Six Change Approaches
(Kotter)

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Summary

The Six (6) Change Approaches of Kotter and Schlesinger is a model to prevent, decrease or minimize resistance to change in organizations.

Reasons for resistance to change

According to Kotter and Schlesinger (1979), there are four reasons that certain people are resisting change:

Parochial self-interest. Some people are more concerned with the implication of the change for themselves and how it may affect their own interests, rather than considering the effects for the success of the business.
Misunderstanding. Communication problems; inadequate information.
Low tolerance of change. Certain people are very keen on feeling secure and having stability in their work.
Different assessments of the situation. Some employees may disagree with the reasons for the change and with the advantages and disadvantages of the change process.

Six approaches to deal with resistance to change

Kotter and Schlesinger have set out the following six (6) change approaches to deal with change resistance:

Education and Communication. Where there is a lack of information or inaccurate information and analysis. One of the best ways to overcome resistance to change is: to inform and educate people about the change effort beforehand. Preceding communication and education helps employees see the logic in the change effort. This reduces unfounded and incorrect rumors concerning the effects of change in the organization.
Participation and Involvement. Where the initiators do not have all the necessary information to design the change, and where others have considerable power to resist. When employees are involved in the change effort they are more likely to want change rather than resist it. This approach is likely to decrease resistance of those, who merely acquiesce in the change.
Facilitation and Support. Where people are resisting change, because of adjustment problems. By being supportive of employees during difficult times, managers can prevent potential resistance. Managerial support helps employees to deal with their fear and anxiety during a transition period. The basis of resistance to change is likely to be: the perception that there will be some form of detrimental effect occasioned by the change in the organization. Typical for this approach are special training and counseling, outside normal office premises.
Negotiation and Agreement. Where someone or some group may lose out because of a change, and where that individual or group has considerable power to resist. Managers can combat resistance by offering incentives to employees not to resist change. This can be done by allowing people who are resisting the change to veto certain elements of change that are threatening. Or the people who are resisting the change can be offered incentives to leave the company through early buyouts or through retirements. In order to avoid the experience of the change effort. This approach will be appropriate where those resisting change are in a position of power.
Manipulation and Co-optation. Where other tactics will not work or are too expensive. Kotter and Schlesinger suggest that an effective manipulation technique is: to co-opt with people who are resisting the change. Co-optation involves bringing a person into a change management planning group for the sake of appearances rather than their substantive contribution. This often involves selecting leaders of the people who are resisting the change, to participate in the change effort. These leaders can be given a symbolic role in decision-making, without threatening the change effort. Note this: if these leaders feel that they are being tricked, they are likely to push resistance even further than if they were never included in the change effort leadership.
Explicit and Implicit Coercion. Where speed is essential. And to be used only as last resort. Managers can explicitly or implicitly force employees into accepting change, by making clear that resistance to change can lead to: jobs losses, dismissals, employee transfers, or not promoting employees.

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First Values and Culture
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Using Change Approaches for Post-election Violence
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Expansion (Change) in Business Focus
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Participatory Approaches Towards Taking on Change
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Displacement Through Change
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Approach #7 to Deal with Resistance
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Mention Change in Introduction Training
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Kotter Change Model and ADKAR Model
I am comparing Kotter's model with ADKAR from Prosci, they closely resemble each other though Kotter seems to be more fo (...)

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Resistance to Change not Just Self-Interest
The first factor in resistance, self interest, may be something less "toxic" and that is complacency (Editor: ~self-sati (...)

4 comments

The Origin of Resistance to Change
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Change Dynamics of People Being in the Organization for a Long Time
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First the Rational and Hard Factors
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Why *assume* they are wrong and we are right?
Too many of these explanations for why "they" are fearful, uninformed, unaware are simply an excuse for failing to consi (...)

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Best Practices

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Why Communication is Crucial in Change Processes
Communication is a very critical process in today's challenging times. The success factor is proper communication on:

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Dealing with Resistance to Change
- MAINTAINING STATUS QUO means living and working within the known and the comfort zone.
- CHANGE means going beyon (...)

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5th Reason for Resistance to Change: Over Protectiveness of the Status Quo
I am managing a change program for a voluntary organisation for people with learning disabilities whose over caring atti (...)

