Managing Change in Organizations



University of Southern California School of Social Work

Sowk 669

MANAGING CHANGE AND ORGANIZATION Development

Fall 2011

Instructor: Jon Simon Sager, Ph.d, Clinical Associate Professor

Office: MRF 333

Telephone: Office: 213 740-8003

Office hours: Tuesday 12:00pm -1:00 pm & 7:00pm – 8:00pm;

Saturday City Center 12:00pm--1:00pm (see Saturday course schedule for exact dates)

E-mail: jonsager@usc.edu

Section: 60501

Location: WPH 107

Day/Time: Tuesdays, 4:10pm to 7:00 pm

I. Course Description: Managing Change and Organization Development

This course is designed to provide students with a conceptual framework addressing the strategic importance of managing change and organization development (OD) in various agencies, human service organizations, community organizations and other settings. Uncertainty, complexity and rapidly changing organizational environments create the necessity for organizations to respond to and effectively deal with turbulence and instability. The capability of an organization's human resources to adapt to such conditions, adopt and successfully use new practices, technologies and develop ways of performing organizational tasks is vital to proactive and sustainable human service organizations. Managing change and OD are essential to these processes.

The management of change and organizational development is a dynamic process. This course focuses on understanding how to plan and implement change in various organizations and other settings. Effective change management and OD maximize the congruence between an organization's mission, goals, strategies, environment, technology, structure, processes, people, culture and reward systems. Managing successful change requires an understanding of the systemic interrelationships among these factors and how changes in one affect another. Within the context of this organizational complexity, students will examine the role of change agents at various levels of the organization and the integrative competencies and interpersonal skills required of individuals who initiate, manage and are affected by change. Managing change and OD is also a sense making and creative process; it requires the ability to discern new patterns and relationships both inside and outside the organization as well as openness to new ideas and possibilities.

This course is designed to provide students with both the conceptual framework and the practical skills needed to design, implement and evaluate effective change and OD programs. Creating effective change and OD programs for organizations begins with a diagnosis and assessment of the needs in the context of the organization's strategy. This also entails an analysis of the organization’s human resources, culture, organizational design and structure among other things. Once assessed and analyzed, the task becomes to design and develop interventions to achieve change and OD objectives. To accomplish the objectives also requires an understanding of: a) the roles of change agent(s)--internal and/or external change management or OD consultants, b) the importance of the political, cultural and technological contexts, and c) the effective development of customized change and OD intervention strategies as well as the familiarity with and ability to use and adapt existing techniques for effecting change.

The course will be taught from the perspective that students will one day be a stakeholder involved in some aspect of managing change and OD, whether as an employee, manager, or internal or external consultant delivering (or creating, or enabling) programs for organizational clients. This practical orientation drives the structure of the course which will involve experiencing not only the stages and activities of change management and OD, but includes exposure to the various tools, techniques and approaches that professional change management and OD specialist’s use. Some of this will involve actual participation in change and OD activities the instructor has used in his professional practice. Students will also become familiar with some of the most frequently used and popular interventions utilized by organizations as they embark upon the 21st century. Students will also learn how to obtain change management and organization development materials, as well as customize materials for particular organizational change and development purposes.

II. Course Objectives

1) Understand the major theories and perspectives concerning organization development and change.

2) Understand the application of the theories and perspectives concerning managing change and organization development in the context of human service organizations, community settings and large and small systems.

3) Understand the role of the internal and external environment in driving or restraining change and OD, as well as the importance of the political, cultural and technological contexts.

4) To diagnose the need for organizational change and OD interventions.

5) To be able to formulate the strategies and tactics for organizational change and OD interventions.

6) To understand the dynamics and issues in implementing and executing a change strategy or an OD intervention

7) Understand why people resist change and learn techniques for overcoming resistance to change.

8) Understand techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of change and organization development.

9) Understand the nature and challenges of developing learning and high reliability organizations that maximize the ability of the organization to effectively adapt to and cope with change and turbulent environments.

10) Understand the challenges for Organization development specialists and change agents at different levels of, and in different relationships to, the agency or human service organization.

