Running head: CHANGE FACTOR ANALYSIS PAPER 1

Successful Organizational Change Factor Analysis

Shannon M. Johnson

City University of Seattle

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Abstract

This change factor analysis paper includes a discussion of the forces that work for successful

organizational change: establishing a sense of urgency, empowerment, and communicating the

change vision (Kotter, 1996). Then a discussion of the forces that work against successful change

in organizations. Specifically, the inability to overcome resistance to change, leadership issues,

and poor communication (Belias & Koustelios, 2014; Maheshwari & Vohra, 2015; Voica &

Vasile, 2013). Finally, it concludes with a summarization of both forces for successful and

unsuccessful organizational change elements.

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Successful Organizational Change Factor Analysis

The global nature of business today has forced organizations to adapt to continuous

organizational changes including technological advancements, mergers and acquisitions, new

business models, changing market conditions and economic changes (Al-Haddad, Kotnour,

2015; Maheshwari & Vohra, 2015; Rao, 2015; Suwaryo, Daryanto & Maulana, 2015; Tang &

Gao, 2012). The reasons for organizational change are as vast and varied as the factors that work

for and against the success of those changes.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze elements of successful organizational change and

factors that work both for and against change. First, this paper includes a discussion of the

forces that work for successful organizational change: establishing a sense of urgency,

empowerment, and communicating the change vision (Kotter, 1996). Then a discussion of the

forces that work against successful change in organizations. Specifically, the inability to

overcome resistance to change, leadership issues, and poor communication (Belias & Koustelios,

2014; Maheshwari & Vohra, 2015; Voica & Vasile, 2013). Finally, it will conclude with a

summarization of both forces for successful and unsuccessful organizational change elements.

Successful Organizational Change Elements

In an article that discussed the change management model by John Kotter and his 1996

book, Leading Change, Appelbaum, Habashy, Malo and Safig (2012) listed eight steps that

define the model as: a) establishing a sense of urgency; b) forming a guiding coalition; c)

creating a vision; d) communication of the vision; e) empowering others to act on the vision; f)

planning for and creating short-term wins; g) consolidating improvements to create more

changes; and h) institutionalizing new approaches. Appelbaum et al. (2012) stated that people

would not change if they are not able to see why they should change and leadership should tell
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people, in any way they can about why change is necessary, what is going to change, and how

the change will affect them. Further, the authors indicated that if leadership involves people in

the change initiative, they will begin to think more about the changes regarding how they can

help, instead of why they do not like the change. The following section will provide an analysis

on establishing a sense of urgency, empowerment, and communicating the change vision.

Establishing a Sense of Urgency

In an article that explores the use of the Kotter (1996) eight-step model in association

with change leadership, Farkas (2013) suggested that the initiation of the change process needs

to start off on the right note and that the establishment of a sense of urgency is the most

important first step toward change, for this is where employees will determine the worth of the

change effort. Pollack and Pollack (2015) suggested that an established sense of urgency is vital

in gaining employee cooperation during a change.

Calegari, Sibley, and Turner (2015) discussed the process of creating a sense of urgency

by having change agents focus on the reduction of complacency by providing rationales for the

needed change that include evidence of the need for change from credible, external sources. The

authors also pointed out how it is important that the external sources be both reliable and valid

for the employees. Kotter (1996) indicated that bold or risky actions that are associated with

good leadership help to create a strong sense of urgency during organizational change and that

aggressive cooperation by many employees is needed to make the change successful.

Empowerment

Verhulst & Boks (2014) pointed out four dimensions of empowering employees as a) a

belief a group can do well; b) a belief that a group performs important and valuable tasks; c) the

ability to have independence and discretion in performing work; and d) allowing employees to
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experience a sense of importance and significance for the work performed and the goals that are

achieved. The authors further described empowerment in change management as a method of

motivating employees as it is important to have the advocacy of a group of employees that have

the power and authority to launch a change. Additionally, the authors indicated that the

empowerment of employees could lower change resistance and cause employees to show support

towards the change process.

Appelbaum et al. (2012) mentioned that when leadership gets people involved in the

change effort, people will begin to think about how to achieve changes instead of how they do

not like them and what they can do to resist them. The authors also discussed how employees

are encouraged to try new approaches and ideas when the organization has successfully

communicated the change vision.

Communicating the Change Vision

Voica and Vasile (2013) stated that communication is the most important tool a leader

can use to achieve successful organizational change results. This statement was also made by

Appelbaum et al. (2012) when they stated that communication is a critical element in

organizational change. In an article about how communication can influence resistance to

change, Simoes and Esposito (2014) remarked how communication about change had been seen

as a way to inform, involve, and motivate employees to participate in change initiatives and how

it is important in reducing uncertainty and gaining employee commitment towards change.

Calegari et al. (2015) stated that when communicating the vision of change, it is

important to emphasize the importance of employee input and to help employees understand that

their concerns have been heard. This will help them take ownership of the vision and allow them

to become invested in it as well. Abrell-Vogel and Rowold (2014) noted that when
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communicating the change vision, the leader should communicate an appealing vision of the

future of the group, to gain employee buy-in. The authors also indicated that this would make

the change more attractive to the employees and the employees will work hard to support the

success of the change.

