Eisenhower's Operation Husky via Kotter's 8-stages

Solution Preview

Dear Student,
Hello and thank you for using BrainMass. The solution below should get you started. In this particular problem, you are being asked by your professor to look at Eisenhower's leadership of the Allied Invasion in Sicily during Operation Husky. To get this done, we need to have a simple but comprehensive structure to use. I suggest -

1. Introduction - what is this paper about? 100 words.
2. Kotter's 8 stages - what is it about? Why is it relevant to the study of history, including military history? 300 words.
3. On Operation Husky - provide a brief summary of the op and the key events surrounding it - 200 words.
4. On Eisenhower's leadership - look at every single stage - then decide if Eisenhower rated well - 300 words.
5. Conclusion - 100 words.

This outline should yield between 900-1000 words which ought to result to a 3-page paper. I suggest that you review your current class materials on the topic and get ideas from there. If you don't have any and this is all research-based, the solution below should get you started. You can also use the listed resources to further explore the topic. Good luck with your studies.

Sincerely,
AE 105878/Xenia Jones
--------------------------------------------

Eisenhower's Leadership/Operation Husky

In this discussion, we are going to look at the events in Operation Husky, the Allied Invasion of Sicily from 9 July to 17 August, 1943. In particular, we are going to assess the leadership of Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower through the lens that is Kotter's 8-stages of change leadership. Op Husky was part of the wider Italian Campaign for WW2, launching the latter. Large-scale, it involved airborne and amphibious operations that was decided by 6 weeks of fierce land combat. While this resulted in an Allied (US, UK, Canada) victory against the Nazis and their Axis ally Italy, the planning and management of such a large scale operation involved some divisive politics that was eventually expertly held together to fruition by Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower who was appointed by the Combined-Joint-Chief-of-Staffs as the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Force. How did he do against Kotter's scale? Before we can answer that, we need to present Kotter's 8 stages as well as iterate key events and leaders of WW2.

Kotter's 8 Stages of Leadership

In 1995, Harvard Business School Prof. John Kotter published the book, "Leading Change" where he detailed what he sees are the 8 stages to the change process. Organizations of the modern world must constantly stay on top of challenges that are ever evolving as society, global society, is dynamic and change is the only element that is constant. His 8 stages are as follows (Kotter International, 2012)-

"Establishing a Sense of Urgency
Examine market and competitive realities, and identify and discuss crises, potential crises, or major opportunities,

Creating the Guiding Coalition
Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort, and encourage the group to work as a team,

Developing a Change Vision
Create a vision to help direct the change effort, and develop strategies for achieving that vision,

Communicating the Vision for Buy-in
Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies, and teach new behaviors by the example of the Guiding ...