HDDR 6344: Organizational Change Management
A One-Week Intensive
Summer Semester
July 14-18, 2008
Instructor and Contact Information:
Dr. Greg Huszczo
E-mail: greg.huszczo@emich.edu
Instructor’s Style: I will use a participative leadership style in managing our learning efforts during this course. I need your active participation in our discussions of the material as well as full engagement in the experiential exercises I have designed for this course. You will also have some say in the grading processes for this course. It is my hope that we will reach consensus decisions most of the time. However, due to the limited time we have available, I will take your input and make a unilateral decision if necessary.
Required Reading:
* Managing Transitions: Making the Most Out of Change (2nd Edition) by William Bridges (2003) Da capo Press, A Member of the Perseus Books Group, Cambridge, MA.
* Plus a manual of handouts and an assessment tool to be provided
* Plus…you will be expected to understand how to use the framework underlying the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to examine reactions to change and conflict, methods to communicate change plans, methods to influence individuals in conflict and how your personality influences your approach to being a change agent with alternative dispute resolution knowledge and skills. If you have taken the MBTI instrument, please bring your results to class. If you would like to take the MBTI (again or for the first time), copies of the instrument will be made available during the course. You do not have to take the instrument in order to understand and utilize the framework but almost everyone finds the results interesting and useful.
Course Purpose: This course has been designed to prepare you to be a successful agent of change within your professional activities. You will be expected to develop the knowledge and skills needed to manage a change in another yourself, another person, in a team and in an organization and to surface and resolve the conflicts that are likely to result from such efforts.
Course Objectives:
* To reflect on and assess what experience has taught you about change
* To understand the frameworks of planned organizational change efforts
* To identify the conflict that is likely to arise at each stage of a change effort
* To develop the leadership skills needed to facilitate an organizational change effort primarily through the use of influence rather than through command and control tactics
* To develop the motivation and skills needed to change something about you, another person, a team, and an organization
* To be able to design and/or execute an organizational change initiative from the identification of a need, through diagnosis, planning, implementation, evaluation and institutionalization
* To develop the skills needed to manage the stress typically associated with change efforts and conflict
Course Grading Procedures:
The "contract" for grading will be negotiated in a collaborative manner between the students and the instructor. I will negotiate with your group what portion of your grade shall be assigned to the group work expected in this course. The remaining portion of your grade will be individually determined. Each member of your group will get to negotiate how he/she will demonstrate the knowledge and skills gained in this course and the due dates associated with the option(s) chosen.
GROUP WORK: The major group assignment for this course will either be a case study analysis or a “tool kit” designed to help an organization navigate each of the key steps of a major change effort. Your group will be expected to present its group assignment to the rest of the class near the end of the week. You will be given some opportunity to choose the people for the group that you will work with throughout our week together. Your group will be given some in-class time to prepare for and complete the assignment (though some time outside of class may be necessary depending on your quality standards and the efficiency of your group’s processes).
Case Study Option: Your group will act as a small consulting firm (or a staff of internal consultants). I will provide each group a “real live” case that contains data about the organization’s current situation. (Your group will also have the option to use an organization that employs the members of your group instead.) You are expected to apply the principles learned in this course to: 1: (Entry/Contracting) clarify mutual expectations with the client organization; 2. (Diagnosis) diagnose the organization’s situation; 3. (Planning and Implementation) identify change strategies/interventions to address the need for change and the specific steps needed to implement the chosen strategy/intervention; and 4. (Evaluation and Institutionalization) describe plans that could be used to evaluate the impact of the intervention and tactics that could help sustain progress. Your group will present your navigation through these four phases and handouts and written materials to supplement your oral presentation. An alternative framework for your presentation may be negotiated.
