How to Build an Organizational Change Management Plan

Building an organizational change management plan starts with a foundational decision: Which change management framework will you use to guide the work? That choice shapes everything — how you communicate, how you sequence activities, how you support employees, and how you measure success. Get it right and the plan holds together. Get it wrong and even a well-resourced initiative can stall. Research bears this out: according to WalkMe, 70% of enterprises whose digital transformations fail do so not because the technology was wrong, but because the human side of change was poorly managed.

The online Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a Concentration in Management program at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) prepares professionals to lead exactly this kind of work — building and executing change plans that account for people, structure, and organizational culture. Managers who can select and apply the right framework are better positioned to protect their organizations and teams when disruption arrives.

According to IBM Think, successful transformational change management goes beyond a communication plan; it involves implementing change throughout the company culture. Prosci defines it as “the application of a structured change management process and set of tools focused on leading the people side of change to achieve a desired outcome.” Three frameworks dominate both research and practice — Lewin’s Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze model, the Prosci ADKAR model, and Kotter’s 8-step model — and choosing the right one is where an effective change management plan begins.

Lewin’s Change Model: Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze

Kurt Lewin introduced his three-stage model in the 1940s, making it the oldest and arguably the most foundational model in use today. Despite its age, Lewin’s model remains influential because it captures a universal truth: before people can adopt something new, they must let go of the old.

Stage 1 — Unfreeze: The first stage is about preparing the organization for change. Leaders must build awareness of why the current state is no longer sustainable, address resistance before it hardens, and create the psychological safety that allows people to consider a new way of operating. Communication is the most important tool at this stage. The key deliverable is a compelling case for change — one that connects to values and outcomes employees care about.

Stage 2 — Change: Once the organization is unfrozen, the actual transition begins. People start working toward the new state. Motivation must be actively maintained during this stage, because the comfort of the old way has been disrupted and the new way is not yet embedded. Regular communication, visible leadership, and honest updates about progress all reduce the risk of reverting to old patterns. The goal is to move the organization from “where we were” to “where we want to be” with as little friction as possible.

Stage 3 — Refreeze: The final stage anchors the change. New behaviors, processes, and systems are reinforced until they become the new normal. Without this stage, organizations often slip back into old habits — a common failure point when change management ends at implementation rather than institutionalization. Celebration of wins, updated policies, and ongoing reinforcement all support the refreeze stage.

• Pros: Simple, intuitive, and easy to communicate across an organization. Works well for focused, bound change initiatives with a clear start and end point.
• Cons: The linear, sequential structure can oversimplify complex or continuous change. It is less effective when multiple changes are running simultaneously, or when the change is ongoing rather than episodic.
• Best for: Policy changes, team restructures, cultural resets, and small-to-mid-scale organizational change where the scope is clear and leadership support is strong.

The ADKAR Model: Change at the Individual Level

While Lewin’s model focuses on the organization as a whole, the ADKAR model operates at a different level: the individual. Jeff Hiatt — the founder of Prosci — developed this model in 1994 after researching 700 organizations. His core insight was that organizations don’t change; people do. ADKAR is an acronym for five sequential building blocks that every person must move through for change to succeed:

Awareness: Employees must understand why the change is happening before they can support it.

Desire: Awareness alone is not enough; people must choose to engage.

Knowledge: Training, communication, and clear instructions give people the tools they need to act differently.

Ability: Knowledge must translate into real capability. Practice, coaching, and feedback build this aptitude.

Reinforcement: Without ongoing reinforcement, even well-trained employees slide back into familiar habits.

What makes ADKAR particularly useful as a change management framework is its diagnostic power. If a change effort stalls, a leader can use the ADKAR model to identify exactly where individuals are stuck — whether in Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, or Reinforcement — and apply targeted support rather than blunt, organization-wide interventions.

• Pros: People-centered and diagnostic. Highly scalable across organizations of any size. Works at both individual and organizational levels when paired with a broader strategy.
• Cons: ADKAR is less prescriptive about organizational-level tactics and sequencing. It can require significant investment in training and individual support infrastructure, which may strain resources in smaller organizations.
• Best for: Large-scale enterprise change initiatives — technology rollouts, ERP implementations, mergers and acquisitions, and any change effort where employee adoption is the primary risk factor. ADKAR excels when change resistance is expected to be high or when individual readiness varies significantly across the workforce.

Kotter’s 8-Step Process: A Leadership-Driven Approach

John Kotter, a professor at Harvard Business School, introduced his 8-step model in his 1996 book Leading Change. It quickly became one of the most widely taught change management frameworks in MBA programs and executive education worldwide.

A systematic review published in PubMed Central found that, across 38 studies examining change management methodologies, Kotter’s Model was the most commonly applied, appearing in 19 of them. Kotter’s 8-step model emphasizes organizational leadership and momentum. The eight steps can be grouped into four phases:

Foundation (Steps 1–2): Create a sense of urgency by surfacing the market realities or organizational risks that demand change. Then build a guiding coalition — a leadership team with sufficient authority, credibility, and commitment to drive the change initiative.