11) Students will demonstrate competency in applying principles of managing change and organization development to human service organizations and social systems at all levels of practice.

III. Course Format

Lectures, experiential exercises, role plays, videos, power-point presentations, overheads, instrumentation and guest lectures (if available) will comprise the delivery format for the course. The course will be taught from the perspective that students will one day be a stakeholder involved in some aspect of managing change and OD, whether as an employee, manager, or internal or external consultant delivering (or creating, or enabling) programs for organizational clients. This practical orientation drives the structure of the course, which will involve experiencing not only the stages and activities of change management and OD, but includes exposure to the various tools, techniques and approaches that professional change management and OD specialists use. Some of this will involve actual participation in change and OD activities the instructor has used in his professional practice. Students will also become familiar with some of the most frequently used and popular interventions employed by corporations as they enter the 21st century. Students will also learn how to obtain change management and organization development materials, as well as customize materials for particular change and organization development strategies.

My lectures are designed to supplement and go beyond the assigned readings. I will be glad to answer questions about the readings, but expect my lectures to extend, provide insight and describe actual examples of the application of concepts covered in the readings and lectures.

Last, we will be flexible. Although I intend to follow the structure of the syllabus and course outline, like any good change agent and OD practitioner we will change and adjust in order to conduct deeper explorations of pertinent topics, accommodate the schedules of speakers, the access of videos and other equipment and so forth.

IV. COURSE EVALUATION AND GRADING

All students are expected to regularly attend class and be on time. A student with more than two unexcused absences during the course of this seminar may receive a no credit. A student who is tardy three or more times to seminar may receive a grade of no credit. If a student receives a no credit grade in this seminar, they will be required to repeat this seminar. Seminar grades will be based on the following:

Assignment percent Date Due

Change Analysis Paper: 30 Session 8, 9 or 10

Self-Selected Assignment 30 Sessions 9-14

Final Analysis and Planned

Change Intervention 30 May 4

Participation 10 Each Class

Class grades will be based on the following:

93 – 100 A

90 – 92 A-

87 – 89 B+

83 – 86 B

80 – 82 B-

77 – 79 C+

73 – 76 C

70 – 72 C-

3.85 – 4 A

3.60 – 3.84 A-

3.25 – 3.59 B+

2.90 – 3.24 B

2.60 – 2.89 B-

2.25 – 2.59 C+

1.90 – 2.24 C

Class PARTICIPATION (No more than 10%)

University Grading Policy

Within the School of Social Work, grades are determined in each class based on the following standards which have been established by the faculty of the School:

1) Grades of A or A- are reserved for student work which not only demonstrates very good mastery of content but which also shows that the student has undertaken a complex task, has applied critical thinking skills to the assignment, and/or has demonstrated creativity in her or his approach to the assignment. The difference between these two grades would be determined by the degree to which these skills have demonstrated by the student.

2) A grade of B+ is given to work, which is judged to be very good. This grade denotes that a student has demonstrated a more-than-competent understanding of the material being tested in the assignment.

3) A grade of B is given to student work, which meets the basic requirements of the assignment. It denotes that the student has done adequate work on the assignment and meets basic course expectations.

4) A grade of B- denotes that a student’s performance was less than adequate on an assignment, reflecting only moderate grasp of content and/or expectations.

5) A grade of C reflects a minimal grasp of the assignments, poor organization of ideas and/or several significant areas requiring improvement.

6) Grades between C-and F denote a failure to meet minimum standards, reflecting serious deficiencies in all aspects of a student’s performance on the assignment.

Note: Please refer to the Student Handbook and The University Catalogue for additional discussion of grades and grading procedures.

Description of Graded Assignments

The Organization or Community Change Intervention or OD Project

Students are to write a midterm and final paper applying what they have learned about managing change in organizations and OD to a specific setting. You can plan a change intervention of limited or extensive scope depending on the setting and the problem or situation you are trying to change. You should use your field placement or an organization or community setting which you have enough familiarity with to plan a change intervention and implement it (you do not have to actually implement the change, though you are welcome to do so, but I do not merely want a planned change with little or no attention to its implementation). The planned change or OD project drives the majority of the written work in the course. It is broken into two parts. The first comprises your midterm paper and the second comprises the final. To write these papers you will have to attend class, do the readings and have intensive one on one discussions with me about your project. I want you to first present your idea for a project and get my feedback and approval before you begin working on it. You will get a lot of support and attention from me throughout this endeavor.

