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Managing Change in Organisations

Module: Module 3 — Strategy & Senior LeadershipCode: MCO (RNI)Faculty: Prof. Ranjeet NambudiriSessions: 3Status: ✅ Drafted

Big idea​

Change in organisations is the deliberate shift from one state to another — strategic, structural, technological, or cultural — and is hard because human beings reliably over-value the loss of the familiar and under-value the gain of the unfamiliar. Three classical models structure the work. Lewin's three-stage model (1947) — Unfreeze the present, Change to the new, Refreeze into the new normal — is the foundational frame. Kotter's 8 Steps (1996; refreshed 2014) is the operational playbook: create urgency → build a guiding coalition → form a strategic vision → enlist a volunteer army → enable action by removing barriers → generate short-term wins → sustain acceleration → institute change. ADKAR (Prosci) is the individual-level companion: Awareness → Desire → Knowledge → Ability → Reinforcement. Resistance is normal; the leader's job is to expect it, listen to it, address the rational core, and persist.

Key concepts​

  • Why change is hard — the loss-aversion baseline. Kahneman: losses loom roughly twice as large as equivalent gains. The familiar present feels more valuable than the uncertain future. Status, power, and identity attach to the current state.
  • Lewin's three-stage model. Unfreeze (create dissatisfaction with the status quo; surface the burning platform), Change (move to the new state — process, structure, behaviour), Refreeze (embed in policy, metrics, incentives, culture so it sticks).
  • Kotter's 8-step model. 1) Create a sense of urgency, 2) Build a guiding coalition, 3) Form a strategic vision, 4) Enlist a volunteer army, 5) Enable action by removing barriers, 6) Generate short-term wins, 7) Sustain acceleration, 8) Institute change. Do not skip the early steps, especially urgency and coalition.
  • ADKAR (Prosci) — individual change. Awareness of the need, Desire to participate, Knowledge of how, Ability to perform new behaviours, Reinforcement to sustain. Diagnose where each individual is stuck.
  • Sources of resistance. Self-interest (loss of power, status, role), Misunderstanding (about what change means for me), Different assessment (genuine disagreement with the strategy), Low tolerance for change (fatigue, anxiety). Each source needs a different intervention.
  • Short-term wins matter. Visible, unambiguous wins within 6–12 months provide proof, recruit fence-sitters, demoralise resisters. Absence of early wins is the most reliable predictor of change-program failure.

Self-check​

A CEO announces a major restructuring in an all-hands, brings in McKinsey for a 90-day design, and hands the org chart to leaders to execute. Eighteen months later, the new structure is on paper but behaviour, decisions, and meetings look exactly like the old org. Through Kotter + Lewin, what was skipped?

  • A. Need more communication
  • B. The Unfreeze (Lewin) / Urgency + Coalition + Vision + Volunteer Army (Kotter steps 1–4) work was largely skipped. The CEO went straight to step 5 (enable action) without building shared dissatisfaction with the old state or a volunteer army that owned the new state. The org-chart change happened on paper; the Refreeze in policies, metrics, incentives, and lived behaviour never followed because no one personally chose the new state
  • C. McKinsey designed it wrong
  • D. Need more training
Lewin's three-stage change model
Unfreeze (create dissatisfaction with status quo; surface the burning platform) → Change (move to the new state) → Refreeze (embed in policy, metrics, incentives, culture so it sticks). Skip Unfreeze and the change is paper; skip Refreeze and it reverts.

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Continue learning​

🧰Kotter Inc · ToolKotter's 8 Steps for Leading ChangeThe official Kotter Inc library on the eight steps, with the 2014 refresh and worked-case applications across sectors.📄HBR · ReadLeading Change: Why Transformation Efforts FailKotter's original 1995 HBR essay (republished 2007) — the eight common failure patterns that became the eight steps. The most-read HBR change piece.🧰Prosci · ToolADKAR Model (Prosci)The official Prosci library on the ADKAR individual-change model — with the assessment, application templates, and operating guidance.📖Heath Brothers · BookSwitch — Direct the Rider, Motivate the Elephant, Shape the PathThe Heath Brothers' accessible behavioural-change companion to Kotter/Lewin — with the Rider/Elephant/Path metaphor and dozens of worked cases.
🪞 Apply it — reflection prompts
  1. Take your firm's largest current change initiative. Score it honestly on Kotter's 8 steps — where is the weakest step, and what's the next concrete action to strengthen it?
  2. For the same initiative, run ADKAR on the three most-affected individual roles. Where is each role stuck — Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, or Reinforcement?
  3. What is your firm's most reliable Refreeze mechanism (incentives, promotions, metrics, hiring)? Is it aligned with the change — or quietly pulling people back to the old behaviour?

📝 Going deeper. John Kotter, Leading Change (1996; updated 2012) is the canonical reference. Chip & Dan Heath, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (2010) is the most accessible behavioural treatment (Rider/Elephant/Path). For the resistance-from-loss-aversion lens, Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), chapters 26–28.