Toolkit Option: Your team would produce a collection of techniques, exercises, interventions, activities for facilitating a major organizational change effort beyond those provided in the required books and materials. Your tool kit must contain a team development tool for each of the steps in a model of organizational change provided in class. Each entry must clearly explain the objectives of the intervention, the logistics of using it, the materials needed, the instructions the facilitator is to follow, tips for the facilitator in using the tool, warnings of what to look for as the team goes through the intervention, processing questions to ask the group to insure that learning took place, and reference(s) to further explore the tool and the issues associated with it. The collection of tools should be "packaged" in an attractive and user-friendly manner. An overview of the package must be presented to the class and one of the tools must be demonstrated in a manner that will enable them to use your product.
Your group is required to do one of these options but can do an additional project if it really wants to. At the end of the week, group members will submit confidential peer evaluations regarding whether any group member should not receive full credit for the group work because the person did not due their fair share of the work. If two or more group members state you did not contribute enough; some penalty will be assigned.
INDIVIDUAL WORK: You must also demonstrate that you (as an individual) gained the knowledge and skills listed in the course objectives. All students will take the exam but the weighting of that exam and the decision of whether to do any additional individual work is negotiable. Several options are listed below; however, you do not have to limit yourself to these options.
* An exam on the material in the two books and the material that is discussed in lecture/discussion portions of our course. This would be the simplest way for me to measure what you have learned as an individual in this course. We can negotiate the format of the test and when the test would take place.
* A Personal Change Project where you will describe your efforts to improve yourself as a change agent by changing your own behaviors. You would produce a report where you would share some self-assessment data, choose a set of relevant behaviors to improve upon and provide the rationale for your choices, develop a plan for your change effort, and report the impact of your efforts to implement the plan. You must specifically use material from the course throughout your write-up of this plan.
* An “Organizational Change Cookbook” This could consist of mini-papers (each 5 pages in length) describing (3 or 4) OD techniques, when to use it (or when not to use it), how to use it (the steps involved), warnings of things to look out for if a consultant attempts to use it, and research or at least anecdotal evidence of its efficacy. These papers must utilize the textbooks and references beyond the textbooks.
* An In-depth Research Paper on a specific OD/Change Management technique... The paper would have to utilize OC/OD references (articles or books) and be no less than 15 pages long.
* A "Managing Organizational Change Today" magazine…This would be written as a series of articles that could include interviews of practitioners in the field…articles about what is hot in the field, an OC/OD crossword puzzle, etc. Just make sure it truly demonstrates your knowledge of OD.
Participation: Is required but could be a graded item if you tell me how to do it.
Grading rules: We will also need some rules regarding penalties for late work, peer evaluations for group projects, opportunities for extra-credit projects, and rewards for outstanding contributions to class discussions.
The connections between the Grading Procedures and the Course Objectives: This course has both knowledge and skill objectives. The individual graded portion (the test or project) is designed to verify whether you cognitively understand the models of organizational change and the research associated with those models. I want you to go further than merely understanding the concepts of organizational change. The case study or tool kit that is assigned to your group will verify whether you can apply what you learn.
We will also engage in exercises in our classes to insure experiential learning. Although these activities will probably not be evaluated, we will process the learning that should have been achieved through a discussion of the exercise. These points of learning may be included in your exam answers. The additional projects described in the syllabus are optional. However, they are being provided so that you can develop specific knowledge and skills relevant to your career.
Course Topics and Flow (To be adjusted to meet the needs of the members of this class):
* Ice Breaker Exercise: What has your experience taught you about change?
