Cultural revitalization movements in organization change management

Abstract

The 1992 study of Kotter and Heskett on successful corporate culture change reveals one of the most empirically convincing models for organization change management. The procedure demonstrated by Kotter and Heskett's research fits the pattern and dynamics of a universal social phenomenon of culture change defined in 1956 by Wallace as revitalization. Applying the psychodynamics of revitalization explains how this procedure of corporate culture change in distressed organizational cultures creates an adaptable culture of new behavioral norms. The driving force of this procedure is the transference of dependency wishes among anxious organization members onto their perceived powerful organization leader. An understanding of how and why organizational cultures change according to this model can guide the values and behavior of organizational leaders in successfully managing organizational change.