Free Custom «Manage Organizational Change» Essay Paper

1. 1. In most cases, what is the aim of workplace change?

In most cases, organisational change is stimulated by a major external force. Typically, organisations undertake technical, structural, or strategic shifts so as not to lag behind or to evolve to a different level in their life cycle. Businesses would like to keep or obtain new competitive advantages; they always need to meet the requirements of changeable customer’s tastes and demands.

1. 2. List 5 typical strategic catalysts for change in an organisation.
2. Directive strategy;
3. Expert strategy;
4. Negotiating strategy;
5. Educative strategy;
6. Participative strategy.

1. 3. Name 5 sources of information that could inform the need for change.
2. Customer focus (analysing customer inquiries, complains and feedbacks);
3. Empowerment (analysing case studies or project reports of employees);
4. Collaboration (ability to capture, manage and share information between departments);
5. Responsiveness (company’s ability to react to market change and competitive activities);
6. Flexibility (remote and part-timing employees).

1. 4. What are the key steps in a change management process?

John Kotter proposed the following 8 steps Model for managing the changes in organization:

Step 1: Creating Urgency. Other words: Learning market. Identifying and reviewing crisis opportunities. Proving necessity of change.

Step 2: Forming a Powerful Coalition. Selecting and assembling the guided team.

Step 3: Creating a Vision for Change. Developing strategies for the change processes.

Step 4: Communicating for Buy-in. Building understanding and engagement by communicating strategies as simply as necessary.

Step 5: Removing Obstacles (empowering action).

Step 6: Creating Short-Term Wins. Planning and achieving improvements and providing rewards for people involved in the improvements.

Step 7: Building on the Change (Do Not Let Up). Continuing improvements and rewards. Reinforcing the behaviour that responsible for improvements.

Step 8: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture.

1. 5. Fill in the table below by writing in the term from the word list that best fits each of the definitions given in the table.

Term	Definition
Change Agent	A person who leads a change project or business%u2010wide initiative by defining, researching, planning, building business support, and carefully selecting volunteers to be part of a change team.
Kaizen	A Japanese business improvement philosophy of continuous and incremental improvement.
Buy-in	A term describing the engagement, commitment or interest of various stakeholders in a project, idea, or decision.
Transition	The process an individual goes through in response to change.
Improvement	An idea that is usable and has value.

1. 6. Name 5 common risk factors that may be associated with workplace change.
2. Resistant to change.
3. Decreasing in efficiency.
4. Responsibility change can lead to refusing responsibilities.
5. Project delays or failure of projects.
6. Shift in focus.
7. 7. Name 4 methods of analysing risk associated with workplace change?
8. Identifying possible risks.
9. Reducing or allocating possible risk factors.
10. Providing a basis for the best decision making in relation to all risks.
11. Planning the appropriate measures to prevent possible risks.
12. 8. Choose as many of the options below that apply.

Cost-benefit analysis should be considered in the change process because a) it provides a standardised way of considering the options associated with change, and d) it will make your change initiatives easier to sell to stakeholders.

1. 9. List 5 common reasons why people resist change.
2. People fear the unknown.
3. People are intimidated when too much happens too fast.
4. People do not like and, sometimes, cannot come out their comfort zone or habits.
5. Some people are incapable of understanding changes and why they are necessary.
6. Some people consider changes inappropriate and irrelevant.

1. 10. Explain the term “mitigation strategy” and give 2 examples.

Mitigation strategies are created to minimize, to the lowest point possible, any risks within an organization, while simultaneously maintaining the optimum production level and delivery. Two examples of such strategies are Risk Avoidance Strategy and Risk Transference Strategy.

1. 11. Which of the following theories have been applied to the field of change management?

SWOT analysis, Force Field Analysis, Kaizen, TQM, Quality Circles, The Deming Cycle

g) All of the above

1. 12. What information should be communicated to stakeholders to obtain approval for a proposed change management process?

First of all, stakeholders should clearly understand the goals and objectives of changes. Therefore, they need to have all researched data and information on how and why the decision has been made to undertake certain changes. The stakeholders should know the plan of implementing changes, its reasons and consequences; they also need to know the overarching business strategy.

1. 13. List 5 interventions or activities that may be relevant for inclusion in a change management plan.
   1. 1. Focus on – Interventions;
   2. 2. Intergroup Intervention;
   3. 3. Personal, interpersonal and group process intervention;
   4. 4. Comprehensive Interventions;
   5. 5. Structural Intervention.

1. 14. Explain the key steps in action research.

The ADKAR model explains the key steps of actions:

1. Awareness of the need for change.
2. Desire to participate in and support the change.
3. Knowledge on how to change.
4. Ability to implement required skills and behaviours.
5. Reinforcement to sustain the change.

1. 15. Explain the use of Kurt Lewin’s Unfreezing Refreezing model to embed the change in the organisation.

Lewin’s first step in the process of changing behaviour is to unfreeze the existing situation or status quo (equilibrium state). Unfreezing is crucial to overcome the forces of individual resistance and group loyalty. Second step is to move the system to a new level of equilibrium. The third step is refreezing. This step can take place after the change has been complete and become sustained and stable.

1. 16. Name 5 of the key principles that should be incorporated into a communication and education strategy during a change process?
2. Information sharing;
3. Participation;
4. Vision and Motivation;
5. Social Support;
6. Evaluation and Feedback.
7. 17. What is the difference between change and transition?

Changes are concerned with how things will be different, yet transition is about how people will move through the stages to make these changes work. Changes are situational externals; on the contrary, transitions are mental and emotional. Changes are tangible, yet transitions, as a psychological process, are intangible.

18. What principles are important to keep in mind when gathering evidence and information to evaluate the impact of change?

1. Assess evaluability;
2. Formulate evaluation questions;
3. Construct the evaluation framework;
4. Collect data;
5. Organise and analyse data;
6. Interpret data;
7. Report findings;
8. Evaluate the evaluation.
9. 19. Name 5 methods that could be used to monitor and evaluate a change process?
10. Self-evaluation;
11. Participatory evaluation;
12. Rapid participatory appraisal;
13. External evaluation;
14. Interactive evaluation.

20. How can a PERT chart help with monitoring and evaluation of a change process?

PERT chart is an effective tool in monitoring and evaluation of the change processes. Charts help make decisions based on the effect that the images provide, because data analysis is represented by graphics and pictures. The definitions or labels can be added to the pictures to identify what the graphics and pictures represent. Therefore, PERT chart gives a visual and comprehensive survey of the situation generally and allows breaking “out of box”.