Change

Introduction

Change is a continuous process that affects organizations every day. How leaders and managers perceive and implement change plays a pivotal part in the success or failure of the organisation through time. There exist three main approaches to change: planned, directed and guided. Each approach has their respective models that represent them. This brief essay will describe, analyse, compare, and contrast Lewin’s 3-step model, the contingency model and the open systems model. The last model will be critically assessed in order to determine its applicability to modern business organizations.

3 Approaches to Change

Directed Change

Directed change relies on authoritative direction from the top of the company, either the CEO or senior management, and focuses strongly on how people cope with change emotionally (Kerber & Buono 2005). Directed change is often quick and decisive in its introduction. The management of the company effect the change by citing business necessity, through emotional appeals. A risk in this approach is that there can be high resistance from members of the organization (Kerber & Buono, 2005). The directed change approach is reflected in the contingency model.

Planned Change

The planned change approach stems from a desire to constantly improve the effectiveness of an organization. This concept tries to create more participative conditions whereby more people are involved in the change process. This may mitigate the usual resistance to directed change by providing a roadmap outlining the project. Planned change is often rational but in reality can be very chaotic. This chaos can result in decreased productivity and stakeholders feeling overwhelmed. Even with more participation than in directed change, there is a lack of real influence on the outcome of the change process (Kerber & Buono, 2005).

Guided change

The third approach to change is guided change. This approach perceives change as the result of the dynamic external...