Organizational Change Models

As the new Manager of the Human Resources department of the Tech Division here at Custom Food and Feed Corporation (CF&F) and after discussing many subjects with various other members of my team we ended up discussing change management and how they impact the diagnostic process. The process of renewal and eternal development that helps us to prepare for change, expect change, and learn to adapt change is called evolution and is needed to continue success within our company (CTU, 2008). There are three models that we can utilize and I will discuss each one within this paper, they are: McKinsey 7-S Model, Lewin's Change Management Model, and the 5 P's Model of Pryor, White and Toombs.

Lewin formulated his idea in the 1950's, and this takes place in three steps: unfreeze, transition, refreeze (Mind Tools Ltd., 2008). People have a tendency to seek a place that they have a sense of control over as well as the feeling of being safe. They also attach their senses to the environment that they are in. Any derivations from this will cause discomfort – we, as individual find a comfort zone and cling to it. A basic tendency of people is to seek a context in which they have relative safety and a sense of control. In establishing themselves, they attach their sense of identity to their environment. This creates a comfortable stasis from which any alternatives, even those which may offer significant benefit, will cause discomfort.

Talking about the future thus is seldom enough to move them from this 'frozen' state and significant effort may be required to 'unfreeze' them and get them moving. This usually requires Push methods to get them moving, after which Pull methods can be used to keep them going. The term 'change ready' is often used to describe people who are unfrozen and ready to take the next step. Some people come ready for change while others take a long time to let go of their comfortable current realities. A key part of Lewin's model is the notion that change, even at the psychological level, is a journey rather than a simple step. This journey may not be that simple and the person may need to go through several stages of misunderstanding before they get to the other side. A classic trap in change is for the leaders to spend months on their own personal journeys and then expect everyone else to cross the chasm in a single bound. Transitioning thus requires time. Leadership is often important and when whole organizations change, the one-eyed person may be king. Some form of coaching, counseling or other psychological support will often be very helpful also. Although transition may be hard for the individual, often the hardest part is to start. Even when a person is unfrozen and ready for change, that first step can be very scary. Transition can also be a pleasant trap and, as Robert Louis Stephenson said, 'It is better to travel hopefully than arrive.' People become comfortable in temporary situations where they are not accountable for the hazards of normal work and where talking about change may be substituted for real action. At the other end of the journey, the final goal is to 'refreeze', putting down roots again and establishing the new place of stability. In practice, refreezing may be a slow process as transitions seldom stop cleanly, but go more in fits and starts with a long tail of bits and pieces. There are good and bad things about this. In modern organizations, this stage is often rather tentative as the next change may well be around the next corner. What is often encouraged, then, is more of a state of 'slushiness' where freezing is never really achieved (theoretically making the next unfreezing easier). The danger with this that many organizations have found is that people fall into a state of change shock, where they work at a low level of efficiency and effectiveness as they await the next change. 'It's not worth it' is a common phrase when asked to improve what they do.

The McKinsey 7S was named after a consulting company, McKinsey and Company, which has conducted applied research in business and industry (Pascale & Athos, 1981; Peters & Waterman, 1982). All of the authors worked as consultants at McKinsey and Company; in the 1980s, they used the model to analyze over 70 large organizations. The McKinsey 7S Framework was created as a recognizable and easily remembered model in business. The seven variables, which the author’s term "levers", all begin with the letter "S": These seven variables include structure, strategy, systems, skills, style, staff and shared values. Structure is defined as the skeleton of the organization or the organizational chart. The authors describe strategy as the plan or course of action in allocating resources to achieve identified goals over time. The systems are the routine processes