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Manage Change Like a Salesman
In order to make effective change, the manager has to believe in the change. It is top down. You hear words like "buy in (...)

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Trust, change and management
Trust creates trust, mistrust creates mistrust! Managers should create trust in order to be trusted by others. A barrier (...)

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Combining Kotter's Change Approaches?
It is a prerequisite to the selection of the appropriate change approach to understand the change management iceberg mod (...)

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Expert Tips

Advanced insights about the Six Change Approaches. Here you will find professional advices by experts.

	Personal Networks of Successful Change Agents Leading Major and Minor Change Initiatives Organizational change is often difficult to achieve because it disturbs the hierarchical structures and the way to accom (...)
	Leadership Strategies for Change Initiate, implement, develop and sustain change In response to the high rate of change failure, Ken Blanchard and his team have developed the Blanchard Leading Through (...)
	Key Success Factors when you're Designing your Change Management Program Best Practices, Change Management, Organizational Change In their article "Making Change Happen, and Making It Stick" (published in the online edition of strategy+business, Dece (...)
	Categories of Change Tools and Approaches Change Management, Organizational Change According to Christensen et al. in HBR Oct 2007, 4 types of "tools" can be distinguished, depending on the extent that p (...)
	What Change Agents Should I Use? Change Management, Organizational Change, Turnaround Management When choosing between internal or external change agents, organizations should consider following advantages and disadva (...)
	Six Crucial Mind Shifts for Strategy Execution / Implementation Change Management, Strategic Change, Resistance to CHange, Strategy Implementation Speculand (2009) suggests six mind shifts that people should consider when they're implementing new strategies in organi (...)
	Types of Change. Classification Change Management, Organizational Change, Expected/Unexpected Change, Incremental/Radical Change Organizational change varies along at least to dimensions (expected-unexpected and incremental-radical) and can be manag (...)
	The Role of the CEO in Strategic Change Initiation Communicating Strategic Change In management literature the role of the CEO in formulating and implementing strategic change has often been emphasized. (...)
	Approaches to Planned Change Change Management, Organizational Change Organizations may take one of the following three approaches to planned change: - Structural Approach: The structural a (...)

Information Sources

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	Your Organization Needs to Change its Strategy Implementation Method Strategy Execution, Strategic Change, Change Management, Strategy Implementation Dr. John Kotter explains most clearly how the rate of change of events, technology, globalization, products and markets (...)
	How to Communicate Organizational Change to Affected Audiences Organizational Change, Change Management, Change Communications This presentation elaborates on the process of communicating change towards those affected by the change. The presentati (...)
	Effective Change Leadership and Management: Principles, Frameworks and Tools Change Management, Change Leadership Comprehensive presentation on leadership and management in a change context. 1. Introduction and Overview 2. What is t (...)
	Organizational Change & Dev. Organizational Change Overview Overview paper on Organisational Change and Development by Sharika Gupta Sr. deals with following topics: 1. INTRODUCTI (...)
	Resistance to Change and Its Management Change Management, Resistance to Change, Change Resistance This presentation focuses on a specific dimension of change management, namely the management of resistance to change of (...)
	Dealing with Resistance to Change Change Management, Resistance to Change This presentation focuses on resistance to change and ways to overcome or prevent it. The presentation has good graphics (...)
	Change Management versus Change Leadership Understanding the Difference Between Change Management and Change Leadership This video explores and explains some differences between Change Management and Change Leadership: CHANGE MANAGEMENT (...)
	Managing Organizational Change Change Management, Leading Change, Organizational Development This is a presentation about the ways to manage change. The presentation includes the following sections: 1. Introducti (...)
	Dealing with Strong Resisters Dealing with Resistance to Change, Change Management, Training, Workshop Dr. John Kotter gives remarkable advice on dealing with "No, No, People" (strong resisters in change initiatives). Acco (...)
	Compensation for Change Change compensation This paper by Karen Hopper Wruck explains why establishing a strong, positive relation between rewards and performance i (...)
	Managing Organizational Change and Managing Stress Organizational Change; Change Management; Stress Management Presentation about organizational change with a special emphasis on stress management. The presentation includes the fol (...)