The Psychological Implications of Implementing Change in Work Organisations

The 21st Century is an age of continuous and fast change that covers almost all aspects of life. John Kennedy once said that "change is the law of life and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future".

Organisations in the 21st Century seem to believe strongly in that statement and all of them consider change as fundamental to survival. The efforts exerted by organisations to successfully meet the challenge of ongoing change would definitely have significant psychological implications on the employees.

In the light of the above statement, you are required to write a report covering the following:

1) A discussion based on relevant academic literature on the concept of ‘Change Management' highlighting:

a. The main types of change and reasons driving organisations to do so.
b. The likely positive and negative reactions of employees and the psychological reasons behind their tendency to resist change.
c. The psychological implications of such employee reactions on the work environment.
d. The significance of change management and how organisationsmay achieve a successfulimplementation of change by motivating and actively engaging employees in the change process.

2) A discussion of one experience that a local organisation of your choice did have in implementing any sort of change, highlighting employees' various reactions to the concept of change and the strategies adopted by the organisation management to secure a successful change.

3) Suitable recommendations to your chosen organization for a more effective and betterhandling of any future change process.

INSTRUCTIONS

Your work will be graded on the following aspects:

1. This is an individual assignment.

2. The assignment MUST be submitted on-line (through MOVE) on or before the due date (i.e.).

3. Your assignment shall reflect the depth and breadth of your original analyses in a clear and coherent manner.

4. Use of the relevant academic literature to support ideas and issues discussed. The range of academic sources such as texts and journals to support your arguments and comments.

5. Any reference to authors and other writers shall be quoted with due acknowledgement in your assignment report using the Harvard Referencing System. For details of Harvard referencing style refer the student's hand book page 46-47 section7.2.

6. This is an individual assignment and carries a 50%weightingof the module grade.

7. This assignment follows a reportformat and must be original and creative. An analytical piece of work is required. The use of ‘cut and paste' approach will be penalized. It must be presented in a structured manner, with appropriate cover page, content page, introduction, body (with appropriate heading / sub-headings), conclusion, references, page numbered and any required appendices.

8. Yourreport should be word processed and professionally presented. The length of your report should be 2500 words (+/- 10%), presented in text of font size 12 with 1.5-line spacing. Please state the exact word count at the end of the assignment.

9. The cover page should be attached with the assignment and uploaded through MOVE (on-line. Name of the student, The Programme, Module Title, Assignment Title and number of words must be reflected on the cover sheet.

10. All assignments must be adhered strictly to the deadlines specified by Majan College. Failure to hand in the assignment for any reason and without prior approval and a valid written extension from the module tutor will not be marked and will be awarded a grade G (0) irrespective of the quality of the work. See Student handbook page 16-17 section 4.4.

11. Unacknowledged use of work of others (plagiarism) is regarded as a dishonest practice and will be will be penalized. See the penalties in the student's handbook page 35-36 section 5.8.

Guidelines

- Students are required to research the psychological implications of implementing change in work organisationsas well as applying their knowledge of the same to a local organisation. Thus the assignment report would include two parts as follows:

a. The Theoretical Part:
Expected to include relevant information from appropriate academicliterature reflectingthe student's clear understanding of the concept of"change management"and the psychological implications of change on the work environment. The literature review shouldbe properly referenced and coverminimally the following concepts:

- Meaning: definitions / driving forces /importance of change.

- Likely positive and negative employee responses.

- The reasons behind the commonly experienced employee resistance to change and the psychological implications of such resistance necessitating change management.

- How organisations may successfully achieve the intended change by utilizing recent change management models and ensuring the active engagement of employees in the change process.

b. The Application Part:

- The student is required to choose any suitable modern local organization and examine its experience in implementing one sort of change (structural, procedural, technological...etc.)

- The student is also expected to investigate how did the organisation handle its employees' reactions to change and the means adopted to improve the organisation's psychological environment.

- According to the findings concluded the student is expected to give recommendations for a more effective change managementin future. The recommendations are expected to reflect the knowledge gained from the literature they reviewed.

The usual "Business Report Structure" is to be followed:
a. Introduction.
b. Answering the Assignment questions (Q1 theory + Q2 and Q3 application).
c. Conclusion.
d. Bibliography.