Change leadership in the U.S. Coast Guard

The ability to lead productive change is becoming increasingly necessary and important to organizations. Across the spectrum of private businesses, non-governmental organizations and the public sector, organizations are expected to adapt quickly to rapidly changing market and environmental conditions. Effective leadership is needed to successfully implement new programs that require changes in people's skills, attitudes or behaviors. Leadership is also needed to build organizational cultures that stimulate innovation and risk-taking and embrace change. The United States Coast Guard, an agency within the new Department of Homeland Security, has a 215-year history of adapting to meet new mission challenges. Just over the past three decades, the service has taken on new operational roles in drug interdiction, fisheries enforcement, environmental protection, ports and waterways security and national defense, while also responding to increased calls for efficiency and innovation in service delivery. Today's Coast Guard is going through monumental change as a result of the emergence of the homeland security mission, the move to a new Department, and an internal reorganization of operational units. This thesis addresses the strengths and challenges of the Coast Guard in leading organizational change. A historical perspective on Coast Guard change leadership and an analysis of change leadership challenges common to U.S. Government agencies is presented. A "macro" look of the environment for change in the Coast Guard is presented as well. John Kotter's eight-stage framework from his 1996 book Leading Change and his 2002 book The Heart of Change is used to evaluate Coast Guard change programs. The thesis concludes with recommendations that

Department dc:contributor.department

Sloan School of Management

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• McAllister, Michael F., 1964-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John Van Maanen.

• Sloan School of Management.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17894

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/17894