Lewin's Change Management Theory

3.0 Theories of Change Management

Change management is not a separate and firm discipline with well-defined confines, rather the practice and theories of change management draw on a variety of social science studies and disciplines (Burnes, 2009). Thus, this literature will focus on a conceptual overview of change management. According to Bamford and Forrester (2003), the literature views change management conceptually in two approaches, namely; planned and emergent change.

The proponents for the planned change refer to change management as a process of transiting from one existing state to another series of pre-planned phases, while proponents of the emergent change regard change as an open-ended, the continuous and volatile process of managing and realigning an organization to its volatile and changing environment. There exist a number of conceptual change models and for the purpose of this study three change leadership theories will be reviewed.

3.1 Lewin’s Change Management Model

Lewin’s three step change theory has been regarded by

They argue that the three ice stage theory reflects the ancient environment that treats change as a random disorder in an otherwise growing and peaceful globe. Robbin (2001) argue that this model has little similarity with today’s current environment of chaotic and constant change. However, Wren (1994 & 2009) regard Lewin’s three-step model as a groundwork for future research on change management and its approaches and techniques. In recent times, Wren (2009) further develops on Lewin’s work and contributions and noted how subsequent experts like Argyris and Schön ‘resounded Kurt Lewin’. Kelly et al. (2016) supported this arguing that instead of thinking of change in terms of tasks and processes, change will be more meaningful if we connect change with the individuals behind those