| Course | MGT 362 Change Management and Implementation (MGT/362) |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Change model comparison and application |
| Length | about 1,162 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | BS in Business |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGT 362 Week 2
Lewin, Kotter or ADKAR? Choosing and Applying a Change Model for Cardinal Freight Lines' New Dispatch System
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
MGT/362: Change Management and Implementation
Week 2 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Cardinal Freight Lines and all details are composites written for a model paper.
Cardinal Freight Lines, the composite regional carrier from Week 1, has decided to replace whiteboard dispatch with a routing and tracking system. The data showed 19 percent empty miles, uneven on-time delivery and dispatchers overwhelmed with status calls. The change will alter the daily work of 64 dispatchers, 1,150 drivers and 14 terminal managers. Leaders want a structured approach. A change model is a map, not the territory, and its value depends on whether it fits the kind of change and the people who must make it. This paper compares three models and applies the best fit.
Lewin's Three-Step Model
Lewin (1947) described social change as a shift in a balance of forces and is credited with the three steps of unfreezing, moving and refreezing. Unfreezing means making people ready to let go of current habits, often by showing that the present state is not working. Moving means changing behavior. Refreezing means stabilizing the new behavior so it does not slip back.
Strengths and Limits of Lewin
Lewin's model is simple and explains why change fails when habits are not unfrozen or new practices are not reinforced. Its limits are that it offers little detail on how to carry out each step and that its image of refreezing suits stable environments better than continual change.
Kotter's Eight Steps
Kotter (2012) set out eight steps. Leaders first make the need feel pressing and assemble a group with enough influence to lead. That group then writes a picture of the future, spreads it widely and clears away barriers so others can act. Visible early successes follow, momentum is used to push further changes and, finally, the new practices are woven into the culture. The steps describe how leaders move a whole organization.
Strengths and Limits of Kotter
Kotter's steps are practical and widely used, and they stress leadership, communication and early wins. They focus on the organization and its leaders more than on individual employees, and they can be applied too rigidly as a checklist.
The ADKAR Model
Hiatt (2006) described ADKAR as five outcomes each person must reach for change to succeed: an understanding of the reason for the change, a personal wish to take part, the know-how to work differently, the practiced skill to do it under real conditions and reinforcement that keeps the new habit in place. The model helps managers diagnose where an individual is stuck.
Strengths and Limits of ADKAR
ADKAR is useful for coaching individuals and identifying barriers, such as a dispatcher who knows how to use the system but lacks the ability to trust it under pressure. It says less about organization-wide strategy and leadership.
What Research Says About the Models
Stouten et al. (2018) compared popular change models with research evidence and found that models such as Kotter's capture important practices, including urgency and short-term wins, but that research also supports steps the models give less attention, such as careful diagnosis, assessing readiness and involving employees. The lesson is to use models as guides and fill their gaps.
Comparing the Models
Lewin explains the logic of change, Kotter organizes leadership actions across the company and ADKAR addresses each person's path. For a transformational change that affects many roles, no single model covers everything.
Choosing a Combined Approach
Cardinal will use Kotter's steps to organize the company-wide effort and ADKAR to coach individual dispatchers and drivers, with Lewin's ideas reminding leaders to unfreeze habits and reinforce new ones. This combination fits a change that requires both leadership and individual skill building.
Applying Kotter: Urgency and Coalition
Urgency comes from sharing Week 1 data with all terminals: margin decline, empty miles and terminal differences. The guiding coalition includes the operations vice president, two terminal managers, three veteran dispatchers from the best terminals, a driver representative and the IT lead. Veterans' presence signals respect for their knowledge.
Applying Kotter: Vision and Communication
The vision is "Fewer empty miles, calmer days and customers who always know where their freight is." It speaks to dispatchers' stress and drivers' frustration as well as to costs. Terminal managers will share it in meetings, and coalition members will answer questions directly.
Applying Kotter: Removing Obstacles and Short-Term Wins
Obstacles include dispatchers' fear of being replaced and drivers' concern about monitoring. Leaders will commit that no dispatcher will lose a job because of the system and that tracking data will not be used for discipline except in safety cases. Pilot terminals in Fort Wayne and Columbus will provide short-term wins, such as fewer status calls, shared with all terminals.
Applying Kotter: Consolidating and Anchoring
After the pilot, the system will roll out to remaining terminals in three groups, with lessons applied each time. Anchoring comes from updating job descriptions, performance measures and training for new dispatchers so the new way becomes simply how Cardinal works.
Applying ADKAR to a Dispatcher
Consider a veteran dispatcher in Toledo. Awareness comes from seeing her terminal's data. Desire comes from understanding that the system reduces calls and that her judgment remains central. Knowledge comes from training. Ability comes from practice on real routes with a coach during the pilot. Reinforcement comes from recognition and from seeing results.
Applying ADKAR to Drivers
Drivers need awareness of why tracking is coming, desire based on fewer late route changes and calls, knowledge of the new mobile app, ability through practice and reinforcement through faster dock times. Their concerns about monitoring must be addressed directly to build desire.