The Change Project Analysis Paper (midterm assignment):

In this first paper, you are asked to conduct a force field analysis of an agency, problem or situation in which you desire to initiate change. Other analytical techniques may be used to help analyze and assess the need for change (e.g., stakeholder analyses, Weisbord’s six box model—I will give you a handouts and discuss this in lecture). All students may use current, preferably, or past field work settings. However, you are not limited to your field placements. The setting can be another agency or community you have familiarity with, perhaps you work there or worked there in the past. All students will discuss the choice of settings with me. There will be a lot of attention placed on this assignment, as well as, attention devoted to reworking it to become part of the final paper you submit at the end of the course. I am open to team projects.

The midterm paper is the prelude to the final paper. So, I will give you extensive feedback both in writing and in face to face consultation.

I will give you more information in class about this assignment as well as detailed written guidelines.

The Completed Change Project Paper (final assignment):

The final assignment will involve, in most case, reworking the analytical paper submitted for the midterm assignment. Then you must plan your change and/or intervention. Based on your analysis you will choose and tailor an intervention to the agency, situation or problem you wish to change. The intervention can involve action research, change strategies that are custom developed from your analytical work, as well as extant OD interventions, such as survey feedback, appreciative inquiry, team building, six sigma and so forth. I will work with you individually to help craft your change intervention and suggest strategies and tactics to implement and induce change. I will give you more information in class about the final assignment and provide you with detailed written guidelines.

Managing Change and OD Self-Selected Assignment

This assignment is extremely flexible. It can take the form of an individual presentation to the class, a team presentation or an individual or team paper.

For example, you may be interested in learning more about appreciative inquiry or future search. You can study this and present something to the class or write a paper. You may find others that are interested in the same topic and decide to work together, either on a paper or an oral presentation. You can decide you would like to conduct a training session with the class and teach us all about an intervention involving diversity or team building. Our text has simulations and exercises at the end of the chapters, which you may use. I also will be exposing you to a voluminous amount of change agent tools that I have used in my practice.

The topic you choose must be relevant to the course and approved by me, as well as the delivery format, presentation, paper or training or individually or with others. We will also need to decide on the amount of time, if you decide to involve the class and also coordinate your presentation, simulation, or experiential exercise with the topics I plan to cover. I will try to adjust so I can accommodate you, but there are certain things that need to be covered at certain points in the course in order for you to complete your midterm and final change and OD intervention paper.

We can meet and discuss this during class, as well as during my office hours or other appointments. The goal is for you to get something enriching and useful our of the assignment. In the past, this assignment was a team oral presentation and I provided a list of topics to stimulate student thinking about a topic. For your convenience, I’ve reprinted this list as the end of this syllabus, but you are by no means bound by those topics and the delivery format is wide open, though I do want to approve of what you decide to do and how you decide to do it. I am flexible and want to be supportive. I imagine this type of assignment represents a change from the types of assignments you have been given in the past, but that’s what the class is about. If you are uncomfortable with the lack of structure, think of it as in part relevant to understanding change. Regardless, don’t worry. I won’t let you do anything but succeed or fail forward. The due date for this assignment is open and negotiable.

Participation: Students are expected to attend and participate constructively in class activities and discussions. If you miss two classes, you may do a make-up through a written assignment; see me, if you desire this option.

V. Attendance Policy

Students are expected to attend all classes. The social work program is one of professional preparation. In addition to acquiring theoretical knowledge, students are expected to acquire professional values, to integrate knowledge from a range of courses, to develop professional skills and be socialized into the profession. Members of the faculty of the School of Social Work are convinced that this cannot be accomplished through independent study alone. Thus, attendance at classes is required unless legitimate and special reasons exist for absences or tardiness. Any such absences or tardiness should be discussed directly with the course instructor.

