What barriers are in place (e.g. organizational structure, employee skillsets, individual resistance to change, etc.) and work to remove barriers as far in advance as possible.

Rubric for a Writing Assignment
Criteria
Ratings
Points
ORGANIZATION
The paper is well-organized, logical, and focused
10.0 pts
The paper is somewhat organized but needs greater focus and clarity.
5.0 pts
The paper is poorly organized, unfocused, and/or unclear.
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
CONTENT
The paper has a clearly defined thesis.
20.0 pts
The paper has a somewhat clearly defined thesis.
10.0 pts
The paper has a poorly defined or unclear thesis.
0.0 pts
20.0 pts
SENTENCES
Topic sentences are focused and clearly support thesis.
10.0 pts
Topic sentences are fairly well written and/or somewhat support thesis.
5.0 pts
Topic sentences are poorly written and/or do not support thesis.
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
PARAGRAPHS
Paragraphs are well –developed with pertinent, specific, accurate detail supported by credible evidence.
10.0 pts
Supporting paragraphs are somewhat developed but need greater detail and/or better use of evidence.
5.0 pts
Supporting paragraphs are poorly developed and/or have little or no scholarly evidence.
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
EVIDENCE/MLA
Evidence is credible, appropriate, and integrated well into the paragraphs; resource website should be included.
10.0 pts
Evidence is not credible, appropriate, and/or integrated well into the paragraphs;
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
INTRODUCTION/CONCLUSION
Introduction and conclusion are interesting, well-developed, and focused.
10.0 pts
Introduction and/or conclusion are somewhat interesting, well-developed, and focused.
5.0 pts
Both introduction and conclusion are poorly developed, uninteresting, shall, or vague.
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
STYLE (GRAMMAR,SPELLING, PUNCTUATION)
Paper consistently follows the conventions of English; no more than five errors.
10.0 pts
Paper somewhat follows the conventions of English; more than five but less than ten errors.
5.0 pts
Paper has too many errors; more than ten errors in punctuation, grammar, or spelling.
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
POINT OF VIEW
Paper is written in appropriate point of view (objective voice).
10.0 pts
Paper is written in an inappropriate point of view for essay (first person or second person pronouns used).
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
TONE
Paper displays a formal, academic tone appropriate to the assignment.
10.0 pts
Paper displays an informal tone that is inappropriate to the assignment.
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
Total Points: 100
Chapter 1: Transforming Organizations: Why Firms Fail
Summary of Leading Change by John Kotter
The picture on the cover of John P. Kotter’s book explains it all: a
group of penguins are shuffling their feet anxiously on an icy cliff,
while one brave bird jumps in the water below. The question is, which
penguin are you? In too many organizations, executives are cautious from
the crag, while someone lower down in the striking order dives in to
test the landing conditions. Kotter mentioned the difference between a
manager and a leader.
A
manager, he clarifies, is trained to think in a linear, one-two-three,
risk-free way. Transformational change, however, can only be achieved
when true leaders move forward on several facades at once – eight of
them to be precise. Every successful change initiative begins with an
alliance of leaders who generate a sense of urgency.
Kotter’s
book stems from a 1995 Harvard Business Review article titled, “Leading
Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail.” It will perhaps sound
forcefully acquainted to managers who have watched change initiatives
begin in the front courtyard with a marching band and vanish a few
months later, move out the back door like a customer who can’t pay the
bill. If you want to know why your last change initiative failed, Read
this book. Better yet, study it to make sure that your next leap of
faith is a flying victory
Key Points of the Book
Generally, eight key errors lead to strategic change initiatives failure.
The
most integral error is failure to generate an internal sense of urgency
to justify the change. Others include inadequate vision,
miscommunication and time mismanagement..
Transformation needs many high-level devotees to work together.
Make all efforts to over communicate your vision to your workforces.
If
someone tries to obstruct your program – passively or actively – you
must react. Ignoring the staller question your commitment.
Transformations
reveal in a long period. Proclaiming success too early is a huge
mistake because it devalues and dismisses the organization’s sense of
urgency.
To motivate others, create a few definite, “short-term wins” they can revel.
Until
your change initiative is accepted culturally as “how we do things
here,” it is supposed to being rolled back or deactivated.
Managers
are trained to think in a linear way. Transformational change needs
leadership moving on multiple facades simultaneously.
Image result for images of kotter 8 step modelKotters 8 Step Change Model
In chapters 3 through 10 we will examine each phase of Kotter’s model.
Step One: Create a sense of urgency
In
order for people to have the level of motivation necessary for your
change to succeed, they need to see a sense of urgency. They need to
know that the change is needed now.
Step Two: Create guiding coalitions
Develop
a team of leaders that represent the entire organization. This team
should have the expertise and influence necessary to bring credibility
to the change.
Step Three: Develop the change vision
The vision and strategy behind it should be well focused, realistic, attainable, desirable and easy to communicate to others.
Step Four: Communicate the vision
Communicate
with the goal of getting buy-in from your audience. Encourage a
dialogue that is easy to understand, clear and easy to share.
Step 5: Empower others to act
Determine
what barriers are in place (e.g. organizational structure, employee
skillsets, individual resistance to change, etc.) and work to remove
barriers as far in advance as possible.
Step 6: Create quick wins
Short-term wins on the way to long-term change help overcome resistance and build momentum.
Step 7: Don’t let up
Resistance
to change can re-emerge later in the process. Continue to move the
change forward by keeping the urgency high, encouraging employee
empowerment and greater focus on the strategic vision by leadership.
Step 8: Infuse the change into the corporate culture
As
Kotter puts it, “Make it stick.” New employees should see the change
as part of the culture. Existing employees should see it as a benefit
over the previous way of being.
See the source image

Change and Culture
There
is considerable debate over whether changing something as deep-seated
as organization culture is possible. Those advocating culture change
generally focus on the more surface elements of culture, such as norms
and artifacts. These elements are more changeable than the deeper
elements of values and basic assumptions. They offer OD practitioners a
more manageable set of action levers for changing organizational
behaviors. Some would argue, however, that unless the deeper values and
assumptions are changed, organizations have not really changed their
culture.
The
people who argue that culture change is extremely difficult, if not
impossible, typically focus on the deeper elements of culture (values
and basic assumptions). Because these deeper elements represent
assumptions about organizational life, members do not question them and
have a difficult time envisioning anything else. Moreover, members may
not want to change their cultural assumptions. The culture provides a
strong defense against external uncertainties and threats. It represents
past solutions to difficult problems. Members also may have vested
interests in maintaining the culture. They may have developed personal
stakes, pride, and power in the culture and may strongly resist attempts
to change it. Finally, cultures that provide firms with a competitive
advantage may be difficult to imitate, thus making it hard for less
successful firms to change their cultures to approximate the more
successful ones.
An organization’s culture is deeply embedded in the system and is therefore extremely difficult to change.
Changing
an organization’s culture is one of the most difficult leadership
challenges. That’s because an organization’s culture comprises an
interlocking set of goals, roles, processes, values, communications
practices, attitudes and assumptions.
But what is organizational culture?

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