Running Head: LEADING TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE
Leading Transformational Change
Through Cultural Transformation
Virginia M. Dees
Webster University
Abstract
The exhilarating competitive pace of the twenty first century global business model, while enticing, presents intense challenges to organizations to be adaptive, innovative, and highly sensitive to market demands and trends. To succeed, a transformational change mindset must be a skill woven into fabric of the organization’s culture. John Kotter of the Harvard Business School provides an eight stage approach to implementing transformational change that includes cultural transformation. This paper correlates organizational behavior theory, principles, and concepts behind the methods as prescribed in Leading Change.
Stage 1 - Establishing a Sense of Urgency
The primary concept presented in this stage is that complacency prevents people from within an organization to recognize that a crisis exists, may soon exist, or that an un-tapped opportunity should be sought. This is important because to lead transformational change you must establish a sense of urgency. To establish that sense of urgency, the perceptions that fuel complacent attitudes must be changed. To succeed in leading an organization in transformational change, the usual or standard method of operating must be questioned and inspected objectively to ensure it fits into the new vision strategy for the organization.
According to John Kotter’s formula for leading change, one must acknowledge the factors that influence complacency making it inertia like force within an organization. Some of the various factors or sources[i] cited are:
* Organizational stru ...