CA 520 Leading Organizational Change--Dr. Joan E. Aitken
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Contents: Grading - Assignments - Week 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - Expectations
COURSE SECTION WITH FEWER THAN 7 STUDENTS
Contact Information in the online course Announcements.
Required Readings: Access scholarly articles through Ebsco’s Communication and Mass Media Complete http://www.park.edu/library/ Some articles are available here http://ourwayit.com/comps/Change/ Contact Dr. Aitken for the password.
Assignment Point Value - 100 Points = 100% Week 7 Core Assessment Due--See the course learning outcomes. Make sure you demonstrate meeting most of those in your core assessment. If there are fewer than 7 students enrolled, this course is an independent study course. The information below is modified. There will be no discussion and no weekly or minor assignments. There are scholarly articles to read and one major paper (core assessment) due week 7.
CORE ASSESSMENT Week 7 Core Assessment Due--See the course learning outcomes. Make sure you demonstrate meeting most of those in your core assessment.Using strategies discussed in the book and readings, create a plan for leading organization in a current or past organization you have been a part of. Read one of the following books or relevant scholarly sources in communication and leadership as foundation for your work.
Bolman, L. G. & Deal, T. E. (2003). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. San Fransico: Jossey Bass. ISBN 0787964271 Cawsey, T. F. & Deszca, G. (2007). Toolkit for organizational change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 978141294106
GRADING FOR COURSE WITH 6 OR MORE STUDENTS Essays: 50% 50 points Reflection: 15% 15 points Core Assessment: 35% 35 points 90-100 points=A (earned grade)
ASSIGNMENTS FOR COURSE WITH 6 OR MORE STUDENTS
ESSAYS 10 brief essays worth 5 points each: Essay using a scholarly article (a total of 10 scholarly articles). Imagine that you are leading an organization through change. Find three ideas in the article that you could apply to an organization experience. Do NOT summarize the article. Essay should be 100-250 words each. Please post your essay as the body of a Discussion Board post so that other students in the course can read your ideas. Due week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. Articles available See http://ourwayit.com/comps/Change/ or https://pegleg.park.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.asp
FINAL EXAM (REFLECTION) FOR COURSE WITH 6 OR MORE STUDENTSReflection: Please submit an essay reflecting on your learning in this course. What did you learn and what do you still need to learn about leading organizational change? How will you motivate yourself to make needed personal changes? Essay should be about 250-500 words, submitted in the dropbox.
Contents: Grading - Assignments - Week 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - Expectations
READINGS FOR ESSAYS AND RESEARCH Abstracts are quoted directly from Communication & Mass Media Complete. See http://ourwayit.com/comps/Change/ or https://pegleg.park.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.asp
WEEK 1 Torppa, C. B., & Smith, K. L. (2011). Organizational Change Management: A Test of the Effectiveness of a Communication Plan. Communication Research Reports, 28(1), 62-73. doi:10.1080/08824096.2011.541364 In a climate of continuous change, organizations must constantly adapt to survive even while unceasing demands to adapt can create change fatigue and resistance among personnel. A theoretically grounded change management communication plan that was hypothesized to ease accommodation was tested in a large public sector organization as it underwent major restructuring. Findings indicate that personnel beliefs supporting the restructuring that were targeted in the communication plan accounted for 66% of the variance in receptivity to the new structure, 57% of the variance in motivation to make the new structure a success, and 42% of the variance in pessimism about the change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Ahearne, M., Lam, S., Mathieu, J., & Bolander, W. (2010). Why Are Some Salespeople Better at Adapting to Organizational Change?. Journal Of Marketing, 74(3), 65-79. doi:10.1509/jmkg.74.3.65 This study empirically examines the longitudinal influences of salesperson goal orientations on performance trajectories during a planned change intervention that requires learning to answer two questions. First, what is the functional form of salespeople's performance trajectories during a period of change implementation? Second, why are some salespeople better at adapting to change than others? Polynomial growth models show that the average salesperson performance trajectory displays an initial decline, gradual recovery, and eventual restabilization. Salesperson learning orientation is related positively to larger initial declines, steeper recovery slopes, and higher restabilization levels. In contrast, performance orientation is related positively to smaller initial declines, but shallower recovery slopes and lower restabilization levels. The results suggest that successful implementation of planned change interventions largely depends on identifying and appreciating the heterogeneity of individual traits that share meaning with the change. The study has implications on what sales managers should expect in terms of performance losses and gains during change and how managers can predict which salespeople will reap the largest performance benefits from a change intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Russ, T. L. (2009). Developing a Typology of Perceived Communication Challenges Experienced by Frontline Employees During Organizational Change. Qualitative Research Reports In Communication, 10(1), 1-8. doi:10.1080/17459430902751303 This study sought to develop a typology of communication challenges perceived by frontline employees during the implementation of organizational change. A sample of midlevel managers (N = 166) self-reported 486 challenges they perceived encountering while implementing a new customer service program at a national textbook retailer. These perceived impediments were inductively analyzed into a five-tiered typology including (a) resistance from external stakeholders, (b) a lack of resources and decision-making authority, (c) personal management issues, (d) competing changes, and (e) staff resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Leonardi, P. M. (2009). Why Do People Reject New Technologies and Stymie Organizational Changes of Which They Are in Favor? Exploring Misalignments Between Social Interactions and Materiality. Human Communication Research, 35(3), 407-441. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01357.x This article explores the relationship between users' interpretations of a new technology and failure of organizational change. I suggest that people form interpretations of a new technology not only based on their conversations with others, but also through their use of technology's material features directly. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of ethnographic data on the implementation and use of a computer simulation technology at a major automotive firm, I show that engineers' communication with managers, coworkers, and customers led them to develop an interpretation about what the technology was supposed to do while their interactions with the material features of complementary technologies led them to develop an interpretation that the new simulation technology was not an efficient tool for that specific purpose... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Lewis, L. K. (2007). An Organizational Stakeholder Model of Change Implementation Communication. Communication Theory (10503293), 17(2), 176-204. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2007.00291.x Despite a growing interest in the communicative dimensions of planned change processes in organizations, a comprehensive theoretical treatment of change implementation communication has not yet emerged in the literature. This essay offers a beginning remedy by presenting a model situated within stakeholder theory. The model connects implementers’ selection of communication strategies, stakeholders’ concerns, assessments, and interactions with 3 critical features of the observable system after implementation has begun (fidelity, uniformity, and authenticity). Model linkages are supported by current and recent scholarship in communication and change, and propositions and hypotheses are generated to provide heuristic value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Lewis, L. K., Schmisseur, A. M., Stephens, K. K., & Weir, K. E. (2006). ADVICE ON COMMUNICATING DURING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE. Journal Of Business Communication, 43(2), 113-137. This study offers a thematic analysis of the advice from a sample of bestselling popular press books on the subject of communication during implementation of organizational change. This analysis uncovered themes concerning the communicative role of change agents, general strategies for communicating and introducing change, and tactics for communicating during implementation of change. Themes within each of these general categories are presented and discussed in terms of their prevalence and generalcharacter. Implications for how practitioners can make the best use of this advice and how it compares to empirical findings in the scholarly literature are then discussed. Further directions for organizational communication scholarship are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Bottitta, J., Idoura, A., & Pappas, L. (2003). Managing the Effects of Organizational Changes. Technical Communication, 50(3), 355. Argues that the move to single sourcing requires changes within writing teams as skills are introduced and members' roles shift. Roles of information development group; Description of the organizational structure of the documentation team at ABC Software Inc.; Changes in the writing team in the transition to the single sourcing process; Potential effects of changes to a group; Strategies for developing a transition plan.
Howard, L. A., & Geist, P. (1995). Ideological positioning in organizational change: The dialectic of control in a merging.. Communication Monographs, 62(2), 110. Presents a case study of a merging utility company which examines organizational members' discursive responses to the contradictions evolving in the condition of merger. Structuration theory; Positioning of members as function of the dialectic of control; Reproduction of organizational structures that enhance or inhibit autonomy, identification, empowerment and change.
Massey, J. (2002). Cultural Management and Organizational Change. Review Of Communication, 2(2), 180-186. Reviews the book "Leading Organizations Through Transition," by Stanley A. Deetz, Sarah J. Tracy and Jennifer Lyn Simpson.
Kuhn, T., & Corman, S. R. (2003). The emergence of homogeneity and heterogeneity in knowledge structures during a planned organizational change. Communication Monographs, 70(3), 1. Scholars and practitioners increasingly strive to understand the complexities marking implementations of organizational change programs. Studies on this topic often concentrate on members' cognition about a planned change, regularly finding that members' knowledge structures and interpretations either converge or diverge over time. Using interviews, observations, and a unique discourse processing technique, a nine-month case study of one division of a municipal government organization shows that members' knowledge structures simultaneously converged and diverged as a consequence of both the change initiative and several unanticipated organizational events, including a clash between workgroups. The study's findings and theoretical perspective suggest a challenge to cognitive perspectives on knowledge and traditional research on organizational change; they also provide lessons for practitioners on how organizations may learn from complex change dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Contents: Grading - Assignments - Week 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - Expectations
WEEK 6 Core assessment due in dropbox Sunday of week 6. No additional readings or essays due.
WEEK 7 How can you motivate yourself to make needed personal changes? How can you create the image you want others to have? What do you do if you take a risk and lose? How can you re-create the way others see you? How can you recreate yourself? Find some solid sources in scholarly journals or on the Internet. Write about strategies you plan to use for self motivation.
Contents: Grading - Assignments - Week 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - Expectations
WEEK 8 Reflection due in the dropbox Friday of week 8.
Contents: Grading - Assignments - Week 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - Expectations
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