-- Tips for Improving Sharing Information
-- Tips for Improving Listening Skills
-- Tips for Providing Feedback
-- Tips for Learning from Experience
-- The Knowledge, Skills and Qualities needed to be an organizational change agent
* Key models explaining change processes
-- Beckhard’s: C>R when dVf: Overcoming resistance to change
-- Lewin’s: Unfreezing-Changing-Refreezing
-- Kubler-Ross’: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance
-- Lewin’s Force Field Analysis: Current State, Preferred Future, Forces For, Forces Against, Estimate Strengths, Plans to capitalize on Forces For and reduce Forces Against
-- The General Model of OD Consultation: Entry/Contracting, Diagnosis, Planning/Implementation, Evaluation/Sustaining
-- Kotter’s 8 Keys to Organizational Change
-- Huszczo, Sanborn and Loup’s 10 steps to a turnaround (The Need, The Lead Change Team, The Vision, The Case, The Coalition, The Plan, The Execution, The Momentum, The New Routine)
* The Field of Organization Development (OD)
-- The 5 defining characteristics of the field of OD
-- 3 consultation styles
-- Use of Internal vs. External consultants
-- Organization Development Techniques
---- Individually oriented techniques
---- Group oriented techniques
---- Intergroup techniques
---- Whole System Change (including video)
---- Designing tailor-made change interventions
-- Changing cultures in organizations
-- Managing major organizational changes
* Understanding yourself and others to help create change and resolve conflict
-- What the Jungian and Myers-Briggs Framework explains about reactions to change
-- The quadrants and change (IS; EN; ES; IN)
-- The cognitive functions and leadership style (ST, SF, NF, NT)
-- Whole Type and implications for change efforts
-- Speed Reading and Speed Reaching resistors to change and resolving the conflicts that typically result
-- Potential strengths/blindspots for each type across the 4 phases of an OD consultation
* Planning changes in yourself
* Understanding transitions as a psychological process (Ch 1&2 of Bridges’ book)
* Practical actions to take to help manage transitions
-- Helping People Let Go (Ch 3 of Bridges)
-- Managing the Neutral Zone (Ch 4 of Bridges)
-- Launching New Beginnings (Ch 5 of Bridges)
* Teams as a business strategy, structure and target of change
-- Types of teams (Problem Solving, SDWT’s, Leadership, Pseudo Teams)
-- Preparing organizations for a change to teams
-- The Need for Leadership at all levels in a Team Concept Organization
-- The Ten Commandments of Teambuilding
-- The 7 components of team excellence
-- Why teams get stuck and what to do about it
-- Tools to help teams help themselves
-- Case study of an organization implementing a Team Concept
* Conflict and Dispute Resolution strategies and Organizational Change efforts
-- Turning the “blame game” into systematic problem solving
-- The 4-A plus 2 Problem Solving Model: Awareness; Analysis; Alternatives; Actions plus Assessment and Appreciation
-- The Aggressive Corporation
-- Dealing with particularly difficult people
* Dealing with non-stop change (Ch 6 of Bridges’ book)
* Taking care of yourself (Ch 7 of Bridges’ book)
* Stress from dealing with change and teams
-- Definition of stress
-- General Adaptation Syndrome
-- Common sources of stress
-- Moderators of stress
-- Potential Consequences of stress
-- 3 main strategies for dealing with stress
-- Training in Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation Technique
-- The Impossible Just Takes a Little Longer (Art Berg video)
* Coaching a peer: Helping others help themselves
-- Motivating others (even those not in your direct control)
-- The Ten Commandments of Coaching
-- Planed Spontaneous Recognition (video)
* Communicating change initiatives: The Three Laws of “Tipping” change efforts
-- The Law of the Few
-- The Stickiness Factor
-- The Power of Context
-- Applying the three laws to accelerate a change effort
* Conclusions and more applications (Ch 8 of Bridges’ book)
* Presentations of your change management plan where you apply what you learned in this course to a case study or your presentation of your group’s tool kit.
* Exam
Final Note: I am very excited to be teaching this course. I have served as an organizational change agent for over 30 years now in over 100 organizational settings. I find this topic to be fascinating. I want our course to be insightful but quite practical. I want you to be capable of doing this type of work not merely understanding it. Together I believe we will have a fascinating time together wrestling with very important issues relevant to you and the organizations that employ your services. Together let’s work to modify this course to be particularly relevant to your needs while developing in you the knowledge and skills needed to help organizations, teams and people help themselves.