Problems Discussed
John P. Kotter and Leonard A. Schlesinger argue that it is important for organizations and their employees to change their practices to ensure they meet the demands of modern lifestyles and continue to attract clients (Kotter and Schlesinger 3). However, most employers and employees are resistant to change and this makes their organizations unable to achieve their goals.
These authors argue that people maintain their status quos at the expense of the need to embrace changes that will benefit their organizations. They claim that organizations face serious challenges in terms of stiff competition and expensive technological advancement. Managers adopt one-size-fits-all approaches to manage changes in their organizations and this makes their plans to backfire (Kotter and Schlesinger 6).
In addition, they think that it is necessary to involve employees in designing initiatives to combat competition and address issues of technological advances without considering the relevance of their skills and experiences. Moreover, they never match the speed of their changes with the urgency to address issues that require immediate attention.
Kotter and Schlesinger claim that managers fail to diagnose resistance and this becomes a major cause of weaknesses in embracing changes that are aimed at improving the production and profits of an organization. The article claims that workers and investors fear loosing their interests when they adopt new strategies in their organizations.
This affects the pace and quality of services or products offered after the introduction of changes in their places of work. In addition, they misunderstand and do not trust the importance of changes in their organizations and this leads to resistance (Kotter and Schlesinger 6). Different levels of assessment and low tolerance for change are problems that hinder the effective execution of new strategies in an organization.
Hypotheses Formulated by the Authors
Kotter and Schlesinger believe that change is inevitable and organizations should prepare for it regardless of their sizes, current performance records and qualifications of employees. In addition, they present that managers embrace change without preparing adequate platforms to execute new ideas (Kotter and Schlesinger 3).
Therefore, workers are usually shocked when they discover their routines have changed without being informed about the impeding developments. Another hypothesis presented by these authors is that employees are never offered adequate information regarding changes in their organizations and this makes them to embrace new ideas with resistance.
These authors believe that there is the need for managers to evaluate the skills, interests and compatibility of employees with new strategies to avoid creating culture shock (Kotter and Schlesinger 7). In addition, the authors believe that weak managers cannot adopt novel practices because they do not understand the urgency of strategies to meet the changes that organizations should make to compete effectively.
The Need for Studying the Article
This article presents different issues that are important in ensuring that managers adopt effective strategies of executing change in their organizations. First, Kotter and Schlesinger highlight the need to understand that no organization can escape the realities of modern business activities. This means that change affects all organizations, regardless of their nature, location or sizes.
They emphasize the need for organizations to prepare to manage various issues that may affect their performance, but do not seem important in determining the effectiveness of their strategies (Kotter and Schlesinger 7). This article will help managers to realize that they play important roles in determining the success of their organizations, even when they face stiff competition and uncertain changes in technology.
Moreover, it presents various issues that make employees resistant to change; therefore, they manage them without creating conflicts in organizations.
The article identifies weaknesses perpetuated by managers when implementing new strategies and this helps them to avoid doing things that will not help them to achieve their objectives. For instance, it highlights the need for managers to understand the levels of academic qualifications, experiences, interest of employees in adopting novel practices before involving them in key decision making processes.
This article is worth studying in today’s setting because it informs readers about what happens when managers fail to respect their authorities and play their roles according to their job specifications (Kotter and Schlesinger 8). In Addition, it presents solutions that will ensure employees embrace and appreciate the need for changes in their organizations. This helps managers to know how to save time and other resources when implementing new strategies.
Appropriateness for an MBA Level
This article is appropriate for an MBA level because it has been written by scholars that have vast experience and knowledge regarding organizational changes. It is necessary to explain that they have served in different learning institutions and this means that they understand this issue. John P. Kotter is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership and Emeritus at Harvard Business School; moreover, he is the author of A Sense of Urgency that is due for release very soon.
This means that he has vast experience in issues about management, leadership and change in organizations. In addition, he has academic and work experience in these fields and this means that this paper is of high quality.
On the other hand, Leonard A. Schlesinger has taught in various higher institutions of learning and understands leadership, management and change in organizations. Currently, he is the President of Babson College in Massachusetts, where he supervises educators and learners in this institution that offers various business courses.
Methodology Employed in the Study
The article produced by Kotter and Schlesinger relied heavily on secondary data for its content. They did not conduct research on these issues, but relied on their previous knowledge to present different aspects that influence change in organizations. Their experience in teaching management, leadership and organizational change enabled them to understand various issues about these topics (Kotter and Schlesinger 5).
This explains why it was easy for them to combine their experiences, skills and knowledge to produce this article. In addition, they are connected to various other scholars like lecturers and professors of different learning institutions and this helped them to get assistance to complete this project. It is necessary to explain that this was not an easy task and it required the assistance of third parties to ensure the article was of high quality.
The need to involve other scholars was motivated by the realization that business operations are not static and this means that it is important to be conversant with the changes that occur in this sector. The use of secondary sources like their previous publications offered appropriate literature reviews to enable these scholars to develop hypotheses and use other research findings to prove whether they are correct or not.
This means that the knowledge generated from this article is as a result of the contributions of other scholars and researches conducted in the past. Therefore, it is accurate to argue that knowledge development is important in ensuring audiences understand various issues regarding a research topic. Primary sources were used when the researcher wanted to establish the relationship between the role of managers in executing new strategies and how employees embrace novel practices in their organizations (Kotter and Schlesinger 10).
