eight stages in Kotter’s Leading Change book

KOTTER’S EIGHT STAGES OF CHANGE AS SUPPORTED BY IVANCEVICH
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Kotter’s Eight Stages of Change as Supported by Ivancevich
An organization structure is a pattern of how its jobs and people are arranged. The structure can be illustrated by use of charts. On the other hand, business behavior is how the organization reacts to different circumstances that surround it. The culture is the goals and visions and objectives of a firm. Also, there is also the organizational environment. This is the surrounding of a concern that influences its reaction to the different situations that it may face. The environment may constitute of the clients and the customers. There is also the internal environment. In this environment, the business can control what is happening through policies instituted by top management.
There are two types of changes that a business can initiate. These are surface changes and transformational changes. These changes are only initiated when the company needs a complete reformation to survive an economic slump CITATION Bra07 l 1033 (Olson & Parayitam, 2007).
Error 1: Allowing too much complacency
For success in changing an organization to be effective then all persons in an organization should be on the same page. This deals mostly with leadership and how the leadership prepares its personnel for a change. An error made by most leaders is that they have a vision and a plan on how to achieve the goals. Their problem is that they do not create that sense of urgency among the staff.

They effect change with the mentality that the other people will pick up on their urgency and a sense of purpose. This is however not the case because people are sometimes satisfied with the status of things and do not want to change CITATION Joh08 l 1033 (Kotter, 2008).
The effects of complacency include;
Kills innovation
Loss of morale and a notion of defensiveness is created among the employees since they do not want to change
Most employees, after the passage of time, confuse urgency for anxiety and may either panic or lose confidence in the management of the business
Plans made by the company evaporate to oblivion since their initializing and consequent continuation is not efficient enough to keep the plans afloat.
There are a couple of reasons why complacency exists within a business. These reasons include;
Too much past success.
The success that has been experienced tremendously over time may create a sense that even if the organization is experiencing problems that there will be a success in the end.
Lack of a visible crisis
Most organizations that face behavioral or cultural problems do not realize that they are facing a problem. This then does not make the management and its personnel not to take up measures to sort the issues facing the organization.
Low-performance standards
Without performance appraisals for employees then there aren’t many standards for the employees to keep up with.
Insufficient feedback from external constituents.
Communication is an important aspect of any change that is to be effected. Leaders must then take it into their schedules to ensure that the change they require is communicated effectively.
According to the textbook, leadership is an important aspect of any organization. Their ability to make appropriate decisions quickly and efficiently determines the success or failure of a company. There is some agreement that leadership of any organization determines the success of any change that is to be put up. The leadership style required here is a task oriented one. This leadership style allows management to share tasks equally and thus involve everyone in the creation and initiation of the changes that are required CITATION Bra07 l 1033 (Olson & Parayitam, 2007).
ERROR 2: Failing to create a sufficiently guiding coalition
According to Kotter, a successful team is a core principle in instituting change and creating a lasting transformational change that will last for generations to come. In Kotter’s book, he calls these teams coalitions. He states that for them to be successful, they have to be powerful regarding positions they hold in the organizations. This is so that they can be able to effect the changes they desire without administrative bottlenecks. The second quality of an effective coalition according to the errors of Kotter is leadership skills. Every group has a leader whom they follow, and for the group to be effective, then the leader has to be just as successful in his or her operations. Charisma is an important quality of such a leader CITATION Age08 l 1033 (Kwadzo, 2008).
The resourcefulness of the team is just as important. This enables innovation and creativity of the group. The problem-solving ability is also highly improved. This makes it effective at changing the culture and behaviors of an organization. A lot of skill and expertise determines the effectiveness of a group in instituting the transformational change that a business requires to register success.
In the book by Ivancevich, he agrees that teams are an important aspect of effecting change either surface change or transformational change. From the textbook, there is a lot of emphasis on the leadership and cohesiveness of the team as a success factor. The coalitions in this are expressed in two forms. These two coalitions are formal groups and the second is informal groups. Formal groups are set out with a goal in mind usually, have a defined hierarchy. All the members report to a common leader or supervisor.
In both books, it is agreed that without adequate leadership groups will fail due to the lack of proper means to combat the forces of inertia and complacency. It is also agreed that the groups should share the responsibilities equally to prevent a phenomenon called social loafing. Communication should also be expanded so as to ensure that the members of a group are always informed and motivated.
Error 3: Underestimating the power of vision
Vision plays an important role in instituting change. Vision allows for the aligning, directing and inspiration of actions that a company undertakes. Without the vision then the process of transformational change can be hectic, callous and daunting. A lot of confusion may also be part of the procedure. With this much confusion then the change regardless of its prolonged nature becomes time-consuming to effect and incompatible with the goals of an organization CITATION Ron051 l 1033 (Burke, 2005).
Lack of vision can cause the following effects
Choices being made become a debate instead of a step in the change process
Precious time is wasted on insignificant matters, plans, and programs.
Scaring employees due to the amount of sheer details that are associated with planning.
Kotter also says that there plan and programs should not be confused for a vision. No matter how detailed the program or plan is, a vision should still be created. Effective visions are short, concise and precise. They must also elicit interest and understanding among the employees to whom it is directed.
Error 4: Under-communicating the vision
Communication is key to the success of any transformation. It ensures that the people responsible for making the change happen are in the loop on what is going on. Leaders that are running change initiatives should tell their staff and other subordinates the benefits of the change that will accrue to them and the organization. This will create a motivate people to work harder and even put in extra hours of work to ensure that the objectives are achieved.
According to Kotter, there are three stages of ineffective communication.
1. It is a situation where there is very little communication given.
An executive may communicate the concerns objective only once in the form of a memo or speech and never again. This does not create the urgency that the business should take up to make the change effective.
2. A lot of info is given by the CEO. However, managers do not share in the enthusiasm of passing the information to the employees. This is read by the employees that there is not much need to focus on the changing perspective.
3. A lot of time is spent in making speeches and passing the vision around however it is received with cynicism and thus not effective.
Communication should be followed closely by deeds to improve on and effectively initiate the vision by top level management. The management is the people who determine the trend and speed of achieving organizational vision and objectives.
Information is key for all persons in the organization. The coursework book requires that even under regulation then there should be established a system of communication. This allows that persons in the business can share their grievances and ideas. The flow of communication and ideas is important to make people understand situations and circumstances that are facing them.

