Kevin Lewin's Change Theory Analysis

Kevin Lewin change theory has been successfully used since the 1940’s. He developed a linear theory that has three stages of change including: unfreezing, changing and refreezing (Sare & Ogilvie, 2010). His theory positions management at the top and they make all the final decision and lead the change process. In the unfreezing stage the manager much first diagnose the problem, assess the capacity for change, the motivation to change and whether there is adequate resources to adopt the change (Mitchell, 2013). The second stage is the change or moving phase, which is a process of moving toward the desired result. Finally, the third step is refreezing where the change becomes part of the existing culture, policies, and practices. In my practice …show more content…
The change was handled in a top down approach. The nurses did not have the choice as to whether to make the change. Before embarking on a change, a manager must first consider their own strengths and weaknesses because it can greatly affect the outcome. The management team utilized an autocratic leadership style while making the decision to move to computerized documentation. In the autocratic leadership style the leader maintains strong control of the project, provides direction and makes all the decisions (Mitchell, 2013). The challenge of this type of leadership is that the staff will be resistant, not endorse the change and can drag down the morale of the …show more content…
The Lippitt’s change theory coupled with a democratic leadership style would have been more effective in managing the change. In Lippit’s stage one: a project timeline is developed and distributed to everyone affected by the change. The open communication would have reduced misconceptions and allowed team members to have input in the project. The second and third phase access the motivation and capacity for change and begin the planning. As part of the planning team members are solicited and recruited to act as change agent. In our case, the management should have projected how the change would be accepted by each type of nurse and included some of them to be change agents. Had this been done the nurses would have been motivated to change and some of the barriers could have been eliminated sooner. Unfortunately, the management team had to set compliance deadlines and threaten termination for non-compliance. The democratic type of leadership style is more effective and it empowers the employees to part of the