MOL 628E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY, ASMT 7.4
MOL 628E Course Analysis Summary
Russell Battaglia (10007123)
MOL 628E Leading Change and Transformation
William Weeks
18 March 2016
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MOL 628E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY, ASMT 7.4
Active inertia “is an organization’s tendency to follow established patterns of behavior –
even in response to dramatic environmental shifts” (Sull, 1999). In other words, a company’s
tendency to operate in a particular manner creates a tendency to continue in that same manner.
In order to avoid the pitfalls that can occur while change is happening organizations must make
sure that they are considering the correct issues being faced by the organization. Many
organizations have attacked the wrong issues, thus wasting time, valuable resources and even
reputation within their industries.
“Leading Change Why Transformation Efforts Fail” by John P. Kotter, states that most
major change initiatives fail and many fail miserably. There are several reasons for failure and
the most common is managers do not realize that transformation is a process and not an event.
The transformation process contains eight steps and each is critical to the success of the process
and must be accomplished in order for each stage to be successful.
The first stage is to establish a sense of urgency.
The second stage is to form a powerful group of committed leaders to push the change.
The third stage is to have the team create a vision of the change.
The fourth stage is communication.
The fifth stage is to empower others to act on the vision and remove any obstacles that
are in the way.
The sixth stage planning for and creating short-term wins.
The seventh stage is to consolidate improvements and produce more change.
The eight and final stage is to ensure the changes are institutionalized into the company
culture and demonstrated through corporate success.
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MOL 628E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY, ASMT 7.4
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The dynamic of failure is said to have strategic frames that lead to blinders. A set of
assumptions that determine how managers view the business. The processes are the way things
are done and become the routines. A companies relationships are the ties to employees,
customers, suppliers, distributors and shareholders that become shackles. Values are the set of
shared beliefs that determine corporate culture and become dogmas. The combinations of these
things are ingredients for possible failure if let go unchecked.
Theory E purpose is the creation of increased shareholder value. Theory E is top-down
driven and usually will not include a management team, lower level employees or unions in
regards to the desired results of change. Theory E is planned and programmatic change directed
at strategies, structures and systems – the hardware of the company. Theory O purpose is to
develop the organization’s human capability to implement strategy and learn from experiences.
Theory O depends on employee participation at all levels and a commitment to change. The key
is have a complementary blend of both Theory E and Theory O with top-level direction that
involves all employee levels of planned and emergent chance.
Change focuses on two areas of the organization: structure and systems or culture. How
to proceed depends on the ability of the change team to recognize what change will have the
most impact on the organization and then allow follow-on changes to complement those changes.
The easiest to implement and preferred by top management is structure and systems. Caution
must be taken when the restructuring substitutes for interpersonal communications with
employees. Managers must be given the straight talk on what will make the organization healthy
and be open to the learning environment needed.
Change has two distinct views in relation to how change occurs. Planned change is about
moving from one stage to another in a structured manner with models that highlight each step of
MOL 628E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY, ASMT 7.4
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the process. Leaders know the organizations current state and develop a plan to get to their
desired state. Emergent change is continuous, fluid and emerging with time. Emergent change
is adaptive and a reaction to events preceding the change. Some changes require the structure of
moving from one stage to another while responsive and adaptive change happens all the time and
is constantly around us.
Another factor to consider when dealing with organizational change is the need for
compensation prior to, during or following successful change. Case studies show that a
motivating factor for developing change efforts can be lead by some sort of compensation. Pay
bonuses are used to show successful implementation of change. There is no set rule for
compensation and it should be taken case-by-case with variable methods of payment. Profit
sharing, stock options and cash bonuses are most commonly used and it is evident that change
without reward is sure to fail.
Consultant may play a vital role in change management. There are two methods to
engage in the use of consultants: large and knowledge driven or small and process driven. There
are different views as to which method is the best. As a general rule, large and knowledge driven
consultants take a long period of time to gain results and are costly. Large and knowledge driven
results are also very seldom implemented because of organizational capacity. Small and process
driven studies are aimed at obtaining measurable results even though they do not bring forth the
entire solution, they lead to further process analysis, redesign and change. This effort is my
preferred method.
Employees throughout the organization from top to bottom who make real choices and
take action define the status quo. There choices are influenced directly by aspirations, insight,
and incentives. Learning capacity influences aspirations, insight and incentive. Supported
MOL 628E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY, ASMT 7.4
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theories and intentions do not produce change. The code of change is not broken. For this to
happen a casual theory is needed and one was not produced. Organizations and leaders must
carefully map out and document each step in the change process and evaluate what works and
what does not. The capacity of leaders to manage change is a function of their ability to change
these factors and their relationship with each other. The capacity of leaders to detect and correct
errors and to seek new insights that will enable them to make better choices, choices that result in
the desired outcome. Further research is encouraged in breaking the code of change and review
of breaking the code of change 2 that will be hosted in Toronto.
MOL 628E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY, ASMT 7.4
References
Beer, Michael, Nohria, Nitin, (2000). Breaking the Code of Change. Boston Massachusetts:
Harvard Business School Press
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