Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Organizational Change
Prepared By
Manu Melwin Joy
Assistant Professor
Ilahia School of Management Studies
Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
Step 2: Changing
Attempting to
create a new state
of affairs
Step 1: Unfreezing
Recognizing the
need for change
Case study
• The oil company had three
divisional offices in the West,
located in Seattle, San
Francisco, and Los Angeles.
• The decision was made to
consolidate the divisions in
to a single regional office to
be located in San Francisco.
• The reorganization meant
transferring over 150
employees, eliminating some
duplicate managerial
positions, and instituting a
new hierarchy of command
UNFREEZING
• The status quo can be considered to
be an equilibrium state. To move
from this equilibrium to overcome
the pressures of both individual
resistance and group conformity
unfreezing is necessary. It can be
achieved in one of three ways.
• The driving forces, which direct
behavior away from the status quo,
can be increased.
• The restraining forces, which hinder
movement from the existing
equilibrium, can be decreased.
• A third alternative is to combine the
first two approaches.
Movement
• The oil company’s management
could expect employee resistance
to the consolidation. To deal with
that resistance, management could
use positive incentive to encourage
employees to accept the change,
such as these;
• Increase in pay can be offered to
those who accept the transfer.
• The company can pay liberal
moving expenses.
• Management might offer low cost
mortgage funds to allow
employees to buy new homes in
San Francisco.
Movement
• Employees could be counseled individually.
Each employee’s concerns and
apprehensions could be heard and
specifically clarified.
• Assuming that most of the fears are
unjustified, the counselor could assure the
employees that there was nothing to fear
and then demonstrate, through tangible
evidence, that restraining forces are
unwarranted.
• If resistance is extremely high, management
mat have to resort to both reducing
resistance and increasing the attractiveness
of the alternative if the unfreezing is to be
successful.
• To be effective, change has to happen
quickly. Organizations that build up to
change do less well than those that get to
and through the movement stage quickly.
Refreezing
• Once the consolidation change
has been implemented, if it is to
be successful, the new situation
needs to be refrozen so that it
can be sustained over time.
• Unless this last step is taken,
there is a very high chance that
the change will be short lived
and that employees will attempt
to revert to the previous
equilibrium state.
• The objective of refreezing, then,
is to stabilize the new situation
by balancing the driving and
restraining forces.
Force Field Analysis
• It provides a framework for
looking at the factors (forces)
that influence a situation,
originally social situations.
• It looks at forces that are either
driving movement toward a goal
(helping forces) or blocking
movement toward a goal
(hindering forces).
• The principle, developed by Kurt
Lewin.
Force Field Analysis
• Driving forces are forces
that push in a direction
that causes change to
occur.
• Driving forces facilitate
change because they push
the person in the desired
direction.
• They cause a shift in the
equilibrium towards
change.
Force Field Analysis
• Restraining forces are
forces that counter driving
forces.
• Restraining forces hinder
change because they push
the person in the
opposition direction
• Restraining forces cause a
shift in the equilibrium
which opposes change.
Force Field Analysis
• Equilibrium is a state
of being where driving
forces equal
restraining forces and
no change occurs
• Equilibrium can be
raised or lowered by
changes that occur
between the driving
and restraining forces.
Force Field Analysis
Restraining
Desired Forces
Conditions
Restraining
Forces Driving
Forces
Restraining
Forces
Current Driving
Conditions Forces
Driving
Forces