Shortly After Taking Office in January 1993,President Bill Clinton Decided

Essay

Shortly after taking office in January 1993,President Bill Clinton decided to take steps to eliminate discrimination which he believed was occurring against gay men and women in the military. Without consulting with members of the military,he announced that he would be issuing an Executive Order banning all forms of discrimination against homosexuals in the military. There followed a tremendous controversy,played out in the public press and media,including threats of resignation by members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ultimately,the new president backed down and agreed not to issue any Executive Order until a special commission (including members of the public and the military)had been formed and given the opportunity to study the problem and agree upon specific recommendations for change. This procedure was followed,and what resulted was the "Don't Ask,Don't Tell" approach to dealing with homosexuality in the military. The Canadian military has gone much further than the "Don't Ask,Don't Tell" policy. In 1996,the Jean Chrétien Liberals received the support of the Bloc Québécois and NDP parties,which had openly gay MPs. In 1996,sexual orientation was added to the Canadian human rights legislation.??Identify and briefly describe the three steps involved in the process of managing organizational change,according to Kurt Lewin,and specify which of these three steps President Clinton initially handled poorly in the above scenario. Then,identify the approaches that can be used to manage resistance to change,and specify which of them the president was using when he made his initial announcement regarding the planned Executive Order,and which were probably used in reaching the final resolution to this issue.