Kotter's Change Strategies

You've been working for the past several years as a manager within an organization that traditionally resists any and all change. Today you've been assigned to created detailed plan toward an organizational wide change effort that will impact persons throughout the organization.

For this question, please answer the following three items (in paragraph form):

* What strategies will you utilize to complete the change and how do they relate to Bolman and Deal's four frames?

* What are some barriers to change that you'll likely encounter? What strategies will you use to eliminate them?

* What are some potential errors in the implementation or execution of your change program that you'll want to avoid?

Answer:-Kotter's change strategies provide excellent guidelines to implementing change in an organization (p. 393-396).They are similar to change concepts presented by Bolman and Deal and relate well to the four frames. These change strategies can be viewed through the four frames. In the structural frame establishing a support team who has the skills and credibility is necessary. After team establishment it is necessary to design a plan for approaching the proposed change. It is also essential to modify or create structures that are conducive of this change. When planning for implementation of new procedures it is advisable to remove old procedures in order to avoid confusion. Long term plans should be broken down into short phases in order to present achievable goals for the team. It is also important to involve employees about developments with regard to the change process so that their support can be sustained at the same time the existing structure should be shaped in alignment to the new culture.

Human resource strategies are also important to gather support from employees. The best way to do this is to approach employees for their thoughts and opinions regarding change. Involving them in decision making will not only bring forth new ideas but will also make employees more receptive to change. Team or teams established for this change should be trained to function as a team as their collective actions are important for the future movement of the reframing process. Teams should also be provided required training and resources for them to work competently on the reframing processes. As these teams work, it is important to come together to discuss tasks, check to see if they are moving in the right direction and the tasks are completing as scheduled. Feedback during these sessions can help in redesigning the plan. Apart from all this employees should be exposed to the new culture.

Political strategies are very important as the political players can steer this change process in the direction of success. In order to use the power base, identifying main players who hold power is important. It is also useful to identify the kind of power and influence these players have and how they can be aligned to support the change process. Our agenda for change should be presented clearly to these players that can help not only to gather their support but also to form alliances with influential groups. Involving them in our decision processes and making them part of our change team will reduce resistance to our ideas. It is also vital to keep up team spirit by investing resources and moving political support for early victories.

Strategies for symbolic frame should be applied to keep up the morale of the employees. Vision for this change should be presented as a motivating story for employees to relate and feel energized about these change processes. These stories should be related to the core values of the organization in order to give employees a sense of familiarity. Ceremonies and rituals should be part of change processes. Ceremony for giving farewell to old processes is as important as ceremonies to celebrate the start of new processes. Achievements should be celebrated this will give employees a sense of accomplishment and boost their morale. These celebrations will also give a chance to reinforce and sustain their support towards the change processes. It is also vital for the leader of these change processes to be visible

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