Strategic change management

This assignment consists of two tasks. Task 1 is a report writing task, while Task 2 is a reflective report.

Task 1 (Report, 80 marks)- Maximum word count: 3500 words
Word count note:  Maximum word limit: The maximum expected word count for both the tasks is 4500 words, excluding references (any additional text will be discarded for evaluation).

Scenario: Managing change is tough, but part of the problem is that there is little agreement on what factors most influence transformation initiatives. Ask five executives to name the one factor critical for the success of these programs, and you’ll probably get five different answers. That’s because each manager looks at an initiative from his or her viewpoint and, based on personal experience, focuses on different success factors. The experts, too, offer different perspectives. A recent search on Amazon.com for books on “change and management” turned up 6,153 titles, each with a distinct take on the topic. Those ideas have a lot to offer, but taken together, they force companies to tackle many priorities simultaneously, which spreads resources and skills thin. Moreover, executives use different approaches in different parts of the organisation, which compounds the turmoil that usually accompanies change.
In recent years, many change management gurus have focused on soft issues, such as culture, leadership, and motivation. Such elements are important for success, but managing these aspects alone isn’t sufficient to implement transformation projects. Soft factors don’t directly influence the outcomes of many change programs. For instance, visionary leadership is often vital for transformation projects, but not always. The same can be said about communication with employees. Moreover, changing attitudes or relationships is difficult; they’re deeply ingrained in organisations and people. And although changes in, say, culture or motivation levels can be indirectly gauged through surveys and interviews, it’s tough to get reliable data on soft factors.
Read the full article here:
https://hbr.org/2005/10/the-hard-side-of-change-management
Report Information:
Your task is to find a client organisation that has to change and help them manage this change. The organisation you need to analyse could be the organisation you work for, or one in which you are involved in in your private capacity or any other organisation you know that might need assistance (perhaps even an organisation in which a friend or family member works) or even a Multinational company. Analyse the key decision makers in the organisation and determine the challenges, what needs to change and the consequences of not changing. Apply change tools and models and develop a change strategy and plan. Also show how the organisation can lead its stakeholders in developing and adopting the strategy for change, how they should plan to implement the chosen change strategy and how they should deal with resistance. Reflect what you have learnt from this process and what you could have been done better.
Write up the total process in a written assignment format by answering the questions below. Although this academic report could be of value to the client who could use it to implement the recommendation, strict academic guidelines such as referring to credible academic journals and articles and following the Harvard referencing format must be adhered to.

Note: – Primary data collection is not required for the assignment; only information gathering is expected from client organisations.

1.    Executive Summary [5 Marks]
2.    Introduction of the Chosen Organization and background to change [10 Marks]
3.    Examine the need for change in the organisation. Assess the factors that drive the need for strategic change and critically evaluate the resource implications for not responding to these changes. [15 Marks]
4.    Explain any two change management models and evaluate the relevance of these models in the chosen organisation. [10 Marks]
5.    Describe any three significant types of changes in the chosen organisation and evaluate their implications on the organisational performance. [15 Marks]
6.    Investigate the barriers to change during the changes in question 5, and explain how the chosen organisation overcame those barriers? [15 Marks]
7.    Conclusions and recommendations. [10 Marks]

Task 2 (Reflective Report, 20 marks)- Maximum word count: 1000 words
This is a reflective report; a Reflective Report is a piece of writing that summarises a student’s critical reflection on a subject. Report guidelines are as follows:

a.    Curiosity: What made you curious in this module? How does learning feel different when you’re curious? [5 Marks]
b.    Description: What’s the most important concept you learned in this module? Why do you think so? [5 Marks]
c.    Self Realisation: Which topic brought out the best in yourself as a student, and why do you think that is?
[5 Marks]
d.    Extension: What do you want to learn more about, and why? [5 Marks]

References (Adhering to Harvard Referencing Format)