Devry
HRM587 Week 1 Discussion 1 & 2 Latest 2016 November
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Stories of Change (graded) |
Chapter 1 of your textbook includes, on page 9, Table 1.1, “Managing Change: Some Lessons from
the Four Stories.”Review the four “lessons” (bullet points) on
the table, and think about what some of the key “learning points” you gleaned
about change from these stories. Then, do one of two things:
1. Post
the top three learning points you gleaned from the stories, and include how the
stories for change helped you learn these points, or
2.
Research one of the four companies and see how or if that company has since
changed (yet more) since the time of the book’s publication. How did that
recent change fit with or not fit in with the “lessons” that the textbook
mentions the company “learned” from their original set of changes? Explain what
you find (bring the URL of the research/article you used to help you).
Your instructor will follow up with you with additional
questions throughout the week to push the learning further. Feel free to
discuss your classmates’ findings and thoughts on these questions with each
other as well.
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Pressures for Change |
Organizations change due to many different
pressures. In your lecture for Week 1, as well as your reading in Chapter 3,
you are introduced to many of these pressures. Think about a time at work, at
school, or at home, when you have been subjected to similar pressures (this is
“your” example). Did that pressure make you change or “dig in your heels”
and refuse to change? What does that say about pressures for change? Does it
always lead to change?
Provide your example in your first post, and
if you can, explain how the theories on “pressures for change” help explain why
you were or weren’t actually pressured to change in your example. Please also
discuss your classmates’ examples with them. In follow-up posts, talk about how
these pressures did or didn’t cause a company to change, to their benefit or
detriment.
Your instructor will come in with additional
questions and thoughts based on your comments and the pressures for change, and
during the week, your main focus will be on “why companies change.” Enjoy the
discussions!
Devry
HRM587 Week 2 Discussion 1 & 2 Latest 2016 November
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What Changes in Companies? (graded) |
The textbook talks about many types of “change.” Here is a list
of many of the “types”: first order, second order, anticipatory, reactive,
adaptive, tuning, adaptation, reorientation, recreation, midroad, tectonic,
incremental, transformational, downsizing, technological, mergers and
acquisitions. It is all quite overwhelming, really. Our goal this week is to
gain clarity and understanding of the differences among the types of changes.
Consider the company you have selected (or one of them you are still choosing
between) and discuss a recent change which has occurred at that organization.
Pick which “type” of change you would say that change was, and why. Utilize the
course textbook as the start for analyzing the theory of the change. Explain
the theory of the change.
Do you agree with the change which the company has decided to take? Let’s get
started, and we will be addressing more questions about this throughout the
week. Further, feel free to debate/discuss your classmates’ project/company
findings with them as well.
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Green Mountain Resort Case |
The Green Mountain Resort case is a perfect
one for us to work together as a class on the different images for change and
how they are reflected (or could have been reflected) in that case. We will
cover multiple facets of this throughout the week but to start, let’s talk
about the role that Gunter plays in our case study this week. For our opening
posts, pick one or two of the following (or debate with your classmates):
1. Which image of leader do you see Gunter
best fitting into? Why do you think this?
2. How did Gunter use that image to “lead” the
company through this change?
3. Which image do you think YOU would have
selected to lead the company through the change, and how would this have been
better than how Gunter led the change?
Devry
HRM587 Week 3 Discussion 1 & 2 Latest 2016 November
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The Diagnostic Models (graded) |
Chapter 5 identifies several diagnostic models. The first five
speak of the overall structure of the organization. Select one of these five
and research it on the Internet. Discuss why you chose this particular model,
with special emphasis on the components included and how they (and the model)
fit with your view of the organization you are researching for your project.
Speak also to what you see as the model’s strengths and weaknesses.
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Force Field Analysis |
The Force Field Analysis Model is one of the
most famous in change management. It was originally developed by Kurt Lewin and
can be found in Chapter 5 at the end of the chapter (printed page 151). Review
this model and relate it to an issue in your organization or your associations
outside of work. Define how understanding the “forces for” and the “forces
against” inter-relate. What insights did you get from the analysis?
