Family therapist Virginia Satir developed her model after observing families and individuals experience a wide range of changes. Her model identifies four states of change and two key events that act as catalysts within the process.

Tuckman's research into team development led him to one of the most widely quoted models of team change. His premise that all teams during their development will experience the stages of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning is regularly used in team building within organisations.

Kurt Lewin developed his three-step change model of Unfreeze > Move > Refreeze in the first half of the 20th century. Lewin’s model is based on the premise that the driving forces within a business must outweigh the resisting forces for a change to occur.

Richard Beckhard and Reuben T. Harris developed their formula for change to provide change leaders with a concise way to identify the factors required for a successful transformation to occur and analyse the likelihood of success.