LDR 615 Topic 3 DQ 1: Comparing Change Models

Choose the pair for disagreement, because a comparison of two models that say the same thing in different vocabulary is a vocabulary exercise. Lewin's unfreeze, change, refreeze is episodic and assumes stability is the normal state to be interrupted. Kotter's eight steps is sequential, leader-driven and front-loads urgency and a guiding coalition. The ADKAR model works at the level of the individual and asks what each person needs — awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, reinforcement — rather than what the organisation must do. Appreciative inquiry inverts the premise entirely by starting from what is already working instead of from a burning platform. Lewin against ADKAR contrasts organisational and individual units of analysis; Kotter against appreciative inquiry contrasts urgency-driven and strengths-driven premises. Either pairing gives you something to say. Name the axis your pair disagrees on before describing either model, so the comparison has somewhere to go.

Compare on stated axes rather than describing each in turn: unit of analysis, assumed pace, who initiates, what counts as success, and how each handles resistance. That last one is the most revealing, since Kotter treats resistance as an obstacle to be overcome while appreciative inquiry treats it as information about what people value. Then the half most posts rush. The leadership approach you would use is not a free choice — it follows from the model. A leader-driven sequential model needs directive leadership with visible sponsorship and a willingness to move people who block it. An individual-level model needs coaching, since its unit of change is a person's ability and reinforcement. A strengths-based model needs facilitative leadership and genuinely cannot be run top-down. Say which, and say what would go wrong if you paired the wrong style with your chosen model. Say which conditions favour your preferred model as well, because a model chosen without conditions is a preference.