Applying ADKAR to Terminal Managers
Terminal managers are easy to overlook because they are not the main users of the system, yet they set the tone at each site. Their awareness comes from the terminal comparisons in Week 1, which show some of them that their sites lag. Desire depends on seeing that the system helps them meet targets rather than exposing them. Knowledge and ability come from learning to read the system's reports and to coach dispatchers through problems. Reinforcement comes from including the new measures in their own reviews.
Where the Combined Approach Could Fail
The combination has risks. Leaders could follow Kotter's steps as a checklist, holding meetings and announcing wins while dispatchers remain unconvinced. Coaches could treat ADKAR as a form to fill out rather than a conversation. To prevent this, the coalition will review progress with dispatchers each month and adjust, which reflects research support for involving employees and checking readiness.
Unfreezing and Refreezing
Lewin's insight shows up throughout: sharing data and hearing concerns unfreeze old habits, the pilot and training move behavior and updated roles, measures and recognition refreeze the new practices.
Conclusion
Each model contributes something. Kotter's steps organize leadership action, ADKAR guides each dispatcher and driver and Lewin explains why habits must be loosened and new ones secured. Applied to Cardinal's dispatch change, the combined approach assigns specific actions to specific people and prepares the project planning in Week 3.
References
Hiatt, J. M. (2006). ADKAR: A model for change in business, government and our community. Prosci Learning Center Publications.
Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Harvard Business Review Press.
Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in group dynamics: Concept, method and reality in social science; social equilibria and social change. Human Relations, 1(1), 5-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872674700100103
Stouten, J., Rousseau, D. M., & De Cremer, D. (2018). Successful organizational change: Integrating the management practice and scholarly literatures. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2), 752-788. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2016.0095
What the MGT 362 Week 2 instructions ask
The second MGT 362 assignment often asks students to compare change management models and apply one or more to an organization. Typical requirements include explaining models such as Lewin's three-step model, Kotter's eight-step process and the ADKAR model, comparing their focus, strengths and limitations, choosing a model that fits the change and organization and showing how each step would be carried out. Some prompts ask students to justify combining models. Explain models accurately and briefly, apply each step to specific people and actions in the organization, explain why the chosen model fits and cite sources in APA format.
How this MGT 362 Week 2 example is built
When a trucking company changes how 64 dispatchers plan routes, it needs a structured approach, and the paper compares three models before choosing. Lewin's model explains the need to unfreeze habits, move to new practices and refreeze them. Kotter's eight steps guide the organization from urgency to anchoring change in culture. ADKAR focuses on each person's awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement. The paper finds that Kotter suits the company-wide effort while ADKAR suits individual dispatchers, and it applies both: a guiding coalition including veteran dispatchers, a vision of fewer empty miles and calmer days, short-term wins at pilot terminals and coaching for each dispatcher.
MGT 362 Week 2 grading rubric: where the points go
A strong models paper explains each model correctly, compares them thoughtfully and applies the chosen approach step by step to the actual organization. Instructors credit a clear comparison of what each model emphasizes, recognition of their limits, a reasoned choice tied to the type of change and specific actions for each step rather than general statements. Combining models can be effective when the paper explains why. Plain writing, a comparison table and APA citations complete the work. Papers that note what research says about the evidence behind popular models show critical thinking. Instructors also look for attention to both leaders and individual employees, since a change can succeed at the top and still fail at the desk of the person who has to use a new system every morning.
MGT 362 Week 2 help: mistakes to avoid
Students often summarize all three models in detail and then apply one in a few sentences. Reverse that balance. Another gap is applying a model's steps without naming who does what. Assign actions to people. Students also present models as proven formulas; note their limits. Avoid choosing a model only because it is famous; explain why it fits this change. If you combine models, show how they fit together. Use a table to compare. Finally, connect the model to the problem defined in Week 1, so the course work builds on itself. Keep the summaries of each model short and the application long, with named people and dates.
Related MGT 362 sample papers
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- MGT 362 Week 4: Stakeholders and Change Communication
- MGT 362 Week 5: Measuring and Sustaining Change
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MGT 362 Week 2 questions, answered
What does MGT 362 Week 2 usually cover?
It usually covers change management models, such as Lewin's three-step model, Kotter's eight steps and ADKAR, comparing them and applying the best fit to an organization's change.
Where can I find a free MGT 362 Week 2 sample paper?
The complete model comparison and application for a trucking company's dispatch change is on this page, annotated step by step. A free draft for your own model paper is available on request.
What is Lewin's change model?
A model describing change as unfreezing current habits and beliefs, moving to new behaviors and refreezing them so they last, based on Kurt Lewin's work on group dynamics.
What are Kotter's eight steps?
In brief: make the need urgent, gather a leadership team, set a vision, share it widely, clear barriers, win early, keep building and make the change part of the culture.
What does ADKAR stand for?
Awareness of the need for change, Desire to support it, Knowledge of how to change, Ability to carry it out and Reinforcement to sustain it, a model focused on individual change.
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