Change Management Tools: Kotter's 8 Step Model, ADKAR Model, Skill Gap Analysis

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Change Management
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. Discussion..............................................................................................................................3
2.1. Kotter’s 8 step change model..........................................................................................3
2.2. ADKAR model................................................................................................................6
2.3. Skill Gap analysis............................................................................................................7
2.4. RACI matrix....................................................................................................................7
3. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7

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1. Introduction
In order to sustain and survive in the contemporary marketplace, businesses need to
continuously examine its processes, strategy, systems and performance for understanding and
identifying the changes that need to be made for ensuring success. Change is something that
is always constant in the workplace, particularly in the age of digital transformation and
globalisation (Beck, 2016). However, it is never an easy process. In the context of businesses,
it affects a huge range of aspects. There are several researchers and scholars who have
offered some change management tools for helping in a smooth flow of transition. This report
shall elaborate on the topic of change management tools. It will be highlighting and analysing
the current tools on change management including the Kotter’s 8 step change model, the
ADKAR analysis and the Skill Gap analysis. They provide some really helpful frameworks
for the companies that are embarking on the transformation efforts. With the same, it would
also compare, contrast and analyse the sustainability of the different types of models for
different scenarios.
2. Discussion
According to McCoskey, Mouser and Pierson (2017), change management refers to
the process, techniques and tools of managing the people-side of change for achieving the
required business result. It incorporates several organisational tools which could be used for
helping the individuals in making some successful personal transitions that result in the
realisation and the adoption of change. There are several tools of change management. Some
of the mostly used tools are described below:
2.1. Kotter’s 8 step change model
The Kotter’s 8 step change model is a model developed by John Kotter. According to
him, the major change efforts unfortunately do not always have the desired outcomes. There

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is only 3% chance of success in the organisational change. Therefore, companies around the
world implement changes in unsuccessful manner and fail to attain the desired outcome
(Creasey et al., 2016). Therefore, he has developed the 8 step change model for improving
the ability of the organisation to change as well as to increase the chances of success.
Figure 1: Kotter’s 8 step change model
Step 1: Creating a sense of urgency- As per Small et al. (2016), it is the most important of all
the steps. It suggests making the employees in the organisations making aware about the
urgency and the need for the change. This will create a support for the change. With the
same, it is also to note that this step requires some honest, open and some convincing
dialogues in order to convince the employees why it is necessary to take the action. This
could be accomplished by sharing with them the potential threats and discussing about the
possible solutions to them.
Step 2: Creating a guiding coalition- In this step, an idea of establishing a project team which
could occupy itself with the changes that the organisations want to implement. The team will
manage all the efforts and would encourage cooperation among the team and the employees,
taking a constructive approach (Wentworth, Behson and Kelley, 2018). This coalition should
be made up from the employees who are working in different job settings and positions in