Course Project Expectations

Introduction

The Course Project enables students to integrate and build onto course materials and discussions by doing a Diagnostic Paper (Option 1) of a significant change initiative or by writing a Research Paper (Option 2) that goes beyond what has been covered in the course.

For both options the student is required to do the following:

1.    Submit a Draft of your proposed paper during Week 4 so that the instructor can provide guidance and advice.

2.    Submit a 15-20 page (double spaced) course project (Option 1 or 2) by the end of Week 7.  Note:  An Appendix may be used for background documents.  Those pages do not count toward the 15-20 page paper.

Diagnostic Paper

Applying models and concepts from the course, analyze a significant change initiative you have observed, have been affected by or have had a hand in implementing in your organization.  It can be a change that your organization is currently undergoing, or one that has recently been completed.  The organization that is in your paper could also be one that you worked for in the past.  However, you must know enough about the change to be able to do a comprehensive analysis.

Examples of change you might consider include:

·         Restructuring or reorganization

·         Downsizing or rapid expansion

·         Outsourcing

·         Technical or work process redesign

·         Merger or acquisition

·         Benchmarking or reengineering

·         Implementing new technologies

·         Shifting strategy

Your diagnosis Course Project should be a complete analysis of the issues associated with the change and use the following format:

1.    Executive Summary (15 Pts)

a.    Describe the organization or organization unit

b.    Identify the situation, issues, or problems that lead to the change.  Include mention of such factors as where the organization was in its life cycle, environmental issues driving the change, etc.

c.    State the organization’s goals for the change-the intended outcomes

d.    Provide a brief explanation of your evaluation of the effort

2.    Assessment/Diagnosis (25 Pts)

a.    Describe the analysis that was done prior to the planning of the change implementation and the finding of that analysis which led to the planned changes

b.    If no prior analysis was apparent, describe the process by which the organization decided the specific changes that were to take place, and how those changes were to be implemented (how was the change implementation plan determined).

3.    Analysis of the Change Strategy (50 Pts)

a.    Describe the change implementation strategy-the model of change employed (from Kotter, Nadler, Jick, etc)

b.    Describe how the change was structured and sequenced

c.    Describe how political support for the change was obtained and how successful those efforts were

d.    Describe what the change leaders did to prevent or minimize resistance to change; what was the nature of the resistance, and how did the leaders deal with the resistance?

e.    Describe how momentum for the change was built and sustained.

f.     Describe the monitoring mechanisms and how the information from the monitoring was used or not used.

4.    Results/Outcomes (45 Pts)

a.    Compare the actual outcomes with the expected outcomes (include the unplanned outcomes)

b.    Include the negative impacts as well as positive.

5.    Evaluation of the Effort (45 Pts)

a.    Incorporating principles from the course, explain your assessment of the effectiveness of this effort. What was effectively, and what could have been done more effectively?

b.    Describe what you have learned about “Managing Organizational Change” from this analysis.

6.    References (you must make reference to at least seven (7) articles from academic journals or business journals).  (10 Pts)

a.    Utilization of documents from the text

b.    Library and other resources

7.    Appendix (10 Pts)

a.    Change documents

b.    Research documents