Organizational Planning Design

NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL VOLUME 27, NUMBER 4, 2010

Forces for and Resistance to Organizational Change

Fred C. Lunenburg Sam Houston State University ________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Organizational change is the movement of an organization away from its present state and toward some desired future state to increase its effectiveness. The education environment is constantly changing, and the school organization must adapt to these forces in order to remain relevant and effective. In this article, I examine the forces for and resistance to organizational change. Lewin’s force-field theory of change serves as a useful model in understanding the change process. ________________________________________________________________________

The role of the school leader is both intense and diverse. Paradoxically, the only constant in the school leader’s ever increasing responsibilities is that of change – change in the physical environment, change in the curriculum, change in faculty and staff, change in the student body, unexpected change, and most importantly change that can bring about vast improvements in a school district, community college, or university. The school leader must be the primary catalyst in order for the change to be both positive and lasting (Fullan, 2010; Hargreaves, 2011; Marzano & Waters, 2010). Organizational change is the movement of an organization away from its present state and toward some desired future state to increase its effectiveness. Why does an organization need to change the way it performs its activities? The education environment is constantly changing, and the school organization must adapt to these forces in order to remain relevant and effective (Blankstein, 2010; Creemers, 2011; Smylie, 2010). Figure 1 lists the most important forces for and resistance to change that confront school organizations and its leaders.

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