Interestingly, I was introduced to John P. Kotter's work by the penguin book--Our iceberg is melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions. I liked the small book and it made me look for other books of him.
Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Harvard business review press. MA: Boston.
Eight mistakes that could lead to organizational failure (p. 16):
allowing too much complacency
failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition
underestimating the power of vision
undercommunicating the vision by a factor of 10 (not most employee are willing to help)
permitting obstacles to block new vision
failing to create short-term wins
declaring victory too soon
neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the corporate culture (p. 16)
There are four economic and social driving forces that push organizations to undergo major changes:
technological change
international economic integration
maturation of markets in developed countries
fall of communist and socialist regimes ("the collapse of worldwide communism") (pp. 20-21)
Eight-stage change process (p. 23):
Step 1: establishing a sense of urgency 创造变革的紧迫感
Step 2: creating the guiding coalition组成变革领导小组
Step 3: developing a vision and strategy发展愿景和策略
Step 4: communicating the change vision沟通变革愿景
Step 5: empowering broad-based action促使组织内大多数人采取行动
Step 6: generating short-term wins创造短期成效
Step 7: consolidating gains and producing more change在成效基础上进行更多变革
Step 8: anchoring new approaches in the culture在组织文化中固化新的工作方式
In the end of this book, Kotter also talks about two main implications in the 21st century, one on future organization and the other on leadership and lifelong learning. He contends that there should be a persistent sense of urgency, teamwork is essential and teamwork should occur at the top too, leaders are the people who can create and communicate vision, senior managers focus on leadership while most managerial responsibilities are delegated to empowered lower levels, an adaptive corporate culture must be created and sustained.
The key to creating and sustaining this kind of organization described above is leadership at both top of the power hierarchy and leadership "in a more modest sense throughout the enterprise" (p. 183)
Four factors affecting a person's competitive capacity ("capability of dealing with an increasingly competitive and fast-moving economic and environment" (p. 187):
-personal history
-competitive drive (level of standards, desire to do well, self-confidence in competitive situations)
-lifelong learning (willingness to seek new challenges, willingness to reflect honestly on success and failures)
-skills and abilities
"Listening with an open mind, trying new things, reflecting honestly on success and failures--none of this requires a high IQ, an MBA degree, or a privileged background. Yet remarkably few people behave in these ways today, especially after age thirty-five and especially when they are already doing well in their careers." (pp. 188-189)
Some mental habits that support lifelong learning (p. 191):
-risk taking
-humble self-reflection
-solicitation of opinions
-careful listening
-openness to new ideas
Kotter, J. P. (2002). The heart of change. Harvard business review press. MA: Boston.
This book applies the steps described in Leading Change to analyze real-life stories of how people change their organizations. At the end of each story, tips about what works and what does not work are provided.
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