Change Management Strategy for a New Zealand-based company

Framework for readiness of change

This is a group assignment (Group of maximum five students). Answers should be written in narrative form (i.e. sentences must be used, avoid bullet points), and should be maximum 4000 words, Report should be referenced throughout and include a ‘List of References’ at the end of the assignment. More marks are gained by the quality of research applied in practice and the overall quality of the answer.

1. Assignment cover sheet;

2. Please quote the relevant texts and readings to support your answers. Answers in the narrative section of your answers unsupported by peer-reviewed readings will be regarded as guesswork and generalisations and will not pass the assessment. Students must use the specified readings outlined in the Task requirements in addition to peer-reviewed journal articles and text books;

3. You are required to find and cite within your answer a minimum of 12 references. The emphasis should be on referred journal articles to support your points of view as well as text books. Pages of study notes from other university courses are not acceptable; and

4. It is important that you communicate professionally and effectively in writing this assignment. The assignment should be 10-12 double-spaced pages, including the reference section.

• Number all pages in your assignment.

• Margins should be 2.5cm (one inch) at the top, bottom, and sides of the page.

• Font type should be 12-point Times New Roman throughout the assignment.

• Double-space all body text and the text should be left-aligned.

• Each and every use of other people’s ideas/words must have an in-text citation which, should include only the name of the author(s) and the date of the publication and clearly shown which material it relates to. Full references (author, year, title of the publication, volume, issue, page numbers, publisher; for website sources, use proper referencing for website addresses and include date of access – see APA (G) style and should be provided at the end of the report. APA (G) reference style is required.

Your group has been just appointed to develop the most effective change management strategy to ensure change success in a New Zealand based company of your choice. Choose an NZ based company that your team will be writing the report for. It can be any existing organization, big or small, as long as all team members agree on the choice. Your task is to investigate through publically available information sources; the working of your chosen NZ based company by identifying and critically assessing the interrelated components of the organization in chosen organization which will help in identifying relationships that are misaligned that need to be changed.

Framework for implementing change

Develop a framework for readiness of change and implementing change and suggesting the possible change management strategies for your chosen company. Your team must collaboratively produce and submit one team report that addresses all questions listed below.

Q1. Introduction: In your team report, describe the chosen NZ based organization, provide a short overview of its history, products/services, nature of business, identify drivers of change in the internal and external environment currently experienced by your organization.

Q2. Oakland (2013) has developed a framework for readiness of change that can provide a useful template for assessing whether early preparation will lead to a successful change. With reference to your chosen NZ based company identify the problem in one or more of the below mentioned framework and justify your assessment by supporting facts from your chosen NZ based company. 

Q3. Oakland (2013) has developed a framework for implementing change that can provide a useful template for assessing whether future planning for implementation will lead to a successful change. With reference to your chosen NZ based company, identify the problem in one or more of the below mentioned framework and justify your assessment by supporting facts from your chosen NZ based company.

Q4. Discuss at least five main situational variables which you as a Change Management Consultant would consider when shaping a change strategy for your chosen NZ based company. 

Q5. Among the four types of organisational culture; power, role, task/achievement and person/support which type of culture currently exists in your chosen NZ based company? Justify your answer by outlining at least four main characteristics of the identified culture and supporting facts indicating the type of culture existing in your chosen NZ based company. 

Q6. The two well tried change strategies; economic and organization development are widely used by companies but the most effective strategy is a third way that combines the best of both. Do you agree the combined approach can work best in your chosen NZ based company? Critically compare and contrast the different approaches. 

Q7. As a Change Management Consultant to the CEO of your chosen NZ based company what advise will you give regarding the possible seven tasks that leaders need to perform in order to ensure change success in your chosen NZ based company?

Each presentation will be a maximum of 15 minutes in length. Five minutes will follow each presentation during which the group will field questions from the class concerning the project. All group members must participate in the presentation. All presentation materials (overheads, videos, etc) must be handed over to the lecturer at the commencement of the class session on presentation. 

The presentation must be based on the material handed over in advance and any new materials used will not be considered for assigning the grade. Any student not present will have to submit an SAC application and make a presentation at a date and time given by the lecturer, to qualify for marks, and the rest of the group will be required to make the full presentation at the time allocated. No postponements of the presentation will be allowed.

Fairness Under normal circumstances group members will receive equal marks. If, however, one or more group members fail to take an equal share of the work, peer group evaluation will determine the individual grades for the project. Each group should include with their final project a declaration that they accept equal marks, or alternatively, a submission that one or more member of the group should be allocated different marks, and the reason for this. All group members must sign the final declaration. Plagiarism - Failure to acknowledge the use of another’s piece of work is considered plagiarism and it could lead to a loss of all marks allocated for the assignment or more severe penalties.

(a) The work submitted or presented was done, in whole or in part, by an individual other than the one submitting or presenting the work;

(b) Parts of the work or the whole work are taken from another source without reference to the original author;

(c) A student submits or presents work in one course which has also been submitted in another course (although it may be completely original with that student) without the knowledge of, or prior agreement, of the instructor involved. Plagiarism is an extremely serious academic offence.