Identify a change management situation or problem where you have, or have had, control or influence over how the change is being managed, was managed, or will be managed. This will normally be in the organisation, or the part of the organisation in which you work or previously worked. Write a report of no more than 2500 words in which you:
- identify and describe the change situation in management terms (10 marks)
- analyse the change situation (25 marks), and
- draw conclusions from your analysis. (10 marks)
- Set criteria for a solution and make recommendations, setting out their advantages, disadvantages and implications. (20 marks)
As well as concepts on managing change from Chapter 14 of the textbook Managing and managing people – you are expected to use at least one concept, and preferably more, from earlier topics in the module.
Marks of up to 5% can be awarded for presentation. The components of the report are more fully described in Section 3, which you should read carefully.
The cover, summary, contents page, diagrams, references list and any appendices are not included in the word count but any tables containing text are.
7.3 Guidance on Part 1: the report
You are required to identify a change process in your own workplace which you are responsible for managing, or have an influence over how the change is managed. The situation you choose is likely to be:
- a recent change that could have been managed more effectively
- a change that is in progress now
- a change which is due to happen soon and where the mode of action has yet to be decided
- a change you would like to make in the near future.
Whichever situation you choose, your task is to take a problem-solving approach to the management of people aspects of the change. You will need to consider:
- the feasibility and the scope of the change
- any resistance to it
- operational change strategies available to you which are appropriate to the context of change
- issues – such as communication, motivation, leadership, roles, the need to redesign a job or jobs, and leadership and culture.
Your report should not focus simply on what is being changed and why; rather, you should analyse the management planning and control techniques to be used. An example of an unsuitable choice would be a situation in which an organisation needs to move to larger offices, and your answer focuses on the reasons for the change and the technical logistics of the move. To meet the requirements of the EMA your report would need to begin at the point at which the new location had been decided and would analyse the processes of making the move – the operational change strategy used or to be used, who needs to be told, when and how, how resistance to change will be managed, and other issues that arose or are likely to arise, such as disruption to systems and working practices. Then recommendations should be made to ensure the move is achieved effectively and efficiently, using an appropriate operational change management strategy.