Devry
HRM587 Week 4 Discussion 1 & 2 Latest 2016 November
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Emotional Intelligence/Overcoming |
(Note: This case is a
work of fiction.)Lefty’s
BBQ is a U.S. national restaurant chain which serves beef, pork, and chicken
barbecue along with Pepsi products, thin-cut French fries or slaw as sides, and
offers biscuits or garlic bread as well. The restaurant operates as a drive-up
only, with parking lots available at most locations for people to sit and eat
in their cars, as well as picnic tables outside in some southern locations. The
“average” customer is white male and about 35-45 years old. Many of the workers
in the chain are high school part-time, hourly workers who operate the
registers, clean-up, and cooking. Managers range from the age of 18+. Lefty’s
BBQ senior management has implemented a change plan to introduce alcoholic
beverages to its menu (beer and wine only). This is going to impact quite a bit
of the operations, and certainly is going to impact the employee base, as in
most states, to serve alcohol will require employees to be a minimum of 21
years of age. Due to some licensing issues, Lefty’s is also going to switch
from Pepsi products to Coke products along with introducing the beer and wine
to its new menu. Unfortunately, the press got a hold of this change in plan
before senior management had communicated the change to the rest of the
employees throughout the country. Identify, discuss, and begin to address the
many resistances, emotional intelligence issues, and unintended consequences
which the management will face and need to overcome and handle throughout this
change.
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Barriers to Change |
(Note: This case is a work of fiction.)Addition/Subtraction Company (A/SC) is a
textbook publisher for math education, including 1st grade through graduate
school levels. The company has been supplying textbooks to public education
schools (grade – university level) for 55 years. The company has always prided
itself on the loyalty it shows to its employees in that almost all of its
authors are full-time employees, and very little of the work done in the
organization is farmed out to independent contractors. However, over the last
10 years, the earnings of the company have taken a huge hit, partly because of
the No Child Left Behind Act, which caused some of A/SC’s textbooks to fall out
of print before they made a profit, and partly because of the increase in costs
due to the company’s health insurance premiums when a large number of their
employee base (and their families) contracted serious illnesses requiring
lengthy and expensive treatments which has impacted the bottom line of the
company. The HR Vice President has reviewed the business practices of their two
main competitors, and realized that they are making their profits because they
rely mainly on independent contractor authors, paying them only royalties on
sales versus the salary/benefits packages which A/CS employees make. Further,
because the other companies have a wide open subject matter expert pool by
using independent contractors, they are much more nimble at reacting to changes
in need of the market, and they can offer more math areas in their textbooks,
giving them a larger market share. In fact, the last projection which was done
by the marketing team showed that A/CS was going to be out of business in two
years if they don’t change something quickly. The HR Vice President is going to
recommend to her CEO that the author group of employees (numbering 510) be
downsized out of the company and replaced with independent contractors.
Further, because of certain employment laws, none of those who are downsized
will be invited back as independent contractors. The publishing team will be
expected to work with independent contractors and manage all book writing
projects using less human power as well. That team will be downsized by 15%
over the next year. Choices of “who” will be downsized will be based on a
review of the last two years of performance evaluations, seniority, and roles.
This week, discuss the barriers that will
exist to successful implementation of this change. Along with discussing how
the change itself will be perceived by the employees, talk about risks to the
company, internal and external factors which will create barriers, and
challenges to overcome them.
Devry
HRM587 Week 5 Discussion 1 & 2 Latest 2016 November
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Organizational Development Theory and |
JetBlue Airways is a company which has embraced the OD theory
and allowed OD’s vision of emotional intelligence, value proposition, positive
reinforcement, and change through improvement and culture to drive much of its
results over the past years. The airline industry is one in which external
influences have had an unbelievable impact on the bottom line of all of the
companies that fly. Thus, it may defy imagination at first that in an industry
of barely controlled daily chaos, Jet Blue has found a way to make OD work to
control that chaos. Interestingly, in 2010, JetBlue was one of only three
domestic airlines to turn a profit, and their CEO, David Barger, is the
lowest-paid CEO among the 10 largest publicly traded U.S. airlines in 2010.
(Potkewitz) Doing research online, use a Google™, Bing™, or other
search-engine-style search, and find case analyses or articles discussing
JetBlue’s OD approach. Start the week by reviewing this article, “An
Extraordinary Stumble At JetBlue,” found at http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2007-03-04/an-extraordinary-stumble-at-jetblue.
We’ll begin with these questions:
1. How does a company with an OD approach
differ from one without that approach?