However, the study had numerous limitations because of the nature of the subject covered. Leadership is a complex issue and some organizations do not necessarily rely on technology to offer their services. The research focused on the need to embrace new practices in management to ensure organizations do not face stiff competition, but the authors forgot that change affects all organizations in the world (Kotter and Schlesinger 6).
In addition, lack of a specific participant in the study makes the article ambiguous and fails to define its scope of analysis. It is necessary to explain that even though these researches have vast experience and knowledge in this field their research did not focus on an individual or group in an organization.
This makes it difficult for audiences to understand the focus of this research and how its findings can contribute to effective leadership and initiate successful change management styles (Kotter and Schlesinger 6). The study assumed that all organizations are similar and use same management styles. Therefore, this depicts all organizations as facing risks of poor performance and lack of employee motivation due to the introduction of new management strategies.
Summary and Conclusion
Kotter and Schlesinger are not the first ones to cover this topic; moreover, they have individual contributions to the development of theories that explain various issues in organizational change. Geoffrey P. Chamberlain developed a new approach of understanding leadership, change and management theories.
The Chamberlain’s Theory of Strategy emphasizes four important aspects that determine the effectiveness of new plans in transforming the performance of organizations (Chamberlain 34).
The first approach involves identifying the meaning and scope of strategies to ensure investors, managers and employees are not surprised by the introduction of novel practices in an organization. He focused on identifying the uniqueness, independence, direction, channel and elements of a strategic plan to ensure people do not confuse it with the policies and responsibilities of individuals in organizations.
In addition, he identified three forces as being responsible for shaping the change strategies of an organization and uses Michael Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation Theory and argues that executives, entrepreneurs, operators, administrators and pioneers are important players in shaping and determining the success of a change strategy employed by an organization (Chamberlain 44). These are key issues that cannot be separated from change in organizations.
Thirdly, he adds that the first and second factors outline the processes involved in the formation of different change management strategies. He believes that these aspects relate to each other through deliberate and emergent strategies at different stages of implementing change. Lastly, he claims that the publics of a change strategy can be influenced through rational and social approaches (Chamberlain 59).
The first case involves consideration of standard economic forces like competition, taxation, inflation and advertisement policies that affect the production activities of organizations. Social approaches combine psychological and economic forces like consumers’ tastes and preferences, culture, family sizes and age.
Chamberlain’s theory is applicable in limited cases and has not been tested by other researchers (Chamberlain 64). Therefore, it cannot be relied to offer accurate information to teachers and students or other audiences interested in understanding organizational strategies for change.
Conclusion of the Research Findings
Kotter and Schlesinger managed to provide accurate and current information about strategies for change in organizations. Their focus was on the need to manage resistance from managers and employees and thus they managed to offer adequate recommendations to alleviate this problem.
They proposed the need to educate employees on the importance of change and their role in implementing new strategies as effective ways of getting their attention and reducing their resistance to new ideas in their organizations (Kotter and Schlesinger 6). In addition, they observed that change is necessary in all organizations if they want to compete effectively with similar companies.
In addition, modernization necessitates the need for organizations to use modern technology that is cheap, efficient, reliable and faster than traditional practices. It is necessary to explain that these authors identified key issues that make employees to resist change and a major concern is the fear of blending their skills and experiences with new systems.
The fear of becoming jobless after the introduction of machines in organizations makes most managers to be reluctant to embrace change and continue to maintain their status quos. The article maintains that managers should support their employees in embracing change in their organizations by offering training, and allowing them to rest for hours or days after performing demanding tasks (Kotter and Schlesinger 8).
Emotional support is also important in ensuring employees understand the need for changes in their organizations and assuring them that the new ideas will improve their productivity and offer better working conditions for them.
Critique
The methodology used in this research project limited the scope of study of these researchers. The problem with most scholars is that they assume they know everything in their areas of specialization. Therefore, their researches are usually subjective and do not reflect the actual events on the ground. These authors have vast experience and knowledge regarding change management in organizations.
Therefore, there are possibilities that they were misled by previous research findings to believe that various issues in management and change have remained the same even after modern technology and westernization have penetrated into all regions in the world. The article is presented like a summary of a research done by these authors and it does not give the audience an insight into any organization that adopted the strategies outlined by Kotter and Schlesinger.
In addition, it focused on minor issues that seldom affect the performance of employees in organizations. The authors concentrated on managers as if they are in total control of executing change strategies in organizations. They ignored the roles played by micro and macro-economic factors in determining the success of change in organizations.
Moreover, they assumed that it is very easy to persuade employees to embrace change without considering their impacts on their performance. The article makes its audiences to ask the following questions. What is the role of other stakeholders (customers, government and investors) in ensuring that change strategies are successful? What happens when organizations fail to execute their planned strategies to change the performance of their organizations?
What financial implications should organizations consider before embracing change strategies? What factors affect the choice of change strategies that organizations should adopt? What are the impacts of choosing strategies for change on outsourced services like call centers and the human resource department? The researchers should have explored these issues because they are inseparable from organizational strategies adopted to bring change in the activities of a company.
Works Cited
Chamberlain, Geoffrey P. Understanding Strategy. Charleston: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2010. Print.
Kotter, John P. and Schlesinger, Leonard A. Choosing Strategies for Change. New York: Harvard Business Review, 2008. Print.