Kotter And Cohen's Eight Steps For Implementing Change

The Relevance of Kotter’s and Cohen’s Eight Steps for Implementing Change Initiatives and John Ivancevich’s Organizational Behavior Concepts
Organizational Behavior

Throughout my career, I have encountered continuous and constant change. Regardless of my assignment, I could always count on change, whether in people, technology, equipment, mission, or war. Successfully leaders and units were always able to handle change well, could adapt, get the unit headed in the right direction, overcome obstacles and ultimately accomplish the vision and mission of the commander. While some units handled change efforts well, others did not, John Kotter and Dan Cohen have developed an eight step method that successfully
531). Ivancevich further discusses the field of organizational behavior, empowerment, organizational processes, communication and organizational change. In this integrative paper, I will discuss the interrelationships between Kotter’s and Cohen’s change process and Ivancevich’s organizational behavior concepts by expanding on three steps: Increase Urgency, Communicate for Buy-in, and Create Short-Term Wins (Kotter & Cohen, 2002, p 15). Additionally, I will discuss the relevance of these steps and Ivancevich’s concepts to my professional experience while serving in military
To increase urgency, you must address fears and concerns while demonstrating high and visible commitment from managers. To communicate for buy-in, your vision and change strategy must be communicated with as many people as possible while looking for ways to improve organizational communications. To create short term wins that promotes the change effort, you must empower your people to build confidence and effectiveness. Furthermore, I discussed the relevance of these steps and Ivancevich’s concepts while deployed to Afghanistan. First, by addressing the Afghan’s fears and concerns, the US increased a sense of urgency with the Afghan military. Secondly, the US communicated for buy-in from Afghan judges by constructing an Afghan Supreme Court House. Third, the US empowered the Afghan military to develop the best solution for their logistical support that resulted in short term win. At the end of my Afghanistan tour, the US had transferred most of the detainees to Afghan control, court hearings were being held, detainees were getting sentenced or released, and the Afghan military and justice ministries felt proud and capable. With Kotter’s and Cohen’s eight step process for