How to Implement Change with Kotter's 8-Step Change Model

Kotter’s Model for inflicting fast but steady changes with small and concrete steps

Introduction
Change management has become a crucial exercise in the economies of the 21st century where
business models are changing rapidly and companies are seeking diverse job profiles from their
existing set of employees. Most of the companies are refraining from adopting a “hire and fire”
approach because it can cause a serious shortage in the tacit knowledge pool of the organization.
In a condition like this “ Kotter’s model” can become a handy option, barring some conditions
that can bring a halt to the process of the change. The current assignment is an attempt to judge
its worthiness and practical implications in the present-day business environment (Jokonya,
2018).
Small and concrete steps for fast and speedy changes
While looking at the details of Kotter’s model from a practical viewpoint, certain pointers can be
refuted very easily. Kotter’s model advocate about the “creation of urgency in the process, it
further states that if an HR machinery fails to establish the first step as the foundation for the
success then it should be considered as a frozen process. Kotter’s model advocates that the sense
of urgency should be strong enough to resist the probable retaliation from the side of employees
and leaders. On a hypothetical level, we can challenge this notion out rightly, the sense of
urgency should not be faked, because we are retaining employees and leaders because of their
utility in the tacit knowledge pool. It is very important to define the sense of urgency at a much
more realistic level, on a hypothetical level, an HRM machinery can adopt the policy of
developing existing “leaders and employees” as the “agents of the change” rather than the
“objects that need to be changed.” Implementation of these lines will support Kotter’s theory that
says “creation of a sense of urgency is the precursor of strong groundwork to sustain the process