Coping With Change - Yes There Are Options

Change in the business world is unavoidable, and a competitive necessity for a business enterprise to survive. "There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things" (Machiavelli, 1532). Since the time of Machiavelli's quote, considerable scholarly effort has been invested studying approaches to change management, developing theories, and building models for change. From the dozens of theatrical models, let's look at just a few.

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

The central theme of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory posits five fundamental human needs progressively ranked hierarchically from the most basic need (psychological) to (self-actualization) (Whittington, 2005). Understanding this model of human needs and motivators is useful in considering the implementation of technological change and the impact on the human needs of safety, esteem, and self-actualization.

Kurt Lewin's Change Model

The essence of the organizational change model presented by Kurt Lewin suggests an approach where the organization is unfrozen from the current level, moved or changed to a new level, then refrozen at the newer level (Buchanan et. al., 2005). The Lewin model offers advantages in planning for organizational change by providing a simple approach to making and sustaining organizational change.

Michael Porter's Five Forces Model

The Five Forces Model (FFM) presented by Michael Porter describes a competitive marketplace characterized by contending forces (Porter, 1980). These forces are:

The threat of new entrants to the marketplace
The bargaining power of suppliers in the marketplace
The bargaining power of customers in the marketplace
The threat of substitute products or services
The industry itself as a whole

Leaders applying the concept of the FFM position an organization for the development of targeted strategic initiatives which holistically address the marketplace.

Victor Vroom's Contingency Model

Victor Vroom's Contingency Model presents a framework for describing leader behavior. Central to the model's concept is the expectation that leader behavior and style situationally vary, and that the leader can learn and adapt leader styles to meet the requirements of the situation. The Contingency Model was validated through primary research documented to illustrate the concept with real leader situations (Vroom, 1976). Leaders with a clear understanding of the concepts described through the Contingency Model are positioned to adapt to organizational change and provide direction and decision making.

Peter Senge's Learning Organization Model

Peter Senge's Learning Organization Model highlights the organization's ability to learn and adapt through approaches to leadership, management, and the distribution of authority (Senge 1993). Validity for this approach to leadership can be readily found in recently notable reorganizations in larger well-known companies where traditional forms of hierarchical organizations were transformed to flatter distributed organizations. The value and utility of this approach provides financial savings by eliminating unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, empowering decision-making at multiple distribution points throughout the organization and creating a distributed learning environment enabling greater organizational flexibility to competitive demands.

Just because your organization has weathered change in the past does not mean future change has to be equally as difficult. Change management is both an art and science paying dividends for the organization that employs serious change management practices.

For more on Mr. McCarty, please refer to http://www.leadershippinnacle.com

Mr. McCarty has a proven record of accomplishment in strategic leadership roles for fortune 500 companies. He is an award winning performer in the areas of large-scale operations leadership, strategic planning, senior project management, and significant contributions to the bottom line. Michael has successfully leveraged his leadership skills to provide keen insight, vision, direction, and executive support to financial services firms, information technology firms, and the automotive, credit, and insurance industries. He has been particularly effective in start-up and turnaround situations.

Insisting on integrity, self-reliance, resourcefulness, and ingenuity, Mr. McCarty is an action and solution oriented leader capable of making strong financial contributions to the bottom line. Operational leadership in the areas of process improvements, cost analysis, and innovative revenue generation characterize soundly this veteran executive's distinguished career.

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