands the material. Additionally, Kotter and Cohen believe change is an eight step process.
Discussion
Step 1: Increase Urgency
According to the authors, the first stage of large-scale transformation should be to create a sense of urgency that the change is necessary. Urgency helps motivate personnel to overcome contentment, fear, anger, or negativity, which result in conflict. In order to increase urgency without also increasing fear and anger first you have to establish a clear problem definition and using illustrations that shows why the change is of urgency. An example is illustrations that include videos of valued customers’ complaints with the company.
Step 2: Build the Guiding Team
Successful change needs effective leadership to provide the vision and to manage the process. The guiding team requires individuals with the right attitude, skills, and power. These skills include: relevant knowledge of the competitive environment and internal operations, credibility, connections, leadership and managerial skills. Useful teams require real teamwork. They share a similar sense of urgency, are guided by clear leadership, and coordinate their efforts