The Project Manager communicates to the software development team the timeline for a change and the CEO asks her to speed it up by 3 weeks.
      The CIO decides to move from a mainframe approach to a PC approach, notifies all of her direct reports of the new vision, establishes a communication plan, timeline, and project roll-out plan, communicates the change (including positives and negatives) to stakeholders, and establishes a metrics system where innovation, efficiencies, and positive feedback on the project is measured and rewarded via awards, bonuses, and perks.
      A fast food company decides to remove one slice of cheese from their cheeseburgers, although increasing the retail price by 10 cents, and has a cost savings which increases its stock price significantly. A group of health experts touts the company as being “health conscious” because the calorie content of the item is lowered.
      The CEO of a Fortune 100 company hires a team of consultants to take over the HR department and eliminates all in-house HR people (about 85 employees).
      A department head is invited to a meeting where he is asked to become a change agent for an exciting new product line. He accepts the assignment and goes back to his desk, whereupon he explains to his team that it is likely that their jobs will disappear in the next year because of job obsolescence, but that anyone who might like to consider helping with the new product line may be allowed to reapply for new jobs which open up.

1. (TCO All) For the next set of questions , you will first select ONE of the TCOs of the course. Then, you will be asked to write an essay about the project you worked on this term over your two companies’ change program based on the TCO you selected above. Select the TCO your essay question will cover:

TCO A – Given that progressive and successful companies require their employees to embrace change, examine how changing work conditions impact the employees.
TCO B – Given the inherent reality that all organizations must experience change in order to improve, demonstrate how “models” are used in Change Management, for diagnosing an organization’s need for change. 
TCO C – Given external, internal and/or multi-levels of organization factors that drive change, assess and create a leadership model which supports and promotes each type of change within the organization.
TCO D – Given that an organization’s mission and vision will determine its strategy towards change, ensure that an organization’s change initiative is aligned with and capitalizes on its culture and mission in preparation for change.
TCO E – Given a selected Change Management implementation “model”, determine the causes of change and develop a plan of action to implement the change.
TCO F – Given that both organizations and their employees commonly resist change, understand how to recognize and overcome barriers to change and develop a strategy to manage resistance to change that will ensure successful implementation of change.
TCO G – Given that developing a “vision for change” and communicating that “vision” is a critical part of the change process, analyze the key elements of the “vision for change” and develop a strategy to communicate the change to the stakeholder.
TCO H – Given the organization’s goal of creating and implementing a sustainable change while moving toward becoming a “learning” organization, develop a plan to implement change in a sustainable manner that can be applied to any change.

Using the TCO you selected from the list above, which you felt was most relevant to your project this term, write an essay answer explaining how the change management you saw in one of your companies from your project this term followed or failed to follow the theory of success ingrained in the TCO you have selected.

State the #1 thing you think that company’s change agent did which most contributed to the success or failure of the change and why that relates to the TCO you selected.

• Include in the answer the name of the company you are discussing.
• Explain/analyze why you think this way.
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• 2. (TCOs A, E) Your project this term asked you to compare and contrast two companies’ change projects or programs for change. This question will review what you learned about the change projects in a continuation of your project. It will ask you to apply course information to your project companies. For your answer, be sure to reference the names of the companies you studied in your project this term to help your instructor determine the score of your response.
   
  Evaluate ONE of your two companies’ change interventions through the lens of Kotter’s Eight Step Model.  State first the steps. (10 points)  Assess how well the company realized each of the steps and what areas were less than successful in their implementation.  Speak to those failed steps and what the implications were for the success or failure of the implementation. (10 points)  Do you feel that Kotter’s model did assist (if it was used) or would have assisted (if you feel it wasn’t used) in this change? Why or why not? (15 points) (Points : 35) 

• 3. (TCOs E,H) Your project this term asked you to compare and contrast two companies’ change projects or programs for change. This question will review what you learned about the change projects in a continuation of your project. It will ask you to apply course information to your project companies. For your answer, be sure to reference the names of the companies you studied in your project this term to help your instructor determine the score of your response. 

  Recall the article we discussed in Week 7, written by Beer and Nohria regarding O-Change and E-Change. State the change project which was at issue in both of your organizations you studied this term for your project. Were these projects mainly “O-Change”, “E-Change”, or a combination of both? Why do you think that? Use details from the article, “Cracking the Code of Change” to support your answer and give examples from the article and from your change project for your support. (Points : 35)

   

• 5. (TCOs C,D) Your project this term asked you to compare and contrast two companies’ change projects or programs for change. This question will review what you learned about the change projects in a continuation of your project. It will ask you to apply course information to your project companies. For your answer, be sure to reference the names of the companies you studied in your project this term to help your instructor determine the score of your response. 
  Consider ONE of your company’s change projects (not both companies – just one.) State the company and the change process/program/project. Name the leader of the change from that company. Answer the following questions about that change:
  A. What skill competencies related to change management did you feel the change leader of your change exhibited well? (Consider the images of change in your answer but don’t focus entirely on those images – discuss competencies in change managers in this question.) Which important competencies did you feel that leader did NOT exhibit?
  B. Evaluate the leader’s implementation of the change as it compared to the company’s vision and mission statement. Were they aligned? Did this alignment (or misalignment) contribute to the success or failure of the change? Why or why not? (Points : 35)

   

• 4. (TCO All) This question does not address your course project. This change scenario is envisioned instead, for this question. First, the scenario, and then the question.
   
  Scenario:  You have been asked to handle a project where the company is going to close the plant in your company and offer all of the workers an option of taking a buy-out severance package which is quite generous OR relocate to another state, where the business climate is much better (but the cost of living is higher and the style of living is lower). The current location of the company is in an area where people live well, the culture is great, and because it is in a college town, there are many fun things to do on weekends, plays to attend, sporting events, etc. The atmosphere is quite upbeat. The city where the company is moving to has very little in the way of entertainment, the housing costs are higher although not as nice, and property taxes are higher as well. The company is offering moving costs for relocation costs, but not house sale assistance. It is likely most of your employees are going to take the buy-out, but most of them are in their late 30s or early 40s and are not going to be happy about it.
  

  The question: This term, we studied organizational development theory versus the more systematic nStep method of conducting a change process. What would be the pros/cons of using OD theory for this change project? What would be the pros/cons of using nStep? Which nStep would you recommend for this if you use one? Of the two methods (nStep or OD), which would you recommend we use for this particular change program? Why? (Points : 35)

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