Reasons for Change

• Organizations can change for either internal or environmental reasons. Internal factors can include situations where the organization is growing beyond its bounds and needs to modify inefficient structures or perhaps due to poor overall performance. Environmental factors include the demographics of the changing workplace (in terms of bonuses and benefits), available technologies and the demographics of the customer base.
  
  

Resistance to Change

• While each individual in a business will react to a change in strategy and organization differently, the primary reaction that can disrupt change is active resistance. Active resistance can be caused by any number of reasons, including a disruption in working habits, uncertainty about job stability after the change, loss of power in the change or a dislike of the change altogether. Active resistance can be a good thing, however, as it allows you to reconsider points about the change you may have missed.
  
  

Unfreezing as a Step to Change

• There are three primary steps to effective strategic organizational change. The first of these is unfreezing. Unfreezing is the process by which you prepare employees for a change in policy. Make clear how important the change is and communicate to your employees the urgency for the change. Build support and a sense of coalition for the change and let employees give their input.
  
  

Execution as a Step to Change

• Once you have unfrozen the organization's strategic culture, execute the change. Maintain the coalition and support, and point out incremental improvements during the change process. Try to minimize the effect obstacles have on slowing down the change to avoid prolonging the process and causing an unnecessarily long period of uncertainty and resistance.
  
  

Refreezing as a Step to Change

• Finally, once the change has been successfully executed, refreeze the organizational culture. You can do this by stopping the change in policies, showing to employees how the previously changed policies benefit the company and themselves personally. Once you have successfully shown the benefits of change, you can more easily create a corporate culture of change instead of a placid one so that change can be a constant force for improvement. However,the expectation of change should not be created, or employees may not bother to learn corporate policies fully.