University of Southern California policy permits students to be excused from class, without penalty, for the observance of religious holy days. This policy also covers scheduled final examinations which conflict with students’ observance of a holy day. Students must make arrangements in advance to complete class work that will be missed, or to reschedule an examination, due to holy days observance.

VI. COURSE EXPECTATIONS and Guidelines

Students are expected to attend class, complete the assigned readings in preparation for class discussions and as a foundation supporting lectures and class activities. The evaluation of classroom participation will be based on making contributions that are constructive and considerate. Oral presentations will be evaluated on the basis of being prepared, informative and delivered in a manner, which holds the interest of the audience. Written assignments will be evaluated on the quality of the ideas presented and the ability to use and cite pertinent literature correctly (use APA publication manual, 6th ed.). Written assignments should be clear and concise, well organized, and reflect an integrated understanding of the reading assignments, lectures, outside sources of literature and relevant experiences and information. Assignments are to be submitted on time and there will be grade penalties for assignments submitted past due dates. University Polices concerning academic honesty will be strictly enforced.

VII. Required Textbooks

Weisbord, M. R. (2004). Productive Workplaces Revisited: Dignity, Meaning, and Community in the 21st Century. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

*Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th. Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

*Harvey, D & Brown, D. R. (2006). An experiential approach to organization development (7th. Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

*Because of the high price of texts and the fact that the 8th edition by Brown, is not significantly different from the 7th edition by Harvey and Brown, you may use either the 7th or 8th edition. The syllabus will contain chapter and page references for both the 7th and 8th editions. (I wonder what happened to Harvey regarding the 8th edition).

Recommended reading:

French, W. L., Bell, C. H. & Zawacki, R. A. (Eds.). (2005). Organization development and transformation: Managing effective change (6th. Ed.). Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill.

VIII. Academic Accommodations

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to the instructor as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

Course Outline and Assignments

Session 1) August 23: Introduction to course, discussion of syllabus and graded assignments. Course overview and focus on the challenges of managing change and OD. Historical overview and assumptions about the nature of employee behavior and motivation; implications for managing change and OD

Session 2): August 30: The human relations, social, growth and development and complex-integrative assumptions about human performance in the work place and the implications for managing change, OD and reinventing the organization. The role of expectations, situational helplessness and locus of control. Personal characteristics and OD.

For session 2 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapter 1 or Harvey and Brown 7th ed. Chapter. 1 Weisbord: Introduction & Chapter 1

French, Bell & Zawacki, Part I: Mapping the territory. Pp. 1-11

Beckard, R. What is Organizational development in French et al., pp. 12-15

French W. & Bell, C. A History of Organizational Development in French et al., pp. 16-39

Session 3): September 6: Diagnosing change, open systems theory and systems thinking, socio-technical systems theory and work redesign. Change levers and organizational change and OD. The role of communication and information in change and OD. Greenfields and Greenfielding.

For session 3 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapter 2 or Harvey and Brown 7th ed. Chapter. 2

Weisbord: Chapters 2 & 3

Fox. Sociotechnical systems in French et al, pp. 140-152

Fordyce & Weil. Methods for finding out what is going on in French et al, pp162-171

Session 4): September 13: Planned, reactive and proactive change. Diagnostic and analytical tools. Understanding technical, political, social and cultural organizational contexts and contextual implications for organizational change and organizational learning. Envisioning change and OD. Organization renewal, planned change, OD and changing organizational culture. Strong and weak organizational cultures and their implications for change. Stakeholder analysis, force field analysis and action research. Weisbord's six box model and creating organizational change for dignity, meaning and community.

For session 4 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapters 3 & 5 or Harvey and Brown 7th ed. Chapters 3 & 5

Weisbord: Chapters 4 & 5

Lewin, The Field Approach: Culture and group life as quasi-stationary processes in in French et al, pp.101-104

Schein, E. Organizational Culture in French et al., pp. 125-139

Rothman, J. (2008). Multi Modes of Community Intervention. in J. Rothman, J. L. Erlich,& J. E. Tropman (Eds.), Strategies of community organization (7th. Ed.). (pp. 205-216). Peosta, IA: Eddie Bowers PublishingCompany.

