This document discusses how Newton's laws of motion relate to organizational change. It states that inertia naturally resists change within organizations, similar to how objects resist changes in motion. For change to occur, a force is needed to overcome inertia, whether it be coercive force or motivational force. The document also notes that greater force is needed for larger changes, changes to larger organizations, or changes attempted over shorter periods of time. Finally, it points out that reactions to change attempts must be addressed using Newton's third law of equal and opposite reactions. Effective managers understand and apply these dynamics when planning and implementing organizational changes.

1. DR K M SONI
CHIEF ENGINEER, CPWD,
MUMBAI

2. Change is the law of nature.
Organization is considered the backbone
of management and change is an essential
component to be followed by an
organization.
Globalization has now forced the
organizations to adopt change as per
external environment at a faster rate.

3.  Efficiency of leaders and managers now
depend how fast they can adopt and adjust
for organizational changes.
 It is important for them to understand and
analyze “change” because it is not only the
part of their job but also very basis of their
efficiency.
 Leaders and managers have to make efforts
continuously to understand the change
process, develop their own strategies to cope
up with the change and finally make the
change successful and effective.

4. Inertia and restraining forces in a highly
competitive environment resist the change
and make the job extremely tough for
leaders and managers.
It is reported that up to 75 % of the efforts
of CEO’s do not yield the promised results.
Certain changes, many times produce
unintended and unhelpful consequences
though they are sometimes successful.

5. Since changes cannot be avoided,
success of any organization depends upon
the successful implementation of positive
change. Obviously, managers have to
understand, plan and implement
successfully organizational change.

6. Newton’s first and second laws are about
inertia and change.
They are universally applicable.
First law states, “every object remains in
state of rest or uniform motion in a straight
line unless and until an external force is
applied to it”
Second law is, “Applied force is
proportional to mass and acceleration.”

7. Inertia will resist the change in any
organization.
A force will need to be applied for change.
“Freezing” condition can be converted into
unfreezing with force only.
The force may be coercion, or motivating
force or a mix of two.

8.  Force is directly proportional to mass (m)
 Force is directly proportional to acceleration
(a)
 Thus Force = m * a
 Or Force (F) = m * ( v – u)/t
 Or (v – u) = F * t /m
 Thus change is directly proportional to Force
applied
 Change is directly proportional to time
 And change is inversely proportional to mass

9. Thus for a change Force is essential,
either coercion or motivation or a mix of
two.
Larger the change, more is the time
required.
Larger the mass (bigger organization),
change will be low and vice versa.


10. Also m* (v – u) = F * change in time (t2-t1)
For a slow change in momentum, time is
more i.e. value of (t2 – t1), hence force
required will be low.
Many managers and leaders adopt this
and allow more time for change so that
force required is low.

11. In impulse one has large force applied for
a very low time like hitting a six. Thus
m * (v – u) = F * t , t being low
Thus for a large value of change in
momentum called impulse i.e. m * (v – u),
large force is required as t is very low.
Many leaders and managers adopt this
method and for implementation of change,
large force is applied giving very short
time.

12. Newton’s third law states, “to every action
there is an equal and opposite reaction”.
This is also applicable to change.
In case of change, reaction may come
internally or from external forces.
Leaders and managers have to take steps
to take on the reaction and be ready to
resolve it.