ASSIGNMENT TASK

Assignment Task 1 – Project Report [70 Marks]

Scenario

Choose an organization, preferably where you are working or familiar with, understand the standard operating procedures of your chosen organization and find suitable information related to the Strategic Change Management strategies. You need to apply key concepts of Strategic Change Management to answer and justify the questions following the scenario given below:

Organizations worldwide had a great impact facing challenges and uncertainties during the Covid-19 triggered Pandemic in 2020 which lead many organizations to close down their operations or/and adapt to disruptive alternatives and made a number of organizations to undergo change management strategies to compete and survive in the turbulent market conditions. Companies are striving for continuous improvement and trying to manage the changes effectively and efficiently in the present hard economic times. If you have been given an opportunity to act as a CHANGE MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT and implement changes in your chosen organization, what steps will you take into consideration while implementing the change management process in the following tasks given below. Prepare a Project Report of 5000 +- 10% (4500 to 5500) words that addresses the following questions:

1. Executive Summary [5 Marks] à 250 to 300 (after completing your content)

You should summarize your report briefly (hopefully no more than one page of A4 paper).

What you need to do:

• One page maximum
• The organization + change context (1 or 2 lines)
• What you have analysed (Lo1 and Lo2 in brief)
• Mention briefly the recommendations (3 to 5 actions)
• Expected outcomes of benefits

2. Introduction to Change Management [20 Marks] à 1500 to 1700

Introduce the chosen organization and critically discuss the concept of change management in detail with reference to four principles, concepts or theories and its importance in the chosen organization. You need to demonstrate a critical understanding of the different perspectives in change management such as contingency perspective, resource dependence and population- ecology perspectives. Next, you must evaluate the scope of change management in an organisation. Furthermore, you need to critically analyse the internal processes and external environmental conditions that influence the change to cope up with the challenges posed by the Covid-19 triggered market scenario. Also, you need to undertake a critical examination of the different principles, practices and perspectives involved in successful stakeholder management during the change management process.

A. Introduction of the Organization

• Industry, size, location/markets, main products/services
• Operation (how work gets done)
• Why COVID 19 forced change

B. Critical Discussion of Change Management (4 theories, concepts or principles)

• Define the concept of change
• Explain how it applies to the organization
• Compare/contrast the viewpoints
• Use academic citations (should be perfectly linked to the main referencing list that should be provided at the end of the report)
• Examples on some important choices

1. Kotter 8 steps models
2. ADKAR
3. McKinsey 7 s model
4. Any concept, theory or principle under Change Management

C. Change Management Perspectives

• Contingency Perspective:
• Resource Perspective
• Population-ecology perspective

D. Evaluation of the Change Management Scope

• Scope (how wide or deep the change is)
• Strategic VS Operational
• Incremental VS Transformational
• Affected functions and stakeholders
• Time horizon and complexity

E. Analyse the Internal Processes and the External Influences (Critical)

• Internal influences: (SW) cultures, Structure, leadership, skills, processes, systems, resources, power politics
• External influences (PESTLE the OW) à customer behaviour, suppliers.

F. Stakeholders Management and Engagement

• Follow the Stakeholder management process (Identify, Analyze, Plan, Manage, Engage, Evaluate)
• Use the Power/Interest Grid

3. Resistance to Change [15 Marks] à LO2 (1100 to 1300)

What kind of resistance would the organization face during the change management process?

You need to critically reflect upon the why change in organizations is met with resistance and how it impacts the organization. You will also critically discuss the resistance at individual, collective and organizational level and the key reasons for the same. Furthermore, you need to critically analyse and demonstrate the different ways in which the organization can overcome the resistance to change, using practical justifications to back up your analysis. Also, you will critically examine the different types of interventions and discuss how you have selected the appropriate intervention to apply for the particular change management process in the chosen organization.

• What resistance will occur in the organization
• Why Resistance happens à Individual level, collective, organizational

-Individual (Fear, WIIFM, skill gaps, job security…)

– Collective/team (group norms, peer pressure, formation of rumours, loss power, fear of loosing control..)

 – Organization (structural inertia, budgets, risk aversion, weak leadership, past failures, politics, change fatigue…)

• Impact on the change initiative
• How to go about overcoming the RTC that is developed + justifications

(Match the strategy with the cause of the RTC)

• Lack of understanding à communication +sensemaking
• Fear of incompetence à training coaching, capacity building, develop…
• Loss of power à participation, RACI, clarifying the roles and responsibilities
• Culture Missmatch à undergo cultural change, realign the rewards, role modelling

à  Change Interventions (mention the intervention + justification of selection)

• Coaching, team-building, role analysis, surveys, action plans, stakeholder interventions
• Explain why their chosen interventions as the best fit for the organisation and the type of change it is undergoing

N.B à we should always add practical examples (realistic from the organization) à Intext citations are VERY IMPORTANT à the same should be linked with a full reference at the bottom in the referencing list

4. Leadership and Change Management [15 Marks] à (LO3) à (1100 to 1300 words)

What is the role of leadership during the change management process? You need to plan and undertake a literature review and critically analyse of atleast 10 relevant academic articles that discuss research and theory on the process of leadership in change management. You may include up to three secondary literature reports on the theories and process of leadership in change management. Furthermore, you need to critically evaluate atleast 7 different leadership styles such as autocratic, authoritative, pacesetting, democratic, coaching, affiliative and laissez-faire and identify the suitable approach to successfully leading individuals and teams through the process of change in the chosen organization by giving an evidence based justification for your choice.

