Kurt Lewin's three-stage model for managing organizational change, developed in the 1940s, consists of unfreeze, change, and refreeze stages. Unfreezing involves overcoming resistance to change, while the movement stage entails implementing new behaviors and responsibilities, and finally, refreezing cements these changes to ensure long-term stability. A case study of an oil company highlights the practical application of this model during a divisional consolidation, illustrating employee management and resistance strategies during the change process.

1. Kurt Lewin’s Three stage model
Approaches to Managing Organizational Change

2. Prepared By
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Manu Melwin Joy
Assistant Professor
Ilahia School of Management Studies
Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

3. Three stage model
• One of the cornerstone models
for understanding organizational
change was developed by Kurt
Lewin back in the 1940s, and still
holds true today.
• His model is known as Unfreeze –
Change – Refreeze, refers to the
three-stage process of change he
describes.
• Kurt Lewin, a physicist as well as
social scientist, explained
organizational change using the
analogy of changing the shape of
a block of ice.

4. Three stage model
Unfreezing RefreezingMoving
• Provide rationale
for change
• Create minor
levels of
guilt/anxiety about
not changing
• Create sense of
psychological
safety concerning
change
• Provide information
that suspects
proposed changes
• Bring about actual
shifts in behavior
• Implement new
evaluation systems
• Implement new
hiring and promotion
systems
Kurt Lewin

5. Three stage model

6. Three stage model
• Unfreezing is the process which
involves finding a method of making it
possible for people to let go of an old
pattern that was counterproductive in
some way.
• Unfreezing is necessary to overcome
the strains of individual resistance and
group conformity.
• Unfreezing can be achieved by the use
of these three methods.
– Increase the driving forces that direct
behavior away from the existing
situation or status quo.
– Decrease the restraining forces that
negatively affect the movement from
the existing equilibrium.
– Find a combination of the two
methods listed above.

7. Three stage model
• Movement stage involves a process of
change in thoughts, feeling, behavior, or
all three, that is in some way more
liberating or more productive.
• Once team members have opened up
their minds, change can start. The change
process can be dynamic and, if it is to be
effective, it will probably take some time
and involve a transition period.
• In order to gain efficiency, people will
have to take on new tasks and
responsibilities, which entail a learning
curve that will at first slow the
organization down.
• A change process has to be viewed as an
investment, both in terms of time and
the allocation of resources: after the new
organization and processes have been
rolled out.

8. Three stage model
• Change will only reach its full
effect if it’s made permanent.
Once the organizational
changes have been made and
the structure has regained its
effectiveness, efforts should be
made to cement them and
make sure the new
organization reaches the
standard.
• “Re-freezing” gives people the
opportunity to thrive in the
new organization and take full
advantage of the change.

9. Changing People: Some Basic
Steps
Recognizing the
need for change
Attempting to
create a new state
of affairs
Incorporating the changes,
creating and maintaining a
new organizational system
Step 1: Unfreezing
Step 3: Refreezing
Step 2: Changing

10. Case study
• The oil company had three
divisional offices in the West,
located in Seattle, San
Francisco, and Los Angeles.
• The decision was made to
consolidate the divisions in
to a single regional office to
be located in San Francisco.
• The reorganization meant
transferring over 150
employees, eliminating some
duplicate managerial
positions, and instituting a
new hierarchy of command

11. UNFREEZING
• The status quo can be considered to
be an equilibrium state. To move
from this equilibrium to overcome
the pressures of both individual
resistance and group conformity
unfreezing is necessary. It can be
achieved in one of three ways.
• The driving forces, which direct
behavior away from the status quo,
can be increased.
• The restraining forces, which hinder
movement from the existing
equilibrium, can be decreased.
• A third alternative is to combine the
first two approaches.

12. Movement
• The oil company’s management
could expect employee resistance
to the consolidation. To deal with
that resistance, management could
use positive incentive to encourage
employees to accept the change,
such as these;
• Increase in pay can be offered to
those who accept the transfer.
• The company can pay liberal
moving expenses.
• Management might offer low cost
mortgage funds to allow
employees to buy new homes in
San Francisco.

13. Movement
• Employees could be counseled individually.
Each employee’s concerns and
apprehensions could be heard and
specifically clarified.
• Assuming that most of the fears are
unjustified, the counselor could assure the
employees that there was nothing to fear
and then demonstrate, through tangible
evidence, that restraining forces are
unwarranted.
• If resistance is extremely high, management
mat have to resort to both reducing
resistance and increasing the attractiveness
of the alternative if the unfreezing is to be
successful.
• To be effective, change has to happen
quickly. Organizations that build up to
change do less well than those that get to
and through the movement stage quickly.

14. Refreezing
• Once the consolidation change
has been implemented, if it is to
be successful, the new situation
needs to be refrozen so that it
can be sustained over time.
• Unless this last step is taken,
there is a very high chance that
the change will be short lived
and that employees will attempt
to revert to the previous
equilibrium state.
• The objective of refreezing, then,
is to stabilize the new situation
by balancing the driving and
restraining forces.