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Essay Instructions: Change Process and Models



Organizational change is not likely to happen organically. Usually, it is caused by an external event or change which triggers internal shifts in one or more levels of the organization. Change may come about for various reasons. It may be that an organization needs to change in order to grow, improve, or be more successful. There are a variety of change process theories, frameworks, and practices that explain organizational change. Leaders can use the theories, frameworks, and practices to facilitate change in an organization and produce desired outcomes. Leaders must be able to assess which process theory, framework, or practice is appropriate to facilitate change successfully.



To prepare for this assignment:



?Review Chapter 8 in Organization Change: Theory and Practice. Pay attention to theories and frameworks for understanding organizational change.

?Review Chapter 40 in Leading Organizations: Perspectives for a New Era, focusing on the practices that organizations use to lead change.

?Call to mind the organization you used in this week?s Discussion. (The Human Rights Campaign) Think about the change it experienced.

?Consider how the process theories, frameworks, or practices you learned about might apply to the change in this particular organization.

The assignment (2?3 pages):



?Briefly describe the organization you selected and the change that occurred in the organization.

?Explain the change using three or more of the change process theories, frameworks, or practices. Provide specific examples.

Essay Instructions: Resource: Implementing Change Paper
Write paper that addresses the following:

? What is the manager?s role and responsibility in implementing change in the department?
? How should a manager successfully handle staff resistance to change?
? Define each step of the change process: assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Cite a minimum of four references.

Essay Instructions: The Change Process

In a four- to- five- page paper (excluding the title and references page), address organizational processes and change.

Using the five steps in the organizational process found on page 200 in the text, do the following:


a. When considering the concept of authority in organizational management, please evaluate how authority influences and fosters change in an organization.

b. Include an explanation for why people resist change and what managers can do to overcome the resistance.

c. Provide at least one example of an organization that went through a significant change. Assess how that change impacted the organizational culture (if at all).


Your paper should include in-text citations and references for at least three scholarly sources (in addition to the course text), and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Essay Instructions: Background

Most if not all of the companies today operate in an unstable environment that requires constant change. Being able to change is what helps organizations to adapt to their constantly and rapidly changing environments. Therefore, companies that don?t change or don?t change fast enough may evaporate over time and get replaced by other companies. One of the most serious problems organizations have to face while adopting change processes has to do with resistance to change among change recipients. However, resistance to change can also be positive under certain conditions. In this case assignment we will learn something about the positive side of resistance to change and on approaches for implementing change.

Required Reading

Ford, J. D., Ford L. W. & D?Amelio (2008). Resistance to change: The rest of the story. Academy of Management Review, 33, 362-377.

J. P. Kotter (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, March-April, 59-67. Although it is recommended that you will read the actual article, for your convenience a summary of the article can be found in this link:http://www.power-projects.com/LeadingChange.pdf

Assignment

Read the Ford et al. article on the positive side of resistance to change. This article suggests that resistance to change can be used as a resource for change and it proposes how resistance might be restructured. Based on this article write a 4-6 pages critique in which you will relate to the following questions and tasks. If you want you can supplement your reading with items from the Optional Reading list or other outside reading you find useful.

In what ways change agents can contribute to change resistance? Present all of the ways that are presented in the article and use your own examples to demonstrate how they do that.
How can organizations use resistance to change as a change agent? I other words, explain how resistance can be utilized as a positive resource.
Now, read Kotter?s article on the eight-step plan for implementing change and explain:

What are the common mistakes managers make when trying to initiate a change?
What are the 8 sequential steps suggested by Kotter to overcome the problems that you describe in the third question above?
Keys to the Assignment

The key aspects of this assignment that should be covered in your paper include:

Explain how change agents can contribute to change resistance.
Describe the ways in which organizations can use resistance to change as a change agent.
Describe the common mistakes managers make when trying to initiate a change.
Present the steps that are required to overcome problems in the change process.