Direction (Steps 3–4): Develop a clear vision and a change management strategy that shows people where the organization is headed. Communicate that vision relentlessly through every available channel, so the message saturates the organization.

Execution (Steps 5–6): Remove barriers and empower employees to act on the vision. Then generate short-term wins — visible, meaningful milestones that demonstrate the change is working and sustain organizational momentum.

Embedding (Steps 7–8): Consolidate gains and produce more change, using early wins as a platform for deeper transformation. Finally, anchor the new approach in the culture so it becomes the way the organization operates, not just a project that was completed.

• Pros: A detailed, step-by-step roadmap with strong emphasis on leadership urgency and visible wins. Widely recognized in both academic and corporate contexts.
• Cons: Skipping or rushing steps significantly increases the risk of failure. The top-down structure can limit employee engagement if front-line involvement is not actively built in.
• Best for: Organization-wide strategic transformations, mergers, and large-scale restructuring where senior leadership alignment and organizational momentum are the critical success factors.

How Do These Change Management Frameworks Compare?

Each of these three frameworks approaches the challenge of organizational change from a different vantage point, which is precisely why comparing them directly is useful before choosing one.

Lewin’s model focuses on the state of the organization — describing change as a movement from one stable state (frozen) through a transition (change) to a new stable state (refrozen). It is descriptive and conceptual, making it easier to communicate to a broad audience but less prescriptive about exactly what to do at each stage.

The ADKAR model focuses on the individual within the organization. It treats organizational change as the cumulative result of individual change journeys and it provides leaders with a diagnostic tool to identify bottlenecks. Its five sequential elements make it highly actionable at a personal level.

Kotter’s model focuses on the organizational leadership system that drives change. It is the most prescriptive of the three, with eight specific steps and a clear emphasis on building momentum, communicating urgency, and delivering visible wins that sustain organizational commitment.

A useful shorthand: Lewin explains what change looks like. ADKAR explains who needs to change and how to support them. Kotter explains how leadership should drive the change effort.

All three frameworks share several core principles. Each recognizes that change resistance is a predictable obstacle that must be actively managed. Each treats communication as essential throughout the change process. And each acknowledges that change is not a single event but a process that requires sustained attention from start to finish.

Which Change Management Framework Is Right for Your Organization?

The answer depends on the nature, scale, and organizational context of the change you are managing. No single change management framework is universally superior. The best fit depends on your specific situation.

Choose Lewin’s model when the change is bound and clearly defined, the organization is relatively small, and you need a framework that is easy to explain and execute without a large support infrastructure. It works well for team restructures, policy updates, and cultural shifts that have strong executive sponsorship.

Choose the ADKAR model when the change involves a large number of people at different readiness levels, when employee adoption is the primary risk, or when you need a diagnostic tool to identify and address individual-level resistance. It is the preferred approach for technology rollouts, enterprise software implementations, and M&A integrations where human behavior change is the linchpin of success.

Choose Kotter’s 8-step model when the transformation is large in scale, driven by senior leadership, and requires sustained organizational momentum over an extended period. Kotter’s framework is especially effective when the organization needs a clear, shared roadmap and when building visible early wins is important for maintaining stakeholder buy-in.

Many experienced change leaders do not choose one framework exclusively. A common approach is to use Kotter’s urgency and coalition-building steps to launch a change initiative at the organizational level, then apply the ADKAR model to support individual employees through their personal transition journeys. Lewin’s framework, meanwhile, provides a useful conceptual overlay for understanding where the organization stands at any point in the change effort.

Building a practical change management strategy often means drawing on multiple models and adapting them to your organization’s culture. Understanding how these frameworks work — and when to use each — is one of the most transferable skills a manager can develop. Whether you are leading a small team through a policy shift or steering an enterprise through a full digital transformation, the ability to choose the right framework and execute it with discipline separates leaders who drive lasting change from those who manage temporary disruptions. That skill set is exactly what graduate-level management education is designed to build. The online MBA with a Concentration in Management program at TAMU-CC equips professionals with the applied frameworks, depth of leadership, and practical tools to guide organizations through change with confidence — and to advance their careers in the process.

Develop the applied change leadership skills to guide organizational transformation — explore the online MBA with a Concentration in Management program at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi.

About TAMU-CC’s Online MBA with a Concentration in Management Program

Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi offers a fully online, AACSB-accredited MBA with a concentration in management, designed for working professionals who want to build advanced leadership capabilities without stepping away from their careers. The online MBA in Management program covers managerial theory, data-driven decision-making, organizational behavior, and the applied leadership skills needed to guide successful organizational change.

Graduates are prepared to take on leadership roles across business sectors, equipped with the strategic frameworks and practical skills to manage complex change initiatives. Learn more about the Online MBA with a Concentration in Management program from TAMU-CC.