Another model for change is Kaizen, the Japanese model for change. Kaizen relies on continuity in change which is opposite of innovation, which is considered a radical change. Kaizen starts with personal self discipline. This would mean that the individual employee would be responsible for their own behavior and motivation leaving management to deal with other issues. The change would be continuous for that individual employee as new situations arise. The individual employee could change their behavior and melt into the functioning of the company during the change. The individual is responsible for recognizing the need for change and change their actions through their self discipline to meet the challenge.

The second key to the Kaizen Change Model is teamwork. The individual must have self-discipline, but when the need arises, that same individual needs to become a cog in the machine of a team. The self-discipline needs to radiate and become team discipline. This will allow the individual to be more efficient toward a team effort. In a normative culture this would allow a natural leader to emerge and create the norms for the rest of the team to follow. The change would be internal toward the team's goal and the self-discipline of each of the team member would contribute to the whole.

Another key to the Kaizen Change Model is the change in morale. The individuals of the team will have better morale when they see each other working toward the same goal. When an individual's self-discipline is seen by the other team members they will try to emulate that behavior. The change is slow but the representation of each team member makes that team one combined unit of self-discipline, which in turn transforms into team discipline. The team goes through the change through the natural assimilation of each team member's efforts and attributes.

The Kaizen model is a resource for long range changes that can be implemented at the grass roots level and expand like a whirl pool from the inner small teams to the entire organization as a whole. This system would also work best in collective cultures where most of the employees shared the same beliefs and values. The change model would not work well for international conglomerates because the culture and vision of each country referenced in the organization would have a different core set of values and the normative culture would be diminished. (Twelve Management Communities

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