Human Relations and Organizational Behavior

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Tyson    

Organization Structure

Tsarsha R. Tyson

Human Relations and Organizational Behavior

Dr. Kai D. Hintze

April 21, 2004


 

        A manager has the charge of selecting the appropriate action plan that will positively impact the future goals of an organization.  That is where change management interjects the formula that will be able to counter the internal and external drivers of change.  The proper strategy fit is imperative when implementing change and dealing with resistance during the transformation phase. The two change management theories studied are Kurt Lewin’s change management theory and John Kotter’s Eight Steps to Leading Organizational Change model.

Kurt Lewin’s three major contributions to the change management theory are:

  • Concepts of field theory
  •  Action research (the interweaving of laboratory experiment, systematic research in the field, and client service)
  •  The study of group dynamics
  •  Aspects of sensitivity training techniques.

His ideas appear today in discussions of productivity, management by participation, job enrichment, organizational development, organizational stress, and organizational change. His intellectual development may be conveniently divided into two phases. During the first period in Germany, after the First World War, his philosophy of science and psychology of individuals developed. The second period, in the United States, from the 1930's until his death in 1946, involved a market shift in his interest from the individual to the group and the birth of group dynamics as a field of study. In this brief paper I will trace some historically intriguing antecedents of later work in Lewin's earliest papers, which are not available in English. Although fascinating from a historical viewpoint, these papers do not, of course, show the full development of his thought in his latest papers. (Schein, 1999)

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John Kotter, an expert in leadership and change management, believes that organizational change typically fails because senior management does not follow the following plan:

1. Establish a sense of urgency about the need for change.

2. Create a powerful-enough guiding coalition that is responsible for leading

and managing the change process.

3.  Establish a vision that guides the change process.

4. Effectively communicate the new vision.

5. Remove obstacles that impede the accomplishment of the new vision.

6.  Systematically plan for and create short-term wins. Short-term wins

represent the achievement of important results or goals.

7. Consolidate gains and produce ...

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