2. Which company would you prefer to work for
– one with an OD approach or one without?
3. Do OD companies offer a higher value
proposition to their customers than non-OD companies? And if so, why don’t all
companies take this approach?
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nStep Practices (graded) |
Class, you will be the “change agents” for this change. Your
professor will be the CEO, issuing dictates, orders, suggestions, support,
ideas, and thoughts. However, you, as class members, will need to take each new
piece of information and determine how it will fit into your plans for change,
as change agents. Keep an eye on the new information as well as how your
colleagues are addressing it. Innovation, creativity, and level headedness is
key to making this week’s solution succeed. Good luck!
Here’s the change:BubbleBath Inc. is a privately owned company with approximately
2,000 employees whose make up is primarily line workers. Management makes up
about 20% of the company, with the remaining 1,600 people working to produce
the line of bathtubs, hot tubs/spas, and designer fixtures for which the
company has become famous. The company started 10 years ago working out of the
initial founder’s garage, and quickly increased in size when Jacuzzis became a
standard fixture in many middle-class remodels and new constructions. Due to
excellent marketing strategies, BubbleBath Inc. has not experienced a downturn
in sales despite the recent economic downturn in construction. Instead, they
have parlayed the middle-class flight from tourism to encourage the
“staycation” and the upgrade of the home as the new spa of the 21st Century.
Profits last year were up 15% and everyone is feeling cautiously optimistic.
Nevertheless, the CEO is concerned with market analysis reports that despite
the staycation mentality, growth over the next two years is predicted to be
stagnant to declining. Last week, as per the original exit strategy of the
founding investors, the company will be restructured into a limited partnership
of three people from an incorporation model of 15 shareholders. 12 of the
shareholders will be paid a return of 8% on their investment, and the remaining
3 shareholders will form a limited partnership. As a result, the CEO has
received word from the new partners that they want to change the operations
model as follows, effective in three months:
A. Discontinue the line of designer fixtures and focus solely on
hot tubs and bathtubs. (This will mean eliminating two lines of 30 employees
each.)
B. Move the entire operation from the city of Atlanta, GA to a town 25 miles
south of Atlanta called McDonough, where all 3 of the partners reside. No
relocation packages will be offered, but those employees who choose to “retire”
at the time of the move will receive a 4 weeks’ severance package. A new
building which was originally intended to be a “HottubsRUs” factory is sitting
vacant and the partners bought it for a steal. They already have a buyer for
the old factory in Atlanta.
C. For the first time, include a sales office right in the new production
building where a showcase with sales staff will be located. Along with
supplying retail stores, the company will now also sell directly, both in the
office and online. Initially, 5 sales people and one sales manager will be
hired.
Your CEO has asked you, the managers, to come up with a change
plan using Kotter’s 8-step model. What are the first things that you will do in
order to create a plan for change which will maximize efficiencies, utilize
current processes, and ensure that profits continue? Who wants to start?
Devry
HRM587 Week 6 Discussion 1 & 2 Latest 2016 November
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Tyco Case Study (graded) |
Review the Case Study on the Tyco company which appears in your
textbook at the end of Chapter 11, pp. 345-346. After reading the case, let’s
start the discussions with these questions.
1. How did the turnaround team use Gerard and Teurf’s transformation skills
(discussed earlier in Chapter 11) to overcome the frustrations of employees?
2. What were some of the examples given in the case which led you to think
those transformational skills were used?
3. Of the three types of cultural transformation (behavioral, experiential, and
attitudinal), which of these types occurred in the Tyco case, and why do you
think so?
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Types of Communication |
Throughout the term, you have been
researching two companies and the change plans each underwent. This week, you
will be working on the communication plan which you feel one of the companies
most likely used (or you will create one you would have recommended it use).
This plan will include types/methods of communication, a timeline for that
communication, etc. (See the project for more details.) This week, we want to
work together and look at types of communication. Also, you will be given an
opportunity to share a draft of the “sample” communication you are going to provide
for your project, and receive feedback from your classmates.
First, let’s talk about the different types of
communication methods and when each may be used and why. Take a look at the
examples of types of communication methods listed (in this week’s lecture).
Pick ONE of the types, and describe that type of communication, explain who
would use it, provide a potential audience for that particular type of
communication and the pros/cons of using that particular type of communication.