SECTION A

• This is a Literature Review
• We need to look for 10 academic articles à critical analyze them (Leadership & Change Management)
• Add up to 3 secondary sources

What to be done:

• Group into themes: (communication, trust, psychological safety, vision, empowerment..)
• Compare authors (agree/ Disagree)
• Identify gaps (what is not addressed)
• Link to the organization (you chose)

Section B:

Evaluate at LEAST 7 Leadership Styles

Evaluation should include the below:

• Strength in change
• Risks/limitations
• Where it fits best
• Collect some evidence from research + scenarios from the organisation’

Section C

Choosing the most suitable leadership approach (based on evidence)

• Why this style (combination of styles) is best for the change initiative of the organization
• How will this chosen style move teams or team members through resistance and adoption (from being resistant to becoming adoptive)

5. Conclusions and Recommendations [15 Marks] à 800 to 900

You should summarize the main findings, including their implications, and provide recommendations that directly relate to this analysis.

• THIS IS NOT A REPETITIONà it must:
• Summarize the key findings (what matter the most)
• State the implications (what occurs if the change is ignored)
• Provide practical, and feasible recommendations à linked to you analysis
• Should be: measurable (who, what, when, highlight the outcome

Assignment Task 2 – Oral presentation – Voice over [30 marks] around LO4

You need to take on a consultant’s role and use the chosen organization in Task 1 for designing the change management process and make an Oral Presentation on the same.

You must determine how the organisation should respond to the change stimulus outlined in Task 1 and work up a vision of what that change (and what success) would look like and the expected benefits for the organisation. The concepts and ideas contained within this vision should be represented in diagrammatic/pictorial format. Next, you need to apply analytical tools and models to assess the readiness of the chosen organisation to respond to the change stimulus. This may include reference to the culture of the organisation, the strategy, the risks involved and the organization’s risk appetite, and also internal and external factors and stakeholders as discussed in Task 1. Further, you must critically evaluate at least four different change management models (from Lewin’s Change Management Model; McKinsey 7-S Model; Nudge Theory; The ADKAR Change Management Model; Kübler-Ross Change Curve; Bridges’ Transition Model; Satir Change Model; Kotter’s theory and Maurer 3 Levels of Resistance and Change Model; Deming Cycle (PDCA)), giving the positive and negative features of each and choose the appropriate model(s) and strategy for change management in the organization. You will design the process for putting the change initiative in place giving a description of the process, what needs to be implemented, who needs to carry out the change and the timelines involved. In this process, it is necessary to demonstrate a critical understanding of the role of leadership in applying the appropriate change management model(s). Furthermore, you will design your own monitoring and evaluating framework to be used for managing a change initiative and critically discuss how this monitoring and evaluation framework can be used to demonstrate that intended outputs and outcomes have been achieved.

Important Guidelines for the presentation are as follows: –

1. Learners are requested to use PowerPoint presentations (10-15 slides) to make the presentation.
2. This is an individual presentation; learners are requested to prepare and submit Task 2 individually.
3. There is no specific structure as such for the presentation, any structure can be followed, and the learners are encouraged to be creative at the same time to make the presentation academically relevant.
4. Learners should record and submit their presentation in the LMS.

Note: You should use the same organization of TASK 1

It should run around the below elements:

1.  Vision
2. readiness to change
3. evaluation of models
4. choosing the most suitable model and highlighting why
5. setting the implementation plan
6. Role of Leadership
7. M & E Framework

PPT Structure:

1. Title + your role (Consultant) + you mention the Chosen Organization
2. Change Stimulus (COVID/turbulent external environment) + Mention the problem Statement
3. Change Vision: “What Success would look like?’’ + mention the benefits (include diagrams pictures, illustrations…)
4. Stakeholder Map (Power-Interest Grid )+ mention the key concerns
5. Readiness Analysis tool 1 (culture, appetite, risk)
6. Readiness Analysis tool 2 (interna/external factors)
7. To 10 or 11 Compare MINIMUM 4 Change Models (from the ones covered in class) Pros / cons for each of the highlighted models
8. Mention the selected model + mention why it best fits your case
9. Come up with the implementation roadmap (phases + timeline + owners)
10. Highlight the role of leadership (what leaders should do in each of the stages)
11. M and E framework (KPIs, milestones, adoption metrics
12. Closing: Key takeaways + few recommendations.

Performance Descriptors

Performance descriptors indicate how marks will be arrived at against each of the above criteria. The descriptors indicate the likely characteristics of work that is marked within the percentage bands indicated.