Leading Change by John P. Kotter free essay sample

Leading Change by John P. Kotter Book review by Pat Naughtin Harvard-Professor John P. Kotter has been observing the process of change for 30 years. He believes that there are critical differences between change efforts that have been successful, and change efforts that have failed. What interests him is why some people are able to get their organizations to change dramatically — while most do not. John P. Kotter writes: Over the past decade, I have watched more than a hundred companies try to remake themselves into significantly better competitors. They have included large organizations (Ford) and small ones (Landmark Communications), companies based in United States (General Motors) and elsewhere (British Airways), corporations that were on their knees (Eastern Airlines), and companies that were earning good money (Bristol-Myers Squibb). Their efforts have gone under many banners: total quality management, reengineering, right-sizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnaround. But in almost every case the basic goal has been the same: to make fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with a new, more challenging market environment. We will write a custom essay sample on Leading Change by John P. Kotter or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A few of these corporate change efforts have been very successful. A few have been utter failures. Most fall somewhere in between, with a distinct tilt toward the lower end of the scale. The lessons that can be drawn are interesting and will probably be relevant to even more organizations in the increasingly competitive business environment of the coming decade. Kotter developed a list of factors that he believes lead to successful changes, and those that lead to failure. Yet for historical reasons, many organizations today dont have much leadership. Finally, John P. Kotter writes: There are still more mistakes that people make, but these eight are the big ones. In reality, even successful change efforts are messy and full of surprises. But just as a relatively simple vision is needed to guide people through a major change, so a vision of the change process can reduce the error rate. And fewer errors can spell the difference between success and failure. I have observed many attempts at metrication in many organisations over many years and I believe that John P. Kotters Leading Change provides a useful reference for metrication leaders to consider as they plan any metrication upgrade. If you would like to purchase Kotters book there is a link to Amazon at the bottom of my web page at: http://www. metricationmatters. com Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pats clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www. metricationmatters. com/ for more metrication information, contact Pat at pat. [emailprotected] com or to get the free Metrication matters newsletter go to: http://www. metricationmatters. com/newsletter/ to subscribe. http://www. metricationmatters. com