Change Process Theory
Change process theory seeks to explain the dynamics through which organizational improvement and change takes place. Kurt Lewin depicts the change process as occurring in three stages—unfreezing, moving, and refreezing. These stages have also been labeled readiness, adoption, and institutionalization. The unfreezing stage involves the process of getting people to accept that change is inevitable and to stop doing certain things that resist change (e.g., clinging to an ineffective policy, practice, or behavior). The moving stage involves getting people to accept the new, desired state (e.g., new policies and practices). The last stage, refreezing, involves making the new practices and behaviors a permanent part of the operation or role expectations. Lewin views change as deriving from two forces: (1) those internally driven (from a person’s own needs) and (2) those imposed or induced by the environment. Environmental forces can be further distinguished between driving (pushing for change) and restraining forces (those seeking to maintain the status quo). For change to be environmentally imposed, driving forces must outnumber restraining forces.