Summary: Why Transformation Efforts Fail

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Why Transformation Efforts Fail Celia Renteria Szelwach responded to the Dr. John Kotter’s 2007 article Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail by addressing six additional reasons. Why after so many organizational transformations, mergers, and acquisitions, companies fail at delivering a successful change process is topic that can be further studied and debated on. The first reason Szelwach discusses is the distrust of leadership. In order for an organization to change, senior management needs to lead by example and be committed to the set goals. Aligning leaders’ actions with change goals is salient for building a trusted relationship between the company and employees. Management’ commitment to the change can eliminate a skeptic…show more content…
Throughout the initiative, all mistakes from the past should be studied and considered. Seeing what was most and least helpful in the past can prevent us from making the same mistakes. Learning what works and what does not save company money and time. The fifth reason Szelwach talks about is miscommunication. Having an easy access to the stakeholders through the social media can create a miscommunication or misinformation if the media is not utilized properly. During the transformation, the author recommends keeping information flowing both ways between organization and stakeholders. Allowing people to verbalize their concerns and constantly sharing the future plans with stakeholders will decrease the resistance to change. The last, but not least important reason why the transformation fails is the poor culture and/or technology integration. To avoid exponential costs and waste of resources when integrating multiple companies, Szelwach recommends developing pre and post merger plans for the cultural and/or technological integration. It is also very important to consider cross-cultural differences because not everything that is appropriate in one culture is acceptable in…show more content…
A transition is how people deal with the change mentally and emotionally. The successful transition should consist of three phases: the ending, the neutral, and the new beginning. When employees do not take time to go through each phase, the change will be what Bridges calls the rearrangement of the furniture. Bridges emphasizes the importance of knowing the difference between change and transition. The change is what will be different, while the transition is how to move employees through three phases for change to be

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