○ Background:
■ GE, a large multinational, has gone through repeated restructuring and strategic shifts to remain competitive in changing markets.
■ Management used Lewin’s ideas to manage large-scale change rather than many small, uncoordinated initiatives.
○ Application of the three stages:
■ Unfreeze: Leaders created a sense of urgency by highlighting consequences of maintaining the status quo—such as declining competitiveness and financial performance—and communicated why change was critical for survival.
■ Change: GE provided resources, training, and support to help employees adopt new processes, structures, and technologies, and encouraged new behaviours around efficiency and innovation.
■ Refreeze: The company reinforced the changes through incentives, performance metrics, and cultural reinforcement so that new behaviours became the accepted norm across units.