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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Managing strategic change

Harbor Ridge Logistics plans to replace its manual dispatch process with a new routing platform. Managers list pressures supporting the change, such as customer complaints and rising fuel costs, and pressures against it, such as driver fears of job loss and limited training budget. Which analytical tool is the managers using, and what does it imply?

The managers are using Lewin's force field analysis. They identify driving and restraining forces, and the implication is that change happens when drivers are strengthened or restrainers are reduced, shifting the balance away from the current equilibrium toward the desired state.

  1. ALewin's force field analysis; the change succeeds when driving forces are strengthened or restraining forces are reducedCorrect
  2. BKotter's eight-step model; the change succeeds only when a guiding coalition is created first
  3. CBalogun and Hope Hailey's change kaleidoscope; the change path is chosen by context features
  4. DJohnson and Scholes' cultural web; the change succeeds when symbols and stories are altered

Explanation

Listing driving and restraining forces is the core of Lewin's force field analysis. The change moves when driving forces outweigh restraining forces, either by strengthening drivers or weakening restrainers. The other models address steps, context or culture and are not what is being done.

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