Concorde Bookshop

The Corner Bookstore

Remember the movie, "You've Got Mail?" It was a heart-warming story about a small, loved by everyone, bookstore, on the corner in a major city. In the movie the frustrated owner battled with the big name bookstore that moved into the neighborhood and was taking her business. This is similar to the true story of the Concord Bookstore I will be referring to in this paper. Imagine, if you will, a small community loved bookstore where the owners decide to bring in new management and implement changes without any input from the staff that had been with them for decades. While the owners were trying to keep up with the big name bookstores, they went about it in the worst way possible. This paper will explain Lewin's phases of the organizational change process and will attempt to explain which processes were not done correctly during the change at the Concord bookstore.

The Phases

When looking at the different phases of organizational change processes, there are multitudes of different types. For this paper I have chosen Kurt Lewin's three phases of change implementation. Lewin's change implementation theory consists of three phases unfreeze, change (or move) and refreeze.

Unfreeze

The unfreeze phase is the first step in Lewin's change theory and is to me the most important phase of change. Here the company has decided that what they have been doing is just not working. This is the phase which everyone begins to worry and stress about what is coming. "What is needed, Lewin argued, is a kind of deliberate “emotional stir-up,” a powerful intervention designed to “open the shell of complacency” and “unfreeze” the existent equilibrium," (Spector, 2010, p.30). During this phase, management needs to be firm with the employees expressing the need for change. This will be a good time to ask them what he or she thinks needs to be changed. During this phase one can have the opportunity to allow autonomy of the employees by allowing them to be part of the change. It also can be the most difficult phase because so many people are resistant to change.

Moving/Change

The second phase in Lewin's theory is move/change. During the Change stage, organizations incorporate new behaviors, and employee uncertainty eases. Communication and training are essential to help employees understand their roles in making change happen. As organizations foster this understanding, people start to buy into the new ways that will support the organization’s new vision (Huddleston, n.d.). This phase can be exciting and stressful all at the same time. During this phase, you will discover the employees which will stay and make the process a positive, successful transition, and those who will not accept the change and leave.

Refreeze

The third and final phase of Lewin's theory is almost like Kubler-Ross's theory acceptance. This is the point when organizations establish the change as the standard. Those affected embrace the new ways of working. Moreover, reinforcement and measurement of behavior changes take place. Incentive systems are put into place to achieve desired behaviors. Performance appraisals, promotions and bonuses are based on desired performance and resulting outcomes (Huddleston, n.d). At this point, it is the time, to recruit new employees and train them and to celebrate and praise the staff that stayed and made the change successful.

So What Went Wrong With Concord?

The three families that owned the company went about this