Defining Key Factors for Successful Change Management and A New Model Proposal

Change management models proposed by Lewin (1951) and Kotter (1995) are well known in the literature. These models are also well accepted in Turkish literature as well; however they include very broad explanations. It is not clear whether these models can be used as a guide in practice. This study aims to analyze studies conducted in the field of change management in order to determine success indicators for change management practices and suggest a new change management model. For this purpose authorized dissertations and thesis in database of National Thesis Archive at the Council of Higher Education Center and articles published in journals Indexed within ULAKBİM National database were reviewed with keywords “change” and “change management”. 72 relevant studies were analyzed, 31 of which are articles and 41 are thesis and dissertations, 25 of which examined a real change process within an organization. Considering these 25 studies’ result, success indicators for change management are defined as follows; communication, potential resistors, human resources department, leadership, shared vision, incentive, team and culture. The proposed change management model consists of 4 main processes named evaluation of the present state, defining outline for change, monitoring and freezing.