Change management models reached the top of the corporate agenda worldwide after the COVID-19 pandemic fueled the growth of remote work.

In light of the fact that businesses’ policies, procedures, and business processes continue to evolve, effective management and communication of them are crucial.

The ability to implement the changes you need to make to your business practices directly affects your long-term success. To survive, your company must evolve. However, these changes are unlikely to be effective in the absence of a top management change model. Even so, it is important to recognize that change management models are not universal because each company has unique values, cultures, purposes, and goals. 

This article will help you understand why a company should use one of the most popular change management models for organizational change before we get into the specifics of the different models.

What Is a Change Management Model?

Change management models are theories, concepts, and processes that provide in-depth approaches to organizational transformation. They are intended to serve as a roadmap for implementing changes, navigating the transformational process, and guaranteeing that changes are accepted and put into action.

Change management models or frameworks are intended to make the changes easier to implement, regardless of whether they pertain to new recruits who are learning the corporate processes, department-specific changes, company-wide changes requiring internal tools, or everything in between. More significantly, they aim to establish the change as the new standard. 

Why Is it Important to Select the Right Change Management Model?

Your company must choose the best course of action to implement a change when it is clear that one is needed. Playing it by ear means you’re gambling a lot of money, and many change initiatives fail. According to Harvard Business Review, 70% of all change initiatives fail. The reason may be that managers are using the wrong change management models for their business or that the change management process is too difficult for them.

Selecting appropriate change management models can help your team be deliberate and focused during change implementation. 

Initially, your employees may resist change. If you want to ensure that they are in line with your plan, ensure that they are aware of the process, the reasons for the change, and how it may affect their work. 

The Benefits of Change Management Models

Today, more than 75% of firms are prepared to expand their change initiatives, yet even then, only 34% of change initiatives are successful.

This success is due to the fact that most of the time, companies are rushing through their initiatives, and in some situations, they are reacting to change. Companies that want to succeed must be proactive and start by outlining the benefits of change.

Here are some benefits of change and the potential effects it may have on your company:

• Measure results: Without first establishing timetables, goals, and budgets, change should never be introduced. This is where change management models can help by structuring the process and making it quantifiable. The organization gains insight into the effectiveness of the transformation, as well as the adoption rate, staff productivity, budget mapping, and predicted implementation time.
• Remove internal resistance: A change management model aids in identifying potential points of resistance and their underlying causes. Following this, companies can devise strategies to lessen opposition and turn opponents into supporters. Additionally, it helps businesses establish communication channels to guarantee that all parties are on the same page. 
• Forecasting: Using a change management model, businesses may predict timelines, employee behavior, expected output, and income. Based on this forecast, companies can develop a plan that inspires trust among all stakeholders. People will consequently begin to feel that change is achievable and not overwhelming. Business leaders can invest in a solution to make employees’ lives easier during change by using forecasting to identify the problems in advance and identify the pain points.

Leading Change Management Models in 2023

While preparing for organizational change, it is crucial to adopt a framework. You can use these change management theories and models to help you decide what to include in your strategy and how to deal with issues such as people’s natural resistance to change. 

Lewin’s Change Management Model

Because of its simplicity, Lurt Lewin’s change model has remained popular since its creation in the 1940s. Organizational change is broken down into three steps in the model: 

• Unfreeze: This is the stage of preparation. Examine how things currently operate to fully comprehend what must be changed to achieve the desired effects. In this phase, you also present your case to the employees and outline the expected outcomes so that everyone who will be impacted is ready.
• Change: The changes need to be made during this phase. Implement the change, and continue to support all concerned personnel by engaging with them and keeping them informed.
• Refreeze: Create a plan to check in and ensure the change remains to prevent reverting to the old way of doing things. Examine how the changes work and assess your success in achieving your goals.

Kotter’s Change Management Theory

John Kotter, a Harvard professor and pioneer in the field of change management, developed a theory known as Kotter’s change management theory that strongly emphasized the psychology of the individuals involved in a change process. He breaks it down into eight steps: 

• Instill a sense of urgency to inspire others
• Create a team of change agents and leaders with a range of expertise and departments.
• Describe your strategic vision for your desired results.
• Get everyone on board with the change management process and make sure they understand their roles by communicating with them.
• Identify obstacles and deal with anything producing conflict.
• Set short-term objectives to divide your change management strategy into manageable segments.
• Maintain momentum throughout the implementation process.
• After the initial project is finished, keep the changes.

