What is Change Management?

Changemanagement is the process during which the changes of a system are implemented in a controlled manner by following a pre-defined framework/model with, to some extent, reasonable modifications.

Changemanagement is a structured approach to transitioningindividuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state.

Changemanagement is a set of processes that is employed to ensure that significant changes are implemented in an orderly, controlled and systematic fashion to effect organizational change. One of the goals of change management is with regards to the human aspects of overcoming resistance to change in order for organizational members to buy into change and achieve the organization's goal of an orderly and effective transformation.

Select a short book on change management to read. Some suggestions include:

Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson

Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes, William Bridges (or Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change)

Leading Change, John P. Kotter (or Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditionsor The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations)

Other change management book options are possible, but the book must be shown to me in class for approval.

The first part of this paper involves summarizing a minimum of 5 things you learned in reading the book that were the most meaningful to you and why (your"a ha!" moments). While this can be outlined in bullet point format, I do expect some detail on not only what you learned from the book but why was meaningful to you.

Next I want you to apply the concepts in the book to a fairly recent change in your life. What kind of changes could you consider? While I would prefer you to relate this to a business situation, if you don't have a good example from that standpoint you can use a personal change for this assignment. Some examples include:

• Taking a new job
• Getting a new manager/supervisor
• Moving to a new city/county
• Starting college

Begin the next section by giving me a synopsis of the change you are writing about so I have some context for the rest of your paper. You will want to give me details on the change situation, the players involved and their actions (including your own), the good and the not so good things about the change, your reaction and thoughts during the change, and the outcome to the change.

Next you will want to use the insights on change that you learned from the book you read and the material in the textbook and relate it to your change situation. Questions/issues that you can consider for this part of the paper:

• What were the forces that created the need for this change?

• What kind of planning went into the change, if any? How was the planning done? Were there any contingency plans?

• Was there any resistance to this change (from you or others)? How did it appear? What could have overcome the resistance?

• How could you have applied all or part of Kotter's Eight-Step Plan for Implementing Change to your situation?

• Was there anything in the organizational culture (work, school, family) that helped or hindered the change?

• What kind of stress did you experience? What were the sources? What were the consequences? What could have minimized your stress?

• Now that you have read this book and textbook materials, what was done right and what could have been done better/differently?

• What would/could you personally have done differently? Why? How do you think that would have affected the outcome?

Note: Again, this is not a research paper where you merely report on what you read in the book. This is a paper where you take the information in the book and textbook, analyze it, and express your insights and opinions in relation to your situation and the class material.

The paper should be at least 5 pages (and I do mean 5 full pages or more), 1 ½ line spacing, with 1 inch margin and using a normal 12 point font (Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, Univers, etc). Any "title" type information (your name, class, date, etc.) will not be counted as part of the 5 pages. In other words, don't substitute lengthy titles, big margins, extra lines for spacing or large fonts for actual paper content. It should contain a synopsis of thebook you read,but mostly your commentary on what you read (see the grading guidelines - the weighing is a good guideline for contents). I expect footnotes or attributions as appropriate (APA style is fine) and a bibliography.

While there is an expectation of good business writing, grading will mainly be based on the content of your paper - your understanding, analysis and interpretation of change management principles.