Theory of Change and the Effective Use of Management Science

Dale E. Zand and Richard E. Sorensen A theory of social change formulated by Kurt Lewin was used as a framework to investigate conditions in the successful application of management science. Several hypotheses about change are derived, and questionnaires developed to assess forces affecting change. A sample of 154 management scientists provided information about successful and unsuccessful change projects. Successful projects were found to have a preponderance of favorable forces in each of three phases of change: unfreezing, moving, and refreezing. The research also suggested that favorable and unfavorable forces in each phase of change were not simple opposites. The study indicated that many forces may affect the success of a change; such as, recognition by management of the need for change, the openness of management about its difficulties, and their confidence in the management scientist, the participation of management in gathering data and choosing a solution, the efforts of management scientists to reinforce the new behavior of management, the measurability of results, and the involvement of top management. Although the change efforts studied in this research were projects in management science, the findings seem relevant and generalizable to other change efforts.