McKinsey 7-S Model

The McKinsey 7-S Model is one of the more complicated models due to its seven S’s, although this complexity could be required when making complicated organization-wide changes. The model’s seven components are not intended to be handled in a particular order; rather, their connections are evaluated to reveal weaknesses: 

• Strategy
• Structure
• Systems
• Shared Values
• Style
• Staff
• Skills

The first three – strategy, structure, and systems – are known to be the “hard” parts since they are easier to recognize and are more susceptible to management’s impact. 

Your employees’ skill sets, the overall leadership style used by the business, and the company’s values or culture are all more flexible and subject to constant change. On the other hand, the remaining four “soft” components are difficult to define and are affected by the business culture. It is important to keep them all in balance by examining how the seven aspects relate to and impact one another.

Nudge Theory

The nudge hypothesis aims to influence employees toward the desired change by making subtly worded, indirect suggestions supported by evidence. It is assumed that encouraging change rather than forcibly enforcing it is more effective. The fundamental ideas of this theory are as follows:

• Define changes
• Considering the perspective of the employee
• Give examples to support your claim that your choice is the best one
• Give yourself the option to change.
• Pay attention to employee feedback
• Limit options
• Gain momentum for change with short-term wins.

Resistance is less likely since nudge theory enables employees to recognize the need for change for themselves and control how it is made.

It steers employees in the direction of the options management wants them to select. The genius of this change management model is that it seeks to win over your staff’s complete support while still giving them a sense of involvement in the decision-making and management of the change. 

Prosci ADKAR Change Management Model

It’s not a top-down strategy using the Prosci ADKAR change management model. Instead, it concentrated on what organizational members at all levels must do in order for a change to be successful. The model states that people must meet five goals: 

• Awareness: Management outlines the impending changes and their justification.
• Desire: Leaders who present case studies or other supporting documentation persuade employers to approve the change. They might also need to address their specific concerns to encourage people to accept the changes.
• Knowledge: Employees are learning how to apply changes at this point. This phase includes training for businesses introducing new software.
• Ability: Employees are currently putting what they’ve learned into practice.
• Reinforcement: Employee accomplishments are acknowledged through this ongoing process, which also offers performance bonuses. 

Kübler-Ross change management framework

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross developed the Kübler-Ross change management framework, which many people would be familiar with as the model used to explain the experience of grief. Understanding these phases will enable you to more effectively address employees’ reactions to organizational change since it can be applied to many different experiences of change. 

• Denial: When presented with facts that they don’t want to hear, people usually reject them out of instinct.
• Anger: Anger is normal when a person feels like a change is being forced upon them.
• Bargaining: To avoid having to embrace the change completely, some people can try to advocate for a compromise.
• Depression: Employees who are unhappy with the change and feel helpless about it may go through a depressive state.
• Acceptance: People finally get to the stage of acceptance when they understand there is no other choice.

The Satir Change Model

The Satir Change Model also has the five stages of grief. It can be used to model employees’ work under the new arrangements. There are five phases: 

• Late status quo: Employees in this situation are aware of their responsibilities but may not concur with their demands regarding output.
• Resistance: This is the initial stage following the introduction of the change. Resistance is to be anticipated, which will reduce output. 
• Chaos: Your productivity will be at its lowest at this time as your personnel begins to feel the full impact of the change on their emotions. To ensure that your transition is successful, you will need to offer the most support at this time.
• Integration: As employees start to recognize the benefits of the change, productivity starts to increase during this phase. 
• New status quo: This is the point at which you may anticipate production to stabilize once more (ideally at a greater level than when you started) as employees adjust to the change and incorporate it into their job.

Bridges’ Transition Model

Similar to the Kübler-Ross Change Curve, the Bridges’ Transition Model emphasizes emotional responses during a transition. The Bridges model, in contrast to many others, focuses on the transition process by segmenting it into three stages:

• Ending, losing, and letting go: Most people’s initial response to change is resistance characterized by fear and discomfort.
• The neutral zone: People will be torn between accepting the new and letting go of the old status quo as the change is just beginning.
• The new beginning: If implemented properly, people will move into the stage of acceptance and ease into the new way of doing things once the change is in place.

The concept is comparable to the Kübler-Ross Change Curve or the Satir model since it concentrates on controlling employees’ emotions during an organizational change. Similar to that, it has the drawback of not truly offering a structure for executing change. 

Conclusion

There isn’t a single approach to change management that is universally correct. Every framework for change management stresses the importance of putting your employees at the center of how you plan and execute a change. Make sure you have a productive conversation with them and consider their feelings. If you understand them all, you can choose the one that best meets your company’s requirements or combine aspects of each to meet your needs.