Reference no: EM133851161
Assignment:
1. How does organizational culture influence change? What elements of culture are important for a change leader to assess and understand? Using the Haworth College of Business or Western Michigan University, perform a short organization culture analysis.
2. Explain the connection between purpose/vision and organizational change. From your perspective, how important is a vision for successful organizational change. Be sure to connect your perspective to the three debates discussed in your text/slides.
Please use the following scenario to answer questions 3 - 5. Please recognize that content expertise in technology is not important. This is a scenario designed to provide enough information for you to apply theories, strategies and tactics discussed in our change management course.
Scenario:
ACME Company is a large technology solutions firm that has traditionally sold hardware and software via an in-person direct sales model. However, the rise of cloud computing and software-as-a-service is disrupting its business. Competitors have been quick to enable online self-service options.
To keep pace, ACME is transitioning to sell more cloud-based services, require less customization, and interact with customers predominantly through digital channels. This entails major changes, including:
• Moving to agile development to enable faster releases of new digital products and features,
• Restructuring the sales team from individual territories to industry-focused groups that bring industry expertise,
• Implementing a flexible "work from anywhere" staffing model rather than physical offices,
• Providing more flexible packaging and subscriptions versus large upfront licenses,
• Retraining staff on new cloud-based systems and processes,
• Changing commissions and rewards to incentivize online sales over large deals
This transformation aims to break down functional silos, remove hierarchy, and build a collaborative, customer-centric culture. The scope of the initiative crosses departments and requires new skills and ways of operating.
As a consultant, you have been asked to develop a communication strategy to ensure all impacted stakeholders understand the forthcoming changes and their role in the transformation to minimize resistance and enable faster adoption.
3. Communication is often cited as the reason that change efforts fail. What strategies and tactics do you recommend ACME use to announce, remind and sustain this change effort?
4. Returning to the ACME scenario, how might you understand and build strategies to successfully manage resistance to change. As part of your answer, make sure to identify the positive and negative aspects of resistance to change. Please discuss how sense-making or organizational development perspectives serve as a frame for these efforts.
5. What implementation strategies would you recommend ACME follow? Please make sure to discuss details of the various models you would use, as well as acknowledging their shortcomings as a tool.
6. What are three key takeaways from this semester's activities, readings and discussions that you will take forward into your professional role?