Options for Implementing a Leadership Change - Essay Example

Change of leadership entails huge implications for an organization. For one, this change accompanies a new vision, to where the direction of an organization will be set for a period of time. This change in vision can entail major overhauls within the organization, which include changes in the organizational structure, leadership style of the new leader, processes, etc. Thus, a change in leadership will cause stress within the organization and implementation of this change has to be handled with a smooth transition.

Stephen Robbins, in his book Organizational Behavior lists some of the more popular approaches to managing change. But of the three that he mentions, which include Lewin’s classic three-step model of change process, action research and organizational development, Lewin’s model of change is the one most pertinent to a change in leadership, which does not center only on a specific process to be improved or a certain problem that needs to be acted upon like the other two. The first step to managing a change within the organization is to unfreeze the prevailing norms within the company.

In order to unfreeze these prevailing norms, or the status quo, overcoming resistance among individuals and conformity among groups is crucial. In Lewin’s model, the shift to a desired state can be done by one of the three: lowering the restraining forces to change; increasing the driving forces to get into the desired state; or both. The change in leadership entails a new vision. And in order to carry out this vision, there are specific steps the new leadership lays out which will be the cause of individual resistances within the corporation.

The first alternative is to increase the driving forces. Driving forces usually come in the form of incentive, for employees to accept and comply to change. It may assume other forms, but driving forces