Organizational Change Management: Importance of Leadership and Change Intervention

This report discusses the importance of leadership in organizational change management and the creativity of a leader while making changes into the organization. Change interventions taken by leaders are also analyzed by determining an effective plan for change management.

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Organizational Change Management
August 3
2019
Student’s Details

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Executive Summary
Organization change management is crucial for the business as it helps in managing the change
which has brought up through new processes, organizational structure and other cultural changes.
Therefore, it involves the activities relating to management of change and avoiding the resistance
to change. In this, leadership has a significant role as the activities of change management
process requires special skills and expertise which are possessed by a leader. Change can take
place in many ways and the same can benefit the organization to stay ahead of the competitors
by utilizing the new technologies and new ideas of doing things. However, managing change is
essential part of the change activities that enables the organization to communicate the changes
to the employees and minimize the resistance to change. This ultimately helps in gaining the trust
of the employees on the top-level management and also creates the adaptability of the changes
which creates an innovative workplace.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Leadership for Change.....................................................................................................................3
Change Factor lead by Leadership..................................................................................................4
Trust.............................................................................................................................................4
Organizational Culture.................................................................................................................4
Learning.......................................................................................................................................4
Teamwork, communicating and Leading.....................................................................................5
Decision making..........................................................................................................................5
Role Model...................................................................................................................................5
Accountable and Transparent Leader..........................................................................................5
Change Intervention by Leaders......................................................................................................5
Lewin’s Change Management Model..........................................................................................6
Unfreeze...................................................................................................................................6
Change......................................................................................................................................6
Freeze.......................................................................................................................................6
Recommended Plan.........................................................................................................................6
John Kotter’s Change Model.......................................................................................................7
Create Urgency.........................................................................................................................7
Form a Powerful Coalition.......................................................................................................7
Create a Vision for Change......................................................................................................7
Communicate the Vision..........................................................................................................7
Remove Obstacles....................................................................................................................8
Create Short-Term Wins..........................................................................................................8
Build on the change..................................................................................................................8
Anchor the changes in corporate culture..................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Organizational change development is concerned with making significant improvement in the
organizational design, policy structure and decision-making process in order to attain the goals
and objectives of the organization. Change occurs when an organization decides to change the
nature of the operations of a department or brings new innovations and technologies. It also
occurs when the organization makes acquisitions with the other firms (Cameron & Green, 2015).
The topic for this report is leadership for change. As leaders play a vital role in incorporating
change into the organization, they are highly responsible for the changes made. Leadership for
change refers to the ability of the leader to influence and motivate the employees through their
behavior and actions in order to make the employees to accept the change. The concept of
leadership is helpful in managing the conflicts arising due to the resistance to change
(Hechanova & Cementina-Olpoc, 2013). However, the report discusses the importance of
leadership in change management and the creativity of a leader while making changes into the
organization. Further, change interventions taken by leaders are also analyzed by determining an
effective plan for change management.
Leadership for Change
Leadership for change is the process of establishing and managing the change into the
organization through the leadership skills. Whenever, change is incorporated into the
organization, it has many problems for the managers and employees as well (Gilley, et al., 2009).
To cope up with the changes, leadership plays a vital role. Effective leadership makes the change
management easier and successful. However, there are 3 C’s of change leadership that are
necessary for change execution. These are the main determinants of successful leader for change
management which are discussed as below:
 Communication is the key for successful change. Successful leaders communicate the
purpose and benefits of change in order to avoid the resistance to change.
 Collaborate is the second C in change leadership through which leaders focus on
collaborating and involving the employees into the decisions which increases the
commitments of employees (Beerel, 2009).

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 Commit is one of the 3 C’s of change leadership that ensures that the leaders are
committed towards the changes and the successful leaders are patient and positive in the
case of lack of results.
Change Factor lead by Leadership
Leadership is the act of influencing the behavior and attitudes of the group of employees in order
to bring the effective changes into the organization. Without effective leadership, no changes can
be implemented successfully (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015). The following are the factors that are
important for effective leadership and are considered by leaders in implementing changes into
the organization:
Trust
Trust is a necessary issue of leadership as it helps in implementing the necessary changes and
improvements through motivating and guiding the employees on the changes. When employees
are being trusted by leaders then they follow the instructions of the leader and feel that the leader
is taking the organization in the correct path (Sharkie, 2009). This ultimately persuades the
employees to accept the changes.
Organizational Culture
Sound organizational culture into the organization motivates the employees to accept the changes
brought up by effective leaders. When there is a good relationship between the employees and
the leaders, then it helps in persuading the behavior of employees which not only increases their
performance but also helps in the process of change (Schein, 2010).
Learning
When the change is initiated by the leader, then it is the duty of the leader to make aware of the
changes that can only be done through proper training or learning. In change management,
leadership has its significance. When change is made in terms of technology, then the leaders
have to increase knowledge and skills of the employees through providing them learning
opportunities (Puccio, et al., 2010).

