Change is crucial for organizations in continuous growing and high competition in business environment. Different theories of change describe the effectiveness of modification of strategies, processes and structures for organizations. The action research model, the positive model and the Lewin’s change model submit the views of the phases for change in organization. This study views the Lewin’s model as three steps process (unfreezing, movement and refreezing) for change in organization. Although this model sets a general steps to be followed, more information is considered to guide these steps in specific situations. This article is critically reviewed for change theories in different phases of organizational change. In this critical review the change management has constructive framework for managing the organizational change through different phases of the process. This review gives theoretical and practical implications and somehow the immunity to change has been discussed.

Introduction and research questions

The purpose of the study is to craft the relation between process model and change, this relation describes the ways of implementing change process by leader’s knowledge sharing, and this sharing identifies the stages of change process, and these stages delineate the functional significance between organizational change and change implementation. The organizational life has been made inevitable feature by global, technological and economic pace, and many models of organizational change have acknowledged the influence of implicit dimensions at one stage or more stages of organizational change process (Burke, 2008; Wilkins & Dyer, 1988), and these models imitate different granular levels affecting the process of organizational change, and each level of them identifies distinctive change implementation stages (By, 2005). A model of organizational change in Kurt Lewin’s three steps change process context was introduced in this study; which reflects momentous stages in change implementation process. Kurt Lewin’s model is the early fundamental planned change models explaining the striving forces to maintain the status quo and pushing for change (Lewin, 1947). To change the “quasistationary equilibrium” stage, one may increase the striving forces for change, or decrease the forces maintaining the status quo, or the combination of both forces for proactive and reactive organizational change through knowledge sharing of individual willingness with the help of stimulating change leadership style. The Lewin’s model was used from an ethnographic study assumed for the investigation of the Lewin’s model for change development, mediates implementation and leadership initiatives for change in complex organizations. The focus of this research on (i) how Lewin’s change model granulates change, (ii) how knowledge sharing affects the change implementation process, (iii) how employees involve in change and willingness to change, and (iv) how leadership style affects the organizational change process in organization.