Syllabus - Spring 2008
Organizational Development and Managing Change (MGMT 383)

This is a three-credit graduate level course and is one of four required courses in the Human Resource Management field of study of the online Master of Professional Studies (MPS) degree. The MPS degree is offered through the University of Connecticut's Center for Continuing Studies.

The developer of this course is Peter Diplock, Ph.D.

Course Title: Organizational Development and Managing Change (MGMT 383)
Credits: 3
Instructor: Peter Diplock, Ph.D.

E-mail: peter.diplock@uconn.edu

 

In today's competitive, complex, fast-paced global economy, organizations cannot stand still. Organizations ranging from Fortune 500 firms to small entrepreneurial start-ups find that they need to change in order to succeed and survive. This course is geared towards developing a better understanding of the challenges, techniques, burdens, and successes associated with initiating and implementing major changes within organizations. Therefore, the objective of the course is to prepare managers and their consultants to meet the challenges of organizational changes.

Upon completion of this course students should be able to:

• Describe and explain the steps involved to effectively manage organizational change in a variety of contexts and settings.
• Distinguish between different types and terminologies of organizational change.
• Describe the process of organizational change from multiple theoretical vantage points (e.g. life cycle, teleological, dialectic, evolutionary).
• Identify the type and significance of various drivers of organizational change.
• Identify the nature and significance of various impediments to organizational change (e.g. organizational inertia, resistance to change).
• Explain the nature of the relationship between organizational change drivers and impediments.
• Explain organizational change processes from multiple role perspectives (e.g. change agent, change target, leader, middle-manager).
• Recognize an improvement in your ability to synthesize, articulate, and disseminate information and knowledge concerning organizational change to others through dialogue and critique.

This is a reading intensive course, and you are expected to engage with the learning material outlined in a timely, thorough, and thoughtful manner. You are encouraged to reflect on your own work experiences as you read material for this course, and many of the assignments will require that you provide evidence of understanding through your ability to contextualize key points (i.e. to 'apply' concepts to different setting and situations).

Module Discussion Postings (30%)

A large portion of your grade is based on the quality and thoroughness of your required module discussion postings. Your responses to specified questions, at the conclusion of each module, are meant to provide evidence that understand key concepts from the readings. Much of your learning in the course will come from your discussion postings and reading the postings of other students.

Final Application Paper (40%)

This assignment requires that you identify an organization effected by organizational change. You should have (or be able to acquire) a high degree of familiarity with the organization (e.g. your current or former employing organization), and the change can be historic, current, or impending. The purpose of the project is to provide you with an opportunity to examine the nature of change in an actual organizational context. An excellent paper is one that combines both rich description of the underlying change with a thorough and informed (by the readings) analysis and critique. At minimum, your paper (15-20 pages) should:

• Identify the scope (e.g. incremental/transformational) and context (i.e. justification) for change.
• Identify and critique the process for managing change based on models and theories identified in class.
• Identify the actual and/or planned outcomes from change and evaluate the effectiveness of change.
• Identify what the organization either should have done differently or what they should do next. 

Book Critique (30%)

This assignment requires that you read Who Moved My Cheese twice. You will be required to read this book at the beginning of the course, and then again at the conclusion of the course. You will then provide a written critique informed and supported by readings from this course. At minimum, your paper (5-7 pages) should:

• Explain differences in your perception (if any) of this book from your original reading in the first module to your rereading at the end of the course. How have you come to understand this work differently?
• Explain the phenomenal commercial success of the book (millions of copies sold) in terms of message, content, delivery---why have so many people, and why have so many executives in particular embraced the messages from this book?
• Critique the book using readings and references provided throughout the course. Note: this analysis may take place on the basis of a combination of factors including 'metaphors', 'logic', 'assumptions about human nature and in particular change targets', assumptions about 'change processes' etc. You could also critique the book from the perspective of how other readers might 'view' this work: for example, how might Kotter or Myerson 'read' this book differently than the typical consumer.

Final letter grades for this course will be determined based on the following scale:

You are responsible for acting in accordance with the Student Code, available at   http://www.dosa.uconn.edu/student_code.cfm .

These course texts may be purchased locally or through an online bookstore.

Required Texts:

Johnson, S. (1998). Who Moved My Cheese? New York: Putnam. ISBN # 0-399-14446-3

Kotter, J.P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN # 0-87584-747-1

Myerson, D. (2003). Tempered Radicals: How everyday leaders inspire change at work. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN # 1-59139-325-6

Watzlawick, P., Weakland, J.H., & R. Fisch. (1974). Change: Problems of Principle Formation and Problem Resolution. New York: Norton. ISBN # 0-393-01104-6

The following cases/articles will be required from Harvard Business School Press. (These can purchased directly from HBS press at: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/cases/cases_home.jhtml )

• Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A): HBS Case # 9-495-031
• Quy Nguyen Huy. In Praise of Middle Managers, Harvard Business Review, Sepetember, 2001. HBS Reprint # R0108D
• Jick, T. Implementing Change, HBS Case # 9-491-114
• Jick, T. Note on the Recipients of Change, HBS Case # 9-491-039
• Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. The Real Reason People Won't Change, Harvard Business Review, November, 2001. HBS Reprint # R0110E
• Beer, M., Eisenstat, R.A., & B. Spector. Why Change Programs Don't Produce Change, Harvard Business Review, November-December, 1990. HBS Reprint # 90601

Required Articles:
These articles are provided in the course through Electronic Course Reserve (ECR).