Error 5: Permitting obstacles to block the vision
Many obstacles are in people’s minds. People are usually afraid of failure. This psychological phenomenon creates a barrier between individuals and their quest for success. However, some obstacles are very real and in the physical realm. These bottlenecks and obstacles include
organizational structure
As said before an organizational structure is a way in which a business is designed to achieve different goals. However, deplorable planning of the structure of a business such as narrow job categories undermines efforts of dedicated change initiators due to the limited power is given to them.
Compensation and appraisal methods make people choose between their self-interests and the new vision that is laid out by the organization. Many managers take the position that to motivate employees to a certain direction then major incentives have to be offered. This notion leads to over-rewarding and thus people do what is needed just to gain a bonus. This prevents the changes being instituted deep into the core of the organization since they are only doing it for the reward.
Supervisors who refuse to take up the changes and they thus give conflicting orders that do not confer with the goals and vision.
Management and strong personnel in an organization should be able to confront and stop obstacles as they arise.
Managers and supervisors should be at all times be in tandem with the organization’s vision of change and work towards achieving it. This is because whenever well-intentioned and brilliant people fail to tackle problems they prevent others who are below them from taking any real step
Businesses face a lot of obstacles in their lifetime. There are external challenges that cannot be contained by the business. There are also internal problems that are caused by the people within an organization. Such problems include improper management and wrong attitudes among employees. This shows that Kotter and Ivancevich agree that obstacles are faced by all businesses and must be dealt with when and as they occur.
Error 6: Failing to create short-term wins
Transformation takes a toll on any business. People expect to see their efforts bear some semblance of fruits within six to eighteen months. This is the same amount of time that a short term goal should have been achieved by. As such it is important that the firm has short term goals to celebrate the goals that have been met so as to keep the team in order and motivated CITATION Joh08 l 1033 (Kotter, 2008).
Creating and materializing short-term goals is different from hoping that short-term goals will be achieved. To do this actively the following has to be done
1. Managers look for ways to actively obtain performance improvement
Rewards. On achieving, a particular goal employees should be rewarded. This should also not be done in excess so as to make people work because they want to achieve a goal and not to just receive a reward.
2. Recognize that goals and visions set out take a while to achieve
This should however not complacency, and laxity encourages. It should be instituted so as to tell people that no matter how long a vision is taking to materialize people should continue to work on it. According to Kotter, some goals may take up to 10 years to bear any fruit.
There exist some advantages to short-term goals, they include
1. Encourages critical thinking. This is because people try to come up with the most effective and efficient ways to solve and achieve a particular short term goal.
2. Motivates employees once the said goal has been achieved.
This keeps people interested in achieving the long run goals.
3. Helps in budgeting. The resources required for the achievement of the long-term goal can be accumulated as the short term goals are achieved.
4. Clarification and even improvement of transformational visions. Some circumstances and situations occur there may be seen the need to change or improve on the goals of the organization.
Short term goals are an important part of goal achievement. It is stated in the textbook that these goals help the achievement of the long-term goal that is the vision of the company.
Error 7: Declaring victories too soon
Annually billions of great ideas are flushed down the drain due to celebrating the small wins too early and forgetting that there are long run achievements that still need to be met. Companies should not hang their boots and say that the work is done just because some part of their goal has been met. It is a common mistake made by many corporations in today’s industries.
Firing the myriad of consulting firms that a company takes up to achieve their goals is usually a wrong move for many if not all companies. According to a survey two out of ten companies do not have traces of the changes that they embarked on because they hung their boots up too early and celebrated their success.
In agreement with Kotter that all transformational projects take about 10 years to bear any real fruits thus, they should always be given time before they are either rejected or their achievement celebrated CITATION Rob00 l 1033 (Cross, 2000).
Error 8: Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the corporate structure
For a transformational change to be effective, then it has to be rooted deep in the business culture. It should be accepted as a way of doing things without any coercion or force of any kind being enforced. Managers are thus tasked with the obligation to show their staff the right attitudes and behaviors. These should be done in words and actions so that they can be taken up positively.
Executive officers should also show the staff how to attach the vision to the vision and not to the person leading the organization towards the vision. If this occurs it is risky for a change since when there is a change in management, then the change goes to down the drain. This also brings in the concept that succession decisions should always include management and the new people should be able to support the visions. A lot of resources and time is required, and thus patience from every individual in the organization is paramount.
Ivancevich also agreed with Kotter’s line of thought that most changes are never felt because they are not ingrained into the organization’s core.
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Burke, R. J. (2005). Reinventing Human Resource Management (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge Books.
Cross, R. (2000). Assessing the Jump to Teams in Knowledge-Based Work. New York: Business Horizons.
Gibson, J. L., Ivancevich, J. M., Donnelly, J. H., & Konopake, R. (2009). Organizations: Behaviour, Structure , Process. Chicago: MC Graw Hill Companies.
Kotter, J. P. (2008). Leading Change. New York: Havard Press.
Kwadzo, A. C. (2008). Influence an Important Tool for Effective Leadership. Life Psychology, 8.
Olson, B. J., & Parayitam, S. (2007). Strategic Decision Making. Journal of Management , 33.