Session 5) September 20: Participation as a lever of change and OD. Employee involvement, participative management and empowerment in OD. Team building.

For session 5 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapters 9 & 10 or Harvey and Brown 7th ed. Chapters 9 & 10

Weisbord: Chapters 6 & 7

Zawicki & Norman: Successful Self-Directed Teams and in French et al., pp. 216-222

Benne & Sheats: Functional Roles of Group Members in French et al., pp. 318-324

Lyle & Zawicki: Centers of Excellence: Empowering People to Manage Change in French et al., pp. 269-273

Kirkman & Rosen. Powering Up Teams in French et al., pp. 433-446

Sager, J. S. (2008). Planning: Democracy on the ground. in J. Rothman, J. L. Erlich,& J. E. Tropman (Eds.), Strategies of community organization (7th. Ed.). (pp. 205-216). Peosta, IA: Eddie Bowers PublishingCompany.

Session 6) September 27: Implementing OD and change, Power and influence in organizations, frame bending, change programs and organizational development. Leading OD and change. Consulting for high performance. Transformational Leaders and the role and style of leaders, change agents and OD consultants

For session 6 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapter 4 or Harvey & Brown 7th ed. Chapter 4

Weisbord: Chapters 8 & 9

Patti, R. & Resnick, H. (1985) Leadership and Change in Child Welfare Organizations

Pacton. Are Organizational Development Interventions Appropriate in Turnaround Situations in French et al., pp 401-410

Greiner & Schein: Defining a Political Model of Organizations in French et al., pp. 313-317

Aremenkas et al., Creating Readiness for Organizational Change in French et al., pp. 298-312

Session 7) October 4: Process consulting and intervention, the recipients of change, resistance to change and overcoming resistance to change. Individual and organizational barriers to change. overcoming barriers to change. Resistance to organizational learning and overcoming barriers to organizational learning.

For session 7 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapters 6 & 8 or Harvey & Brown 7th ed. Chapters 6 & 7

Weisborg, M. R. Towards Third Wave Managing and Consulting in French et al., pp. 63--80

Chin & Benne. General Strategies for Effecting Change in Human Systems in French et al., pp. 40-62

Argyris. Intervention Theory and Method in French et al., pp. 119-124

Session 8) October 11: OD intervention strategies. Using change levers to analyze, critique and develop OD and planned change interventions.

For session 8 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapter 7 or Harvey and Brown 7th ed. Chapter 8

Garvin: Building a Learning Organization in French et al., pp. 274-287

Blake, Shepard & Mouton: Strategies for Improving Headquarters-Field Relations in French et al., pp. 183-186

French& Bell. Organization Mirror Interventions, in French et al., pp. 187-188

Harrison. Choosing the Depth of Organization Intervention in French et al., pp. 325-335

Shepard. Rules of Thumb for Change Agents. In French et al., pp. 336-341

Session 9) October 18: Grid OD, organizational design, Likert Systems 1-4, changing organizational structure. Changing organizational culture, revisited.

For session 9 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapter 14 & 15 or Harvey & Brown 7th ed. Chapter 14 & 15

Weisbord: Chapters 10 & 11

Bushe & Shani. Paralell Learning Structures in French et al., pp. 197-202

Goodstein & Burke. Creating Successful Organization Change in French et al., pp. 352-362

Young. Managing Organizational Transformations in French et al., pp. 363-375.

Session 10): October 25:Technological change and Socio-Technical Systems. Work and job redesign, cross functional teams autonomous work groups and self-managing teams. T groups, sensitivity groups and NTL.

For session 10 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapter 13 or Harvey and Brown 7th ed. Chapter 13

Weisbord: Chapters 12 & 13

Session 11) November 1: Intergroup development interventions and conflict management. Diversity training.