Or respond to a colleague who has already posted.
For example, a
conversation is a type of communication. Two managers may use it, they might
discuss with each other their roles in a change, their concerns about the
change, and how they plan to discuss the change with their teams. A pro of this
style of communication is that it is cheap, immediate, has an instant feedback
mechanism, and is relatively easy and low-key; a con is that it can be
overheard and repeated by others who aren’t to hear it yet, it is difficult to
memorialize or “prove”, and/or it can be twisted later by others.
Devry
HRM587 Week 7 Discussion 1 & 2 Latest 2016 November
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Chapter 12 NASA Case Study (graded) |
Read the end-of-chapter case in Chapter 12 of your text and do
Internet research on NASA during both disasters, with particular emphasis on
the disasters’ effects on the culture. Why do you feel it is so difficult to
“sustain” cultural change in a large organization AFTER the immediate effects
of a major event like Challenger or Columbia? What role should leadership play
in working to “institutionalize” such cultural changes?
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Cracking the Code of |
Locate and read the HBR article,
“Cracking the Code of Change,” in the Online Library. It can be found through a
general search in EBSCOhost, in the Harvard Business Review collection,
May-June 2000 issue.
The article identifies two primary types of
change that are most prevalent in today’s organizational world. Which type (E
Change or O Change) do you think is most prevalent and what factors in our
society influence that predominance? How can a leader best work toward a
synthesis of both types to maximize the effectiveness of each for a successful
change initiative?
Devry HRM587 Week 1 Topic Praposal Assignment Latest 2016
November
Pick out your two companies and their change. In 1 double spaced
page, please submit your company selections, with a brief write-up on the
changes you will be comparing in the two companies. Pick two companies which
have undergone some type of fairly substantial change in the recent past. Find
the company and the change information online, using EBSCO, or using a
company’s case described somewhere in our textbook. (See page 388 of the
textbook index for page numbers and names of each of the cases described in the
textbook.) Other ways to find information: utilize Google or Yahoo Finance, or
Reuters, and look up Annual Reports of companies which interest you. Often
reading the first sections of these reports (i.e. letters from CEO’s) will give
you ideas about changes they have gone through in the past year(s).
Be sure that:
1. Your
companies are publicly traded so that their information will be easy to
research and find
2. Your
change in the two companies are comparable (i.e. don’t compare a new CEO to a
change in HRIS – DO compare two changes in CIO) and
3. The
changes happened in the recent past so that you will find plenty of online
information about how they were handled, but not so recent that the information
about the change “results” is still up in the air.
Your topic will be graded/approved and returned to you so that
you know your topic will work for the course. You must get approval to move
forward with your project. This section will be worth 25 points and must haveat
least two references.
Devry
HRM587 Week 2 Assignment Latest 2016 November
Part 2: The Change Analysis – Images of Change (Due Week 2)
The “Images” section focuses on the six different images of
managing change and how each “approach” to change effects all that follows in
its implementation and continued support. Download the “Week 2 Project Images
Grid” from doc-sharing. Pick three of the “images of change” explained in the
Week 2 lecture from the grid, and analyze how those particular “images” would
affect the ensuing diagnosis and implementation in your two selected companies
on their change plans.
Here’s what to do:
1. Working
with the information that you provided in your topic proposal, and any feedback
you have received from your Professor, flesh out the facts and information from
your original proposal.
2. Review
the changes in each company and describe them thoroughly in a word document.
Explain how the change impacted the companies, and who it impacted. Compare
some of the similarities and differences between the change in the two
companies.
3. Look
at your grid and pick three images of change from your grid. Fill out the empty
blocks on the grid for those three images using outlines, bullet points, and
rough ideas for both company’s change.
4. Now,
in a Word document, analyze, compare and contrast the three images and explain
how the behaviors of those images would be different or the same during your
companies’ changes, and how those differences could (or did) impact the success
(or failure) of the change, comparing and contrasting the results at both
companies.
5. Explain
which image (or combination of images) you feel would have best facilitated the
described change and why.
6. Based
on the information you actually read about the results of this change, state
which image you think the leader of the change actually resembled the most. You
may speculate here on which image you feel best represents the “change agent”
at either or both of the companies. This will depend on how much information
you found about the internal workings of the company during the change.