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Teamwork, communicating and Leading
Leadership not only means encouraging and motivating employees but also maintaining an
effective communication with the employees for the teamwork and directing towards the goals.
Leaders communicate with the employees in order to develop a sense of belongingness which
increases the possibility of change acceptance (Liotas, 2014).
Decision making
In the change management, leaders have to take important decisions regarding the budgets,
resources and the equipment. Thus, a leader’s decisions are in the support of the initiatives of
change where there is possibility of lesser resistance from the employees (Shapiro & Stefkovich,
2016). However, a leader is focused on making the decisions that lead to effective
implementation of change.
Role Model
If the leaders have self-awareness and are patient, then they are more likely to persuade the
employees to make them believe that the change is really going to happen and will benefit the
employees in many ways. Therefore, the employees are easily influenced by the behavior and
actions of the leaders which can help in change management.
Accountable and Transparent Leader
If the leader is transparent in taking the decisions and takes the accountability of the risk
associated with implementing the change, then it persuades the employees to involve into the
decisions relating to the change to be made in the organization (O'Neill, 2012). Employees take
interest in the change initiatives as they feel more involved.
Change Intervention by Leaders
A change intervention is considered as structured activity that is undertaken by leaders to make
improvements into the organization. One of the most important activities of the leader is to act as
change agent who undertakes the change by making a plan, sets the targets and goals and takes
suitable initiatives to process and guide the change process. However, by considering the concept
of change leadership, it is not wrong to say that the leader initiates the change process. The

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leader can take the intervention of change management by using Lewin’s change management
model which is described as below:
Lewin’s Change Management Model
A leader can use this model for implementing changes into the organization that can have impact
on the operations of the organization. A leader can undertake following stages under this model:
Unfreeze
In this stage, the leader analyzes the areas where there is necessity of change. The leader takes
crucial steps to examine the current state of the organization and creates a need for change where
the leader communicates the proper message that describes the reason and terms of change
(Cummings, et al., 2016). The leaders discuss the feedback given by employees and solve their
doubts and concerns regarding the new changes.
Change
This stage is often referred to as move stage. In this, the leader puts the change process into
action. The leader implements the change and makes sure the employees accept the new ways of
doing various things. The leader ensures that the change can be implemented within a short time
period, so that it could be accepted by employees more easily and early. In this, the
communication and leadership skills of the leader play a vital role in skill development and
gaining experience (Shirey, 2013).
Freeze
In this stage, the leader ensures the change is properly enforced and sustained. Under this stage,
employees accept the changes and internalize new ways of doing things. Further, the leader
awards the employees to accept the changes and motivating them through various recognitions
for accepting the policies and structure of the organization.
Recommended Plan
For change management, plans are made by the leaders in order to assure that the prospective
change should not fail. There is recommended plan by the leader which can be effective for the
livelihood of the success of the organization. A leader can undertake change management plan
using the eight steps of Kotter’s change model which is explained as below:

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John Kotter’s Change Model
John Kotter is a renowned change expert who introduced the eight steps of change model. It is
argued that any avoidance in this model can affect the entire change management plan and may
also lead to failure in the entire initiative (Smith, 2011). The eight steps that a leader can adopt
are as follows:
Create Urgency
For initiating change, it is important for the leader to create urgency for change which can be
assessed through determining the need for change. In this, the leader will show the statistics to
the employees to make the employees aware about the extent of changes required by the
organizations and making them aware about the competition so that they are convinced to accept
the changes.
Form a Powerful Coalition
This step helps a leader to exercise their leadership skills as they have to convince the employees
regarding the necessity of change. For this, the leader will make influential team or coalition to
have power which can be determined through title, position status or political importance.
Further, the leader works on team building and check on the weak areas and also ensures that the
team is consisting of skilled people from different departments.
Create a Vision for Change
The next step a leader can take is creating a vision for change so that people can remember and
grasp the change easily. Moreover, a clear vision makes understand the people what changes and
what activities are required to do. Further, a leader makes s strategy for the execution of the
vision.
Communicate the Vision
After the determination of the vision, it is important for the leader to communicate the vision
which will add to the success of the change implementation. This communication is not always
undertaken by arranging formal meetings but the leader can also undertake this by
communicating the same on daily basis. A leader plays a vital role in communicating the vision
as the leader will address the concerns of the employees (Stragalas, 2010).

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Remove Obstacles
After building and communicating the vision, the next step that a leader takes is removal of the
barriers arising in the communication of change. Thus, the removal of the obstacles in the change
can help in the effective communication of vision and also helps in change to move forward.
Create Short-Term Wins
One of the best strategies for successful change implementation is to create short term targets
which help in the creation of short term wins. Here, the leader thoroughly analyzes the pros and
cons of the targets and also gives rewards to the people who meet the short term target.
Build on the change
After the creation of short term wins, it is essential for the leader to analyze the wins created and
should oversee what went right and in what part improvement is needed. A leader also makes
attainable goals to set the momentum of building on the change. However, it is argued that short
wins should not be celebrated as they have the ability to fail in the future.
Anchor the changes in corporate culture
Corporate culture involves the values that are shown in day to day work. Therefore, a leader
anchors the change and tells the stories of change to influence the people through discussing the
change ideals which help in the creation of corporate culture (Appelbaum, et al., 2012).
Conclusion
Change management is crucial for every business as it helps in proper implementation of change
and also helps in overcoming the conditions of resistance to change. It also includes
improvement in the policy structure and operations of business and managing the change through
proper implementation. In the organization change management, there is a significant role of
leadership as the changes are initiated by skilled leaders. An organization needs qualified leaders
for establishing change and undertaking the entire process of change. These leaders are
responsible for the successful execution of change. However, the report analyzes the importance
of leadership in the change management and also the various factors of leadership which are
required for effective implementation of change which are greatly required by a leader. Along
with this, change intervention taken by the leaders is also analyzed by using Lewin’s change

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management model. Further, a recommended plan is also discussed through John Kotter’s model
which helped in successful execution of the change and which also helps in avoiding the risk
associated with it.

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