Action Plan The theory of human motivation developed by Maslow (1943) and the associated hierarchy of needs can be of use in terms of facilitating both organizational change and conflict management. Maslow’s theory was that every individual has needs that have to be met before that person can become self-actualized. The basic ground floor of needs consists of food, shelter, and security. Next come the social needs: esteem, love and friendship. Finally, self-determination can be achieved once the individual no longer requires external inputs to be motivated. In other words, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations can help individuals climb the ladder up the needs hierarchy to achieve self-actualization—but those motivations must be tailored individualistically to accommodate individual workers, because every worker will be different (Gerhart & Fang, 2015).

With that in mind, the action plan to promote effective organizational change with an emphasis on conflict management policy for my organization has as its main goal the fostering of cohesiveness, communication, and dedication. Using the Kotter 8 Step change model, which is helpful in overcoming resistance and barriers to change (Hornstein, 2015), this action plan can be implemented effectively according to the following steps:

1) Create a sense of urgency

2) Create a guiding coalition

3) Create a vision for change

4) Communicate the vision

5) Remove obstacles

6) Create short-term wins

7) Consolidate improvements

8) Anchor the changes

The Kotter model is essentially an expansion of the Lewin change model, which Manchester et al. (2014) showed can be augmented through a collaborative approach to bring about the desired change. The Kotter model makes collaboration a necessary step in the process of organizational change—and since one of the goals of my change process is to enhance and increase communication, collaboration is and must be an important part of the process.

The first step is to create a sense of urgency within my company so as to make everyone aware of the need for the change. The goals should be specifically...

To make the case that there is a need for change, a good argument has to be developed: in our case, I would point out that after internal review, a lack of cohesiveness, communication and dedication in our department has been identified as the cause for missed objectives over the past year.
Following the establishment of a sense of urgency, it is necessary to create a guiding coalition—a team through which members of the department can collaborate to help achieve the aims of the change while minimizing conflict. This is achieved by discussing with workers what their needs are and how we can overcome obstacles. The more that everyone is involved in the process, and the more that individual needs are understood, the better we can motivate everyone, according to Maslow’s theory, and provide the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators that Gerhart and Fang (2015) identify as being so crucial to attaining organizational goals.

The change then must be communicated to all: I would have to define it clearly and the pathways that have been selected for achieving it. Concretely, this would consist of pairing individuals together who are in need of setting aside issues so that they can learn to get together better, in accordance with the recommendation of Guchait, Lei and Tews (2016). This would facilitate the development of communication and cohesiveness. Next is the process of putting each worker in the position of supervisor so that they can learn dedication and reinforce communication skills development, in accordance with the recommendation of Rahim, Antonio and Psenicka (2001).

This would help to remove potential obstacles and allow short-term wins to be celebrated. Every time there is a breakthrough in communication or a more cohesive demonstration of collaboration in the department, the victory will be celebrated to bring unity and dedication to the group and further promote a positive spirit. Then by consolidating the improvements and anchoring the changes, the change process can be completed and what would essentially become a new workplace culture will be firmly developed.

Conflict will be managed by…