Themes Of The Heart Of Change

The Heart of Change, written by John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen, reflects upon change and its influence on organizations. Kotter and Cohen claim that change is the only constant. By focusing on change management through the behaviors of people, the authors claim that an eight step process to alter organizational changes is possible and can lead to successful outcomes. The author demonstrates the success of change management through real life scenarios that influenced and motivated change in that particular organization. John M Ivancevich’s Organization Behavior and Management focuses on behavior and management within work settings. The Heart of Change and Organization Behavior and Management correlate with one another by addressing how change is vital for any organization. The main themes of both books can be summarized by the following statement: “In order to make any transformation successful, you must change
Ivancevich states that “urgency relates to time” (Ivancevich, 406). Even if the problem has low urgency in the present moment, overtime it can become an organization’s biggest issue. Managers should make decisions right away as to which problems needs immediate resolution. “The Video of the Angry Customer” is a short story in The Heart of Change. This short story addresses the need for urgency and the effectiveness of an increase in urgency by showing its employees a videotape of one of their angry yet important customer addressing his issues. The employee’s reaction was either thy were shocked or fearful, which a sense of urgency grew within them and addressed the need for change. Both authors can agree that a sense of urgency is an effective method that change is needed to occur and it must be done efficiently to have a successful organizational