Causes and types of change
Change means a business does things in a new way: new products, new structure, new technology, new location or new strategy.
External causes
- Technology: online selling, automation, AI.
- Political and legal: new laws on tax, safety, data or the environment.
- Economic: recession, interest rates, exchange rates.
- Social: changing customer tastes and lifestyles.
- Competition: new rivals or price wars.
Internal causes
- New owners, a new chief executive or a merger/takeover.
- Growth (needing a new structure) or poor performance (falling profit).
- A new strategy or new objectives.
Types of change
- Incremental: small, gradual steps; easier to manage.
- Disruptive: sudden and large; forces a big rethink.
- Planned (chosen in advance) or unplanned (a crisis forces it).
Lewin's three-step model and force field analysis
Unfreeze โ Change โ Refreeze
- Unfreeze: make people see that the old way cannot continue (share data, show the threat).
- Change: move to the new way with training, support and constant communication.
- Refreeze: make the new way normal through rules, rewards and habits.
Force field analysis, step by step
- Describe the proposed change in the middle.
- List driving forces (pushing for change) on one side.
- List restraining forces (pushing against) on the other side.
- Score each force, for example 1 (weak) to 5 (strong).
- Add the scores. If driving > restraining, change is likely to succeed.
- Plan actions: strengthen drivers and, usually better, weaken restrainers.
Strengths: simple, visual, makes managers think about people. Weaknesses: scores are subjective; forces may change over time; a list does not tell you how to act.
Resistance to change and how to overcome it
Why people resist
- Self-interest: fear of losing pay, status, power or the job.
- Misunderstanding and lack of trust: not knowing why the change is needed.
- Different assessment: honestly believing the change is a mistake.
- Low tolerance of change: anxiety about the new and unknown.
Six ways to overcome resistance (Kotter and Schlesinger)
- Education and communication: explain the reasons. Good when lack of information is the problem; slow.
- Participation and involvement: staff help design the change. Strong commitment; time-consuming.
- Facilitation and support: training, counselling, time to adjust. Good for fear; costly.
- Negotiation and agreement: offer rewards in return (bonuses, early retirement). Good with powerful groups such as unions; can be expensive.
- Manipulation and co-option: give a resister a token role or selected facts. Quick and cheap; risks anger if discovered.
- Explicit and implicit coercion: force through with threats. Fast; destroys trust and motivation. A last resort.
Making change easier
A trusted project champion, a flexible organisation (multi-skilled staff, flat structure), good communication and enough time and money all help. Leaders often use John Kotter's eight steps: create urgency, build a team, set a vision, communicate it, remove obstacles, win short-term gains, build on them, and anchor the change in the culture.
Try it at home
Think of a change at your school (a new timetable or uniform). Draw a force field: three driving and three restraining forces, each scored 1-5. Would the change succeed?
Key formulas and definitions
- Causes of change: external (PESTLE, competition) + internal (leadership, growth, performance, strategy).
- Lewin's model: Unfreeze โ Change โ Refreeze.
- Force field: total driving forces vs total restraining forces; change likely if driving > restraining.
- Better to weaken restraining forces than only push harder.
- Resistance reasons: self-interest, misunderstanding/low trust, different assessment, low tolerance.
- Overcoming resistance: education, participation, facilitation, negotiation, manipulation, coercion (gentle โ forceful).
Worked examples
1. A factory plans to install robots. Driving forces: lower costs (5), better quality (4), rivals automating (3). Restraining forces: union opposition (5), cost of robots (3), staff fear (3). Should it go ahead? What should it do first?
Driving total = 5 + 4 + 3 = 12. Restraining total = 5 + 3 + 3 = 11. Driving forces win narrowly, so change can go ahead, but it is close. First, weaken the strongest restraining force: negotiate with the union (for example, retraining and no compulsory job losses) and communicate why robots are needed. That could reduce union opposition from 5 to 2, making the totals 12 vs 8.
2. A school-uniform company is losing sales to cheaper online sellers. Use Lewin's three steps to plan moving into online sales.
Unfreeze: share sales figures with staff, showing the threat from online rivals, so they accept the old shop-only model must change. Change: build a website, train staff in packing and customer service online, and keep communicating progress. Refreeze: set new targets and bonuses linked to online orders and update job roles so the new way becomes normal.
3. Staff at a call centre resist a new computer system because they fear it will be used to cut jobs. Which reason for resistance is this, and which method would you recommend?
This is self-interest (fear of losing jobs), mixed with low trust. Best methods: education and communication (explain that the system is to improve service, give facts on staffing plans) plus facilitation and support (training on the new system). If a union is involved, negotiation (a no-redundancy guarantee) could help. Coercion would be fast but would damage motivation.
Common mistakes
- Listing forces in a force field analysis but not scoring or adding them, so no conclusion is reached.
- Thinking change is only external. New leaders, growth and poor results are internal causes.
- Assuming resistance is always bad. Staff with a different assessment may spot real problems.
- Recommending coercion without noting its costs: anger, low motivation and lost trust.