Armenakis, A.A., & Harris, S.G. (2002). Crafting a change message to create transformational readiness. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 15(2): 169-183.

Armenakis, A.A., Harris, S.G., & Field, H.S. (1999). Making change permanent: A model for institutionalizing change interventions. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 12, 97-128.

Armenakis, A.A., Harris, S.G., & Mossholder, K. (1993). Creating readiness for organizational change. Human Relations, 46, 1-23.

Beugelsdijk, S., Slangen, A., & van Herpen, M. (2002). Shapes of organizational change: The case of Heineken Inc. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 15(3): 311-326.

Clair, J.A., & Dufresne, R.L. (2004). Playing the grim reaper: How employees experience carrying out a downsizing. Human Relations, 57(12): 1597-1625.

Dent, E.B., & Galloway Goldberg, S. (1999). Challenging resistance to change. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 35(1): 25-41.

Dutton, J.E., Ashford, S.J., O'Neill, R.M., & Lawrence , K.A. (2001). Moves that matter: Issue selling and organizational change. Academy of Management Journal, 44(4): 716-736.

Frohman, A.L. (1997). Igniting organizational change from below: The power of personal initiative. Organizational Dynamics, 25(3): 39-53.

Fox, S., & Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (2001). The power of emotional appeals in promoting organizational change. Academy of Management Executive, 15(4): 84-95.

George, J.M., & Jones, G.R. (2001). Towards a process model of individual change in organizations. Human Relations, 54(4): 419-444.

Gersick, C.G. (1991). Revolutionary change theories: A multilevel exploration of the punctuated equilibrium paradigm. Academy of Management Review, 16(1): 10-36.

Gill, R. (2003). Change management – or – Change leadership? Journal of Change Management, 3(4): 307-318.

Goodman, P.S. & Rousseau, D.M. (2004). Organizational change that produces results: The linkage approach. Academy of Management Executive, 18(3): 7-19.

Isabella, L.A. (1990). Evolving interpretations as a change unfolds: How managers construe key organizational events. Academy of Management Journal, 33(1): 7-41.

Kilmann, R.H., & Mitroff, I.I. (1979). Problem defining and the consulting/intervention process. California Management Review, 21(3): 26-33.

Leana, C.R., & B. Barry. (2000). Stability and change as simultaneous experiences in organizational life. Academy of Management Executive, 25(4): 753-759.

Marshak, R.J. (2002). Changing the language of change: How new contexts and concepts are challenging the ways we think and talk about organizational change. Strategic Change, 11(5), 279-286.

Morrison, E.W., & Wolfe, F.J. (2000). Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25(4): 706-725.

Nadler, D.A., & Tushman, M.L. (1989). Organizational frame bending: Principles for managing reorientation. Academy of Management Executive, 3(3): 194-204.

Ogilvie, J.R., & Stork, D. (2003). Starting the HR and change conversation with history. Journal of Organizational Change Management , 16(3): 254-271.

Piderit, S.K. (2000). Rethinking resistance and recognizing ambivalence: A multidimensional view of attitudes toward an organizational change. Academy of Management Review, 25(4): 783-794.

Quinn, R.E., Spreitzer, G.M., & Brown, M.V. (2000). Changing others through changing ourselves: The transformation of human systems. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(2): 147-164.

Reger, R.K., Gustafson, L.T., Demarie, S.M., & Mullane, J.V. (1994). Reframing the organization: Why implementing total quality is easier said than done. Academy of Management Review, 19(3), 565-584.

Reichers, A.E., Wanous, J.P., & Austin , J.T. (1997). Understanding and managing cynicism about organizational change. Academy of Management Executive, 11(1): 48-59.

Rousseau, D.M. (1996). Changing the deal while keeping the people. Academy of Management Executive, 10(1): 50-59.

Skinner, D. (2004). Evaluation and change management: Rhetoric and reality. Human Resource Management Journal, 14(3): 5-19.

Stensaker, I. , Falkenberg, J., Myer, C.B., & Haueng, A.C. (2002). Excessive change: Coping mechanisms and consequences. Organizational Dynamics, 31(3): 296-312.

Strebel, P. (1994). Choosing the right change path. California Management Review, 36(2): 29-51.

Tushman, M.L., & O'Reilly, C.A. (1996). Ambidextrous organizations: Managing evolutionary and revolutionary change. California Management Review, 38(4): 8-30.

Van de Ven, A.H., & Poole , M.S. (1995). Explaining development and change in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(3): 510-540.

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Module 1: Making Sense of Organizational Change: Déjà vu

Module 2: Change: Problem Formation and Resolution---Consideration of What?

Module 3: Change: Consideration of Why?

Module 4: Change: Consideration of How?

Module 5: Barriers to Organizational Change

Module 6: Rethinking Resistance to Organizational Change

Module 7: Making Change Permanent: Opportunity or Oxymoron

Module 8: Making Sense of Organizational Change: Déjà vu vu

Students will be provided an opportunity to evaluate instruction in this course using the University's standard procedures, which are administered by the Office of Institutional Research.