OVERVIEW
You are required to complete a final project paper on leading organizational change. In this course, you will have learned that making sense of change management and leading an organization through a successful initiative is challenging. To succeed, you must have a strong understanding of the role you play as a leader, build a strong change plan that incorporates appropriate change models, create clear connections to your vision, and use tools that can work even in organizations dealing with complex change initiatives.
Select a change effort from an organization that you have worked with in the past, currently work for, or select an organization with which you are familiar and can easily research. This can be a change effort that you feel was successful, simply average, or that was unsuccessful. You will spend all semester building this final paper. You are required to submit your topic selection to the mentor for approval.
GUIDELINES
Develop your analysis using the five following sections:
Section 1: Introduction and situational analysis: Describe your topic and the importance of the topic, giving appropriate background information. This is also where you do your situational analysis – identifying factors related to the thesis statement, and any other aspects of the situation that you believe are crucial to creating a foundation for the body of the research paper.
Section 2: Analysis using change theory: Consider the theories that are appropriate to the thesis statement/topic you defined. Use those theories to analyze the situation you have defined and create a clear foundation for your view of the situation. Your opinions are important and useful, but not sufficient to make a case for a specific course of action. The theory, models, and concepts that you find in your readings are what you must use to create a valid argument for your suggested course of action.
Be sure to explain:
How leadership’s vision, role, and style influenced the change effort at the individual, group, and organizational level;
How the change effort was planned (or not planned well) and, if appropriate, what could have been done to improve planning; and
The challenges experienced from restructuring the organization and dealing with resistance to change.
This part of the paper should have the most depth and length. This is where you show your ability to apply the material from our course. This project is ultimately about proving your growing skill at applying the material. Keep this in mind as you write. One of the biggest mistakes often found in these papers is a poorly written section two. The primary reason for a poorly written section in a research paper is a lack of depth and connection to the material studied in the course. Develop your ideas in a systematic and clearly articulated stream of thought. Use paragraphs to build your ideas and add depth to your views.
Section 3: Recommendations. Up to now, you have been analyzing and comparing options. Here is where you pull together the different threads of your analysis and determine a course of action. Make recommendations about what the company should do in the future and what change tools and models would facilitate change. Make sure your justifications clearly flow from your analysis.
