Lewin's Change Model for Retail-to-E-Commerce Transition
This paper examines the application of Lewin's Change Model to help a fictional retail company, Sea Treasures, transition from a traditional brick-and-mortar operation to an e-commerce platform. The paper outlines each of the model's three stages—unfreezing established workplace norms, implementing the desired new behaviors, and refreezing those behaviors as the accepted standard. It also addresses the roles that managers and executives play in supporting the change process, managing employee resistance, and sustaining organizational momentum. Drawing on peer-reviewed nursing and organizational literature, the paper argues that Lewin's rationally grounded framework is well suited to managing transformational business change.
- Introduction to Lewin's Change Model: Introduces Lewin's three-stage model for organizational change
- Stage One: Unfreezing Established Norms: Overcoming resistance by educating and motivating workers
- Stage Two: Implementing the Change: Teaching new behaviors and sustaining leadership support
- Stage Three: Refreezing the New Behavior: Solidifying new norms as standard organizational behavior
- Roles of Managers and Executives: Manager and executive responsibilities during change
- Conclusion: Lewin's model as the right fit for Sea Treasures
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What makes this paper effective
- Applies a well-established theoretical framework (Lewin's Change Model) directly and consistently to a concrete organizational scenario, keeping the argument focused throughout.
- Maintains a logical progression that mirrors the three-stage model itself, making the paper's structure reinforce its content.
- Balances conceptual explanation with practical application, addressing both the "what" and the "how" of each stage for managers and executives specifically.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied theoretical analysis: it introduces an established framework, explains its mechanisms using cited scholarly sources, and then maps each mechanism onto a specific organizational problem. This approach shows how academic models translate into actionable management strategy, which is the core skill assessed in business and organizational behavior courses.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a rationale for selecting Lewin's model, then devotes one section to each of the three stages in sequence. Two additional sections address the practical implications for managers and executives respectively, before a brief conclusion ties the argument back to the original organizational scenario. The structure is straightforward, linear, and well matched to the subject matter.
Introduction to Lewin's Change Model
The best change model for this particular scenario would be Lewin's Change Model, which has three important stages that can help any organization implement an effective change (Shirey, 2013). The three steps are: 1) unfreeze, 2) change, and 3) refreeze. The process begins by creating in the minds of stakeholders—including employees—the understanding that a change is needed. Workers are then guided to embrace the new, desired behavior. Next, that behavior is solidified until it becomes the new organizational norm. Lewin's Change Model has been utilized by professionals across many fields, from business to nursing (Manchester, Gray-Miceli, Metcalf et al., 2014), and it would certainly work for Sea Treasures as the company attempts to shift its operations to the Web.
References
Manchester, J., Gray-Miceli, D. L., Metcalf, J. A., Paolini, C. A., Napier, A. H., Coogle, C. L., & Owens, M. G. (2014). Facilitating Lewin's change model with collaborative evaluation in promoting evidence based practices of health professionals. Eval Program Planning, 47, 82–90.
Shirey, M. R. (2013). Lewin's theory of planned change as a strategic resource. Journal of Nursing Administration, 43(2), 69–72.
Sutherland, K. (2013). Applying Lewin's change management theory to the implementation of bar-coded medication administration. Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 8(1–2).
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