Models and theories of planned change are intended to help organizations manage any changes that may be occurring within them. PAREF Southcrest School, Inc. is an educational facility in the Philippines and abroad that operates on the principle that the home is the first school and that parents represent a crucial part of education. Because the educational institution strives to sustain high levels of academic performance and help students reach excellence through personal education, it is essential that the change theory applied there fits the established context.
Among the available theories, Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis model appears to be the most valuable and practical when applied to organizations, including those operating in the educational context. The model represents a robust and reliable strategic tool that organizations can use to understand what needs to be accomplished to encourage positive change in both corporate and personal environments. The model is recommended for the school because it is easy to use but has full credibility as a professional tool that can be quite flexible.
Notably, the model approaches the concept of organizational culture as a state of equilibrium that is not static but a living process made up of multiple social interactions. Within a school, social interactions are an inevitable part of the organizational culture, which means that any changes implemented within it should strive for that state of equilibrium. Any friction that appear during social interactions will change the cultural patterns and shift the balance of counteracting forces (Warner Burke, 1982). The balance between the forces maintaining social self-regulation has to be disrupted to facilitate any change in such an environment.
In Lewin’s model, it is stated that the status quo will change when the driving forces are stronger compared to restraining forces. Such an approach can be helpful to an organization that struggles to understand why people are resistant to change and how they will move through it. To facilitate positive change, it is important to implement the driving forces that will make change appealing to people. However, restraining forces will also work to keep things as they are. Successful change in Lewin’s approach is facilitated by either boosting the driving forces or weakening the restraining forces.
At PAREF Southcrest School, the approach to change based on Lewin’s model will entail the analysis to differentiate between the factors driving and hindering change. Understanding what makes individuals be resisting to change or accept it is concerned with pinpointing their experiences. In a school setting, the behaviors of students, teachers, technical staff, and the school’s leadership are essential to analyze when exploring the process of change. The first step is defining the change one wants to achieve, while the second and third steps entail identifying the driving and restraining forces. The fourth step evaluates such forces, while the fifth step reviews them to determine whether some forces are flexible and could be changed. The next step entails creating a strategy allowing to strengthen the driving forces and weaken the restraining ones. The final step is to prioritize the action steps to ensure that the maximum impact is achieved. Overall, the model is quite flexible and is adjusted to a specific context, which makes it suitable to be applied at PAREF Southcrest School.
Reference
Warner Burke, W. (1982). Organization development: Principles and practices. Little Brown & Co.