Change Management Models: Recognising Lewin's Contribution

Many of today's change management models owe much to Kurt Lewin. It was one of the first models to structure a change process. Published in 1947, it emphasised that change was a process which needed to be understood. Lewin is often thought of as the father of modern change management theory. His work has influenced many models, for example appreciative inquiry is informed by Lewin's notion of action research. You can read more about this positive approach to change in our article "change management model: a strength based approach to change".

Interestingly, Lewin's ideas though were not primarily focused on the organisation. Lewin's primary concern was to address social conflict and find ways to change behaviour in society. Lewin was a Polish Jew who fled Nazi Germany to the US. It is hardly surprising that his focus should be on eliminating social conflict and especially with minority groups.

His theories though have taken root in the field of business, and many of the ideas and change management models in practice today have much in common with aspects of his now famous 3 step change model. It is an idea borne out of recognition that "a change towards a higher level of performance is frequently short lived; after a "shot in the arm", group life soon returns to the previous level."

Lewin's Change Management Model

The model in some ways typifies a planned change approach to change with three stages:

Unfreezing- starting the process of making the change. understanding the need for change - minimising forces against change maximising forces for change. Lewin recognized that change was often difficult, especially within wider society. Therefore unfreezing a situation could be a difficult stage. He advocated a "felt need" requirement - an individuals inner realisation that change is necessary.

Moving- Create movement towards the intended change. How are you managing the change to a new level? Creating movement also requires reinforcement; without reinforcement change is often short lived.

Re-freeze- Stabilize the change and new performance. Evaluate and support the change (sustain the new level). Do your processes, people and systems all support and reinforce the changes you have made? Have you embedded sufficiently the changes into how the organisation now works?

The terms "unfreezing" and "re-freezing" may suggest an organisational rigidity and stability that is no longer a reflection of today's organisation, and hence we see more involved change management models in use today. However the 3-steps still offer a basic and helpful view of managing change processes. Simple of course is not the same as easy. Whilst Lewins 3 step model has a simplicity about it, the steps are not easy: change is not easy to initiate to carry out or to embed.

Managing change is much more than a set of processes and steps ( Lewin's view for example was influenced by trying to reduce conflict in society), it should be guided by principles that help shape change. We propose some priniciples to help shape how you manage change in our article Definition of Change Management.



If you want to read more about change management, see our article that looks at some of the ideas behind a Theory of Change Management. We have also explored more closely the nature of change in "What is Change Management".

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