You are required to demonstrate your learning of the concepts and theories explored in this course. You are expected to explain how you would manage change during one of the four phases of change. Ensure that you address each of the requirements outlined in the Major Project.
To address the requirements for this project, you will be required to study an organization. There are two choices. The first choice is to select an organization with which you are familiar. The second choice is to utilize an organizational case study.
You should be familiar with the organization you choose, either as a current or past employee or as an interviewer/observer with consent from the organization to study. This project does not require you to intervene directly within the organization (although that would be ideal). The strategies you develop and propose are for course purposes only.
There are a number of sources that could supply you with data for your project:
• The organization you work for now.
• An organization you worked for in the past.
• A group of organizations in the same industrial, professional, or service area.
• A community group (including sports, crafts, arts, volunteer, and service organizations).
• An organization that someone else works for, though this choice creates a major challenge.
You would need to secure the agreement of an employee to act as your information source. You also need to assure this person that you will protect their identity as well as the identities of people within the organization.
For the second choice:
Use the case study on pages 268-280, "Revolution at Oticon A/S (A): Vision for a Change-Competent Organization," by Gould in Jick and Peiperl'sManaging Change: Cases and Concepts. This case study is located in your Reading File.
Instructions
Select an organization to study, either an organization of your choice or the assigned case study. Write a 15-page report (use 1.5 or 2.0 line spacing) about the organization, that includes the following details:
Note: The change that you study may not necessarily be an organizational change; it could be a departmental change or a change that affects a small portion of the organization.
• Overview: Create an overview of the organization (history, type of product or service, type of organization, management style, organizational values, mission statement, and culture/history around the idea of change as well as the characteristics of the leader/manager). Discuss the management/leadership style evident within the organization and/or department. If you use the case study as your organization, state this, and create an overview of that organization from the information provided in the case study.
• Assumptions: As you expand upon the characteristics of your organization (or case study), the employees within the organization, and the interventions that you propose, you will need to describe your assumptions about what the employees may do, how they may respond, and how you and they will deal with certain resources, time, and responses by others within the organization. Here you must state your assumptions about how you would expect the employees to behave (if you have not followed through directly) and the rationale for your assumptions.
• Assessment: Using a tool for assessment, assess your selected organization as it prepares to move through or has moved through, one phase of change. Include what you have assessed (with rationale) and how you would conduct your assessment (with rationale). (20 marks) You will assess one of the following:
? Readiness (the climate for change)
? Resistance to change transition
? Commitment to implementation and sustaining momentum
? Institutionalization of change
• Evaluation: Judge the state of the organization in relation to the phase that you are analyzing (readiness, resistance, commitment, or institutionalization) and provide a rationale for your judgment. In this evaluation, use the information from your assessment methods for your judgment.
• Strategies: Based upon your above judgment, outline a minimum of five strategies to facilitate the process of change throughout the phase of change that you have analyzed, incorporating the qualities described in your profile (Assumptions). These strategies should be ones that you as a leader could implement and should be congruent with the information gathered in relation to organizational assessment. Be specific and provide examples. If the employees are not participating in the change process, demonstrate how your strategies may affect the employees involved in the change process. Your strategies may be different if the employees are actively participating in the change processes. Provide a rationale for the strategies you propose and demonstrate how these strategies meet criteria and course standards for change interventions.
• Future trends: Describe the importance of an organization being an ever-changing organization that would be able to cope with future change initiatives. What role would the leadership/management play in facilitating such change? Be specific and provide actual examples.
• Summary: Describe what you learned about change management; include your personal perspective on your learning of the concepts on change management as explored through the modules of this course.
• References: Create an annotated bibliography of at least five references for the phase of change that you have selected. Include a short descriptive note about the content of each reference and/or when it would be useful.