However, Huczynski and Buchanan (2003) state that refreezing no longer seems to be an option given constant transformation which is now the norm. Permanent thaw is perhaps a more appropriate metaphor. Many organizations now face a 'high velocity' environment. They continue to say that turbulent and rapidly changing external conditions are translated into a complex, multi-faceted, fluid and interlinked streams of initiatives affecting work and organization design, resource allocation, and system procedures in continuous attempts to improve performance. The environment for most organizations is likely to remain volatile, or become even more turbulent. Current trends do not lead to predictions of continuity and stability in the near future (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2003).
Bullock and Batten (2007) summarize their model in 4 broad stages. The Exploration Phase which involves awareness of need for change and searching for solutions, planning phase which involve understanding the problem, collecting information, setting change goals, designing action plans, action phase involving arrangements for managing change, feedback processes and Integration phase involving consolidating and stabilizing change, reinforcing new behaviors. This model was an expansion of Lewin 3- step model and did not factor the volatility and dynamism of organizations environment.
Kotter (2004) came up with the eight-stage change process whose initial step is establishing a sense of urgency crucial in gaining needed cooperation. This is because when urgency low, it's difficult to put together a group with enough power and credibility to guide the effort or to convince key individuals to spend the time necessary to create and communicate a change vision.
The second step is creating the guiding coalition since a strong guiding coalition is always needed. The coalition must have the right composition, level of trust and shared objective. Building such a team is always an essential part of the early stages of any effort to restructure, reengineer, or retool a set of strategies. Four key characteristics seem to be essential to effective guiding coalitions these are position power, expertise, credibility and leadership.
The third step is developing a vision and strategy. Vision refers to a picture of the future with some implicit or explicit commentary on why people should strive to create that future. In a change process, a good vision serves in clarifying the general direction for change, it motivates people to take action in the right direction and it helps coordinate the actions of different people. A strategy provides both logic and a first level of detail to show how a vision can be accomplished (Kotter, 2004).
The fourth step is communicating the change vision since the real power of a vision is unleashed only when most of those involved in an enterprise or activity have a common understanding of its goals and direction. That shared sense of a desirable future can help motivate and co-ordinate the kind of actions that create transformations.
The fifth step is empowering broad-based action to empower a broad base of people to take action by removing as many barriers to the implementation of the change vision as possible at this point in the process. The biggest obstacles that often need to be attacked are structures, skills, systems and supervisors.
Generating short terms wins is the sixth step, this is necessary as major change usually take a lot of time. There is need to have convincing evidence that all the effort is paying off especially to non-believers who require even higher standards of proof. They want to see clear data indicating that the changes are working and that the change process isn't absorbing so many resources in the short term as to endanger the organization. Running a transformation effort without serious attention to short-term wins is extremely risky.
Seventh step is consolidating gains and producing more change since the first major performance improvement will probably come well before the halfway point, the guiding coalition should use the credibility afforded by the short term win to push forward faster, tackling even more or bigger projects.
The final step is anchoring new approaches in the culture since according to Kotter, culture changes only after successfully altering people's actions.
2.2.8 Challenges of Managing Change
Change is one of the difficult challenges that organizations face these days. Robbins (2003) defines change as making things different. Change is everywhere, it is unavoidable and it needs successful handling to make organizations navigate successfully though it (Davidson, 2002). Raftery (2009) stated that undergoing a new change is the most difficult matter and it is questionable of success and it always has enemies whom are beneficiaries from the old system. Garber (2013) mentioned that change is inevitable in the workplace, so the role of the manager is to embrace the change by making the transition process easier. Davidson (2002) explained that change refers to an important difference in what was before, it can include doing work in new ways, using new tools or systems, using new reporting structures, new roles in the job, producing new products or introducing new services, following new managerial procedures, merging, reorganizing or other unrest and change in job location or markets. Therefore, managing change is taking a proactive approach about how the change is treated within an organization. It involves adapting to the change and monitoring the need for change within an organization; starting that change and then controlling it (Hiatt and Creasey, 2012).