Forces That Work Against Successful Organizational Change

Successful organizational change is difficult to achieve. Research indicates that change

initiatives are only successful about 30 percent of the time (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015; Bateh,

Castaneda & Farah, 2013; Jansson, 2013; Maheshwari & Vohra, 2015). Many factors work

against successful organizational change, and that failure rate is not currently showing any

indications of improvement (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015). This section will provide an analysis

of three factors that work against successful organizational change: leadership issues (Voica &

Vasile, 2013); resistance to change (Belias & Koustelios, 2014); and poor communication

(Maheshwari & Vohra, 2015).

Leadership Issues

In an article about best practices for change leadership, Farkas (2013) reasoned that

change leadership is the approach a leader takes regarding a specific change initiative and that

the steps leaders take to build support and agreement to change are vital to the change process.

Vijayabanu and Karunanidhi (2013) noted in an article about organizational change and

leadership effectiveness, that leadership functions as change agents, and are responsible for

change strategy, implementation, and monitoring organizational change. Bateh, Castaneda, and

Farah (2013) explained that the success or failure of organizational change depends on factors

such as the structure of the organization, resource availability, the organization's vision and

mission, and employee willingness to work towards the goals of the change process. When
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leadership and staff do not willingly embrace change, the impact can be anything from high

turnover, absenteeism, decreased employee engagement, performance, productivity,

organizational reputation to consumer loyalty issues (Vijayabanu & Karunanidhi, 2013).

Inability to Overcome Resistance to Change

In an article about new ways to overcome resistance during organizational change, Will

(2015) highlighted multiple reasons for resistance to organizational change, specific reasons for

resistance outlined include: leaders and staff having different ideas about how the change should

be accomplished, disagreement of the necessity of the change, change management strategies

may not be fully developed, communications may be poor, leadership and/or staff may not have

the necessary skills to implement the change successfully, and it is possible there are

motivational problems. The authors pointed out that change management literature discusses

many different reasons why employees may resist organizational change.

Appelbaum et al. (2015) noted that resistance to change could be detrimental to change

efforts because it can prevent organizations from appropriately responding to environmental

threats and opportunities. In an article about resistance to change, Bareil (2013) discussed

resistance to change and how it is perceived as the enemy, an obstacle, a problem to be

eliminated and an anti-change behavior on the part of an employee. Voica and Vasile (2013)

discussed how leaders need to be able to overcome resistance to change from others in the

organization as well as encourage employees to adopt new practices; other researchers also echo

this view. For example, Bateh et al. (2013) opined that leaders who ignore employee resistance

to change set themselves up for battle, if not, failure.

Poor Communication
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Just as communicating the change vision is a factor of successful change, sending the

wrong message can lead to a change initiative being unsuccessful. In an article about the

emotions and perceptions during organizational change, Lawrence, Ruppel, and Tworoger

(2014) noted that for employees to acknowledge change they first need information. Pollack and

Pollack (2015) identified how leader’s underestimation of the amount of communication

necessary to develop employee understanding of the change efforts might lead to failed change

implementation efforts.

Simoes and Esposito (2014) mentioned that it is not only the quantity of communications

about a change effort but the quality that can influence change. The authors indicated that when

changes are communicated to employees, it is possible that the message may not reduce the

resistance to change because the message was not able to influence the employees to accept the

change. Suwaryo, Daryanto and Maulana (2015) discussed a relation between resistance to

change and communication, whereas resistance to change will increase when there is poor

communication between leadership and employees.

Viewing leadership issues, inability to overcome change and poor communication, it is

clear that each element that contributes to unsuccessful organizational change interacts with the

other. Each of these items can influence organizational change in either a positive or negative

manner.

Conclusion

This organizational change factor analysis paper included a discussion of the factors that

work both for and against organizational change. First, the establishment of a sense of urgency,

empowerment, and communicating the vision factors were discussed as factors that work for

successful organizational change. Second, leadership issues, inability to overcome resistance to

CHANGE FACTOR ANALYSIS PAPER 9

change and poor communication were analyzed as factors that work against successful

organizational change. After analyzing each element both for and against successful

organizational change, it is apparent that all of the factors have the ability to lead to a successful

organizational change outcome.

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References

Abrell-Vogel, C., & Rowold, J. (2014). Leaders' commitment to change and their effectiveness

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Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: A model

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Appelbaum, S. H., Habashy, S., Malo, J., & Shafiq, H. (2012). Back to the future: Revisiting

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Bateh, J., Castaneda, M. E., & Farah, J. E. (2013). Employee resistance to organizational change.

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Belias, D., & Koustelios, A. A. (2014). The impact of leadership and change management

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Calegari, M. F., Sibley, R. E., & Turner, M. E. (2015). A roadmap for using Kotter's

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Farkas, M. G. (2013). Building and sustaining a culture of assessment: Best practices for change

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Maheshwari, S., & Vohra, V. (2015). Identifying critical HR practices impacting employee

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Pollack, J., & Pollack, R. (2015). Using Kotter's eight stage process to manage an organisational

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Rao, M. S. (2015). Embrace change effectively to achieve organizational excellence and

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Simoes, P. M., & Esposito, M. (2014). Improving change management: How communication

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Suwaryo, J., Daryanto, H. K., & Maulana, A. (2015). Organizational culture change and its effect

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Vijayabanu, U., & Karunanidhi, S. (2013). Organizational change and leadership effectiveness.

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Voica, O., & Vasile, M. (2013). Leadership evidences: Communication and the organizational

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Will, M. G. (2015). Successful organizational change through win-win. Journal of Accounting &

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