For session 11 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapter 11 or Harvey and Brown 7th ed. Chapter 11

Weisbord: Chapters 14 & 15

Rogers: Two-Person Disputes in French et al., pp. 114-115

Schein. Intergroup problems in organizations in French et al., pp. 119-124

Harrison. When Power Conflicts Trigger Team Spirit in French et al., pp. 175-182

Prahalad: Managing Discontinuities: The Emerging Challenge in French et al., pp. 449-459

Beckhard. The Confrontation Meeting in French et al., pp. 189-196

Session 12) November 8: Goal Setting. Management by Objectives (MBO). Survey feedback and appreciative inquiry. Six Sigma, Total Quality Management and other approaches to continuous quality, production and process improvement interventions. Technological change and changing work processes. OD and Change Programs: fads, fancies and evolution. Radical change: reengineering and restructuring the organization, downsizing and dumbsizing. Incremental change and OD.

For session 12 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapter 12 or Harvey and Brown 7th ed. Chapter 12

Weisbord: Chapters 16 & 17

Bowers & Franklyn. Survey-Guided Development in French et al., pp. 203-212

Fitzgerald et al., Appreciative Inquiry in French et al., pp. 223-232

Session 13): November 15: System wide interventions and high performance systems. Organizational Transformation: Strategic management, OD and change. Managing Change, OD and the new science of chaos theory. The frontiers of organizational structure, organizational learning and change: High Reliability Organizations and emerging forms, including virtual and ambidextrous organizations.

For session 13 read:

Weisbord: Chapters 18 & 19

Poras & Silvers Organizational Development and Transformation in French et al., pp. 80-100

Nielsen, et al: Ethics in Organizational change in French et al., 422-432

Pfeffer: Seven Practices of Successful Organizations in French et al., pp. 460-480

Session 14): November 22: Approaches to evaluating and assessing the effectiveness of OD, change programs and organizational learning. Using organizational change levers to assess and diagnose change programs and evaluate the likelihood of successful and enduring change and OD.

For session 14 read:

Brown 8th ed. Chapter 16 or Harvey and Brown 7th ed. Chapter 16

Weisbord: Chapters 20 & 21

Sager, J. S. (1995). Change Levers for Improving Organizational Performance and Staff Morale. in J. Rothman, J. L. Erlich,& J. E. Tropman (Eds.), Strategies of community organization (5th. Ed.). (pp. 401-416). Itasca, IL: F. E. Peacock Publishers.

Session 15) November 29: Managing change and OD in the 21st century. Future search and the challenges of the future.

For 15 session read: Weisbord: Chapter 22 & the Epilogue

Burke: The New Agenda for Organization Development in French et al., pp. 481-493

Weisbord & Janoff Future Search in French et al., pp. 233-242

Jusela. Meeting the Global Competitive Challenge in French et al., pp. 243-268

December 7th by 4pm Hard copies of Term Papers are due, electronic submissions by midnight.

Sample Topics for Presentations or Papers (from my previous syllabus)

The role of Communication in change and OD.

Transformational Change

Causes of Conflict and/or Conflict Management.

Diversity training.

Multiculturalism

TQM, CQI and other alphabet soups

Six Sigma

Likert Systems 1-4

OD Leadership Grid

Organizational Culture

Group behavior in organizations

Team Building

Cross functional teams

Autonomous work groups and Self-managing or Self-directed teams

Systems thinking and systems approaches

Weisbord's model (dignity, meaning & community) and the Six Box Model

Job and work redesign (Job Characteristics model)

Organizational design

Technology and organizational structure

Technology, change and OD

Socio-technical systems theory

Causes of and Overcoming Resistance to Change

Reengineering, Restructuring and Downsizing

Goal Setting

Power and Politics in Organizations

Empowerment

Creating trust

Organizational commitment

Organizational Renewal

Force Field Analysis

Cultural Change in organizations

Intrepreurship

Creativity and Innovations in Organizations

The creation of settings and organizations

Future Search

Powerlessness

Social justice and change

Organizational ethics and change

Motivating change

Appreciative inquiry

High Reliability Organizations

Emerging forms of organizations

Framebreaking and framebending

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download