Managing Change: Final Project

In this Final Project, 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 Final Project.

The Final Project is a total of 100 marks and is worth 50% toward your final grade.

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.

For the first choice:

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’s Managing Change: Cases and Concepts. This case study is also located in under the Readings tab.

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. (10 marks)
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. (10 marks)
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:

Instructions

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. (10 marks)
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. (20 marks)
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. (10 marks)
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. (10 marks)
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. 
Ensure that you have addressed each of the requirements outlined in the Final Project.
Use complete sentences and paragraphs as well as headings for paragraphs relating to the same topic.
Provide a rationale for each statement you make and include your own ideas.
Where appropriate, provide actual examples of behaviours and statements made by employees within the organization in a manner that provides legitimacy for your judgments while protecting the identities of the employees.
Where appropriate cite references from the reading file or other resources you may have used for this project.
For further details, consult the Guidelines for Writing Assignments and the Final Project section in the Course Guide.

Final Project Grading Matrix
Select an organization to study, either an organization of your choice or the assigned case study. If you opt for the case study, use Revolution at Oticon A/S by Gould, Stanford and Blackmon. The method used for the Oticon case should be the same as the method used in creating your own case. Be sure to respond to the questions and guidelines below.

Final Project Grading Matrix

Overview & Introduction: 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 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. (10 marks)    Demonstrate that you have studied the organization and identified the characteristics. You are also expected to discuss the management/ leadership style evident within the organization.     
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 rationale for your assumptions. (10 marks)    Assumptions may include: what stage of change the change process the organization is at; what stage you are going to study; and what your experience or background is in relation to the organization.     
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).
You will assess one of the following: 

State the phase of change along with rationale and create a tool outlining questions to be asked. If you are using the case study, choose the transition phase or the implementation phase and provide rationale for the stage selected. If you select the transition phase, develop a tool for the assessment of resistance. If you select the implementation phase, then develop a tool for the assessment of commitment. You are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the appropriate assessment for the phase of change studied and include appropriate methods of investigation that are practical and acceptable to the organization.     
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. (10 marks)    You may use force-field analysis or a combination of information gathering tools to look at the phase of change you’ve selected. Be sure to make sense, analyze, and refer to the course material and/or readings.     
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. (20 marks)    Identify strategies that relate appropriately to the phase of change studied. Examples should include your personal methods of dealing with change and include reference to the course and/or literature. You ought to demonstrate comprehension of the phase of change, the effort and energies required by people to change, and their own attributes/strengths and shortcomings. The strategies should be appropriate to the phase and situation. You should make citations from the literature.     
Future trends: Describe the importance of an organization being an ever-changing organization that would be able to cope with future change initiatives. What kind of a role would the management/leadership play in facilitating such change? Be specific and provide actual examples. (10 marks)    Describe what the future state of the organization ought to be as it becomes an ever-changing organization. Provide 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. (10 marks)    Summarize with a thoughtful statement regarding the findings on the specific case for this project and how it relates to change management overall. Be sure to provide a synthesis that gives a personal perspective of what you have learned from this course on change management within the progression of the modules and assignments.     
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. (10 marks)    The purpose of this section is to encourage you to create a portfolio of references that you can refer to in the future. You should describe them in a way that would be useful for you in the future.