This paper should focus on evidence that demonstrates how the
management of the organization integrated one or more of the six images of
managing change (Chapters 2 and 3) how effective the change was and what
management could have done differently to increase the probability of
successfully implementing the strategic change initiative. Again, this is a
compare and contrast paper – so include information about both companies in
your report.
Devry
HRM587 Week 4 Assignment Latest 2016 November
Part 3: Diagnosing the Change (Due Week 4)
Select a Diagnostic Model (see Chapter Five) that you utilize to
review aspects of change activities and actions that have been taken by the
companies chosen. Here we are looking at the “parts” of the companies as well
as their strategies, as surmised by your research in Part 1. It is acknowledged
that this information will not be complete, as you are looking at these
companies as an outsider; but a thoroughly researched paper will give enough
data to allow some (well-defended) assumptions on your part.
Here’s what to do:
1. Choose
one Diagnostic Model (i.e. 6-box, 7S, congruence, or etc.) to apply to the two
chosen companies. Choose the model which you feel best identifies and measures
the relevant aspects of the organization’s performance and therefore the
diagnostic choices made will affect your findings.
2. Apply
the data obtained in your research through an analysis of the appropriate
chosen model. This will allow you to create a diagnosis of where each company
is today (as per the criteria of the model).
3. Create
a SWOT Analysis for each of the two chosen companies change plans/programs,
utilizing information obtained in the diagnosis. (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, Threats.)
4. Compare
the two company analyses to each other and offer your perspective (value
judgment) of the effectiveness of the changes made to date in each case.
5. Identify
potential areas of resistance that may occur and at least one strategy to
respond to each. (This will most likely come from your Weaknesses/Threats
section of your SWOT. If not, take another look at your SWOT.)
6. Recommendations
for further actions within the organizations and the rationale chosen for these
recommendations.
7. Write
your paper including each of the above sections, and analyses
Part 4: Communicating the Change (Due Week 6)
An important part of any change project is how the change is
communicated to the organization, to the change agents, to the line workers, to
the customers, and to the public. Along with media relations issues,
communicating change (especially in a publicly traded company) can involve
multiple legal and regulatory aspects, as well as personnel and management
concerns. Perhaps the single most difficult piece of handling Kotter’s
“establish a sense of urgency” is that too many inexperienced or immature change
agents read this to mean “panic the troops.” Never do this.
This project piece will have 3 parts:
1. The
main part of your project this week will ask you to pick ONE of the company’s
change plan, and develop a communication plan for the company. This plan should
be submitted by using an excel spreadsheet, setting out the Stakeholders, the
timeline of the communication plan, the method of communication, the rationale
for why you chose this method of communication, the purpose of the
communication and identifying “who” will do the communicating. The grid for
this project can be found in doc-sharing, entitled “Grid for Week 6 –
Communication Plan.”
2. Pick
ONE of the communication pieces which you would have used which is listed in
your communication plan, and write the communication in a Word document (either
the text or the script, if the communication would have been oral.) Be sure to
review the Week 6 lecture and the examples of communication plans and types
there for more assistance on this piece of the project. If you use any form of
communication from templates you find online or in a textbook, be sure to cite
your source. Your instructor will grade this based on how well it relates to
the audience/stakeholder group to which it is intended.
3. The
“real world” aspect of this project is that you will write a 1-2 page analysis
of one of the media pieces about one of the company’s changes written (or
provided via oral media) by the company. For this section of the project,
please analyze any media, news, or other communications which explained the
change going on in the organization. Explain in your paper how the company
handled communicating the change to its stakeholders.
Part 5 – Annotated Bibliography (Due Week 7)
List of all of your references you used in the project to date
(you should have at least 12 at this point) and create an annotated
bibliography. Basically, for this assignment, you will use your reference list,
in alphabetical order, and provide a 2-4 sentence summary (brief!!) of what
that reference said. This is a summary style document! Your grade will be based
on your ability to BRIEFLY summarize the important points in the document as
well as the strength of your reference materials. (i.e. if you used mainly
low-level reference documents like encyclopedias, online dictionaries,
anonymous articles, etc. this will negatively impact your grade.)
1. Use of
at least 12 references, properly annotated: 24 points (roughly 2 points each)
2. Strength
of references overall: 6 points (roughly .5 points each.)
3. Use of
one of the 5 Keller-approved citation methods
