Objectives
Project will help you utilize the concepts in this class, by doing a thorough analytical and in depth review and comparison of "change" in two companies. You will accomplish this project through 5 deliverables in the course:
1. Proposing and having approved your project topic.
2. Researching two publicly traded companies, and comparing and contrasting their methods of handling a significant change in their organizations. Analyze and write about images of change in those organizations.
3. Diagnosing the change in those companies and their barriers and resistors.
4. Analyzing and creating applications for a change project communication based on the change in one of your researched companies.
5. Utilize multiple references using online research, Keller Graduate School of Management's live or online libraries, perhaps your public library for print resources, and any other primary or secondary research source you feel would be appropriate for this project. You will complete an annotated bibliography at the end of the term of strong references to support your findings. At least 12 total references used in the project.
Your project will have five separate parts, due throughout the term. It will incorporate the learning of the course as we go through - and hopefully will cement the process for you. At the end of the term, your final exam will contain 4 randomly selected Change Management questions based on YOUR Course Project companies and research findings as related to the course content, as well as other questions (multiple choice and essay) which are not specifically related to your project (but are related to Change Management course content!).
Thus, the initial "topic selection" where you pick the companies you will research throughout the term is critical for you to ensure you are interested enough in the material that it will keep you engaged throughout the term.
Here are some examples:
Example: Both Ford and GM experienced serious issues during the pre, during and post TARP period causing them to restructure and change how they do business. Each of them reacted to these pressures differently. A paper comparing and contrasting the way both companies reacted to this pressure would be very interesting and easy to set up in an organized fashion. Further, utilizing the images grid, you can discuss how they did handle these pressures (using which image) and how a different style of leader (image) might have handled it differently.
Example: Both HP and Home Depot have had issues with selecting a new CEO for their company. Reviewing the last 10 years of CEO history, a paper comparing and contrasting the pressures involved, and how they impacted the overall productivity of the companies would be sustainable throughout the term.
Example: Review any two companies in the airline industry, their entrance into (and possibly their completion of) bankruptcy, and how they handled the changes through management as a result. (i.e. United Airlines and American Airlines)
Example: Review any two companies who have recently been through some part of Merger and Acquisition change and how they handled the culture changes.
Example: Review any two companies who have had industry changes and how they have reacted either successfully, or unsuccessfully and how their reactions perhaps resulted in their success or failure. (i.e. Yahoo vs. IBM)
These are simply illustrative - you can do research and find any of many companies and topics of change which could work for this paper - and you are encouraged to do so. If you have questions or need more ideas, please ask your Professor for help!
Part 1: Topic Selection
Pick out your two companies and their change. In 1 double spaced page, please submit your company selections, with a brief write-up on the changes you will be comparing in the two companies. Pick two companies which have undergone some type of fairly substantial change in the recent past. Find the company and the change information online, using EBSCO, or using a company's case described somewhere in our textbook. (See page 388 of the textbook index for page numbers and names of each of the cases described in the textbook.) Other ways to find information: utilize Google or Yahoo Finance, or Reuters, and look up Annual Reports of companies which interest you. Often reading the first sections of these reports (i.e. letters from CEO's) will give you ideas about changes they have gone through in the past year(s).
Be sure that:
a. Your companies are publicly traded so that their information will be easy to research and find
b. Your change in the two companies are comparable (i.e. don't compare a new CEO to a change in HRIS - DO compare two changes in CIO) and
c. The changes happened in the recent past so that you will find plenty of online information about how they were handled, but not so recent that the information about the change "results" is still up in the air.
Attachment:- Communicating the Change.rar