If you don t like change, you re going to like irrelevance even less - General E. Shinseki, retired Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

Transcription

1 It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change Charles Darwin If you don t like change, you re going to like irrelevance even less - General E. Shinseki, retired Chief of Staff, U.S. Army MGMT-UB Instructor: Classes meet at: Managing Change Fall, First Class: September 3, 2013 Class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays; 9:30 10:45 Robert Calamai rtc3@nyu.edu Phone: Office: KMC Office Hours: By appointment Tisch Room UC-11 Required Books: Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press Heath, Chip and Dan Heath. Switch. Broadway Books, 2010 Case Studies / Articles: See section on Harvard Cases/Articles below (Course packs) Other readings: Other relevant readings may be assigned during the semester Course Description and Objectives: Managing change is a central concern for today s managers, as business environments become increasingly competitive, knowledge driven, and complex. Managing change is the primary focus of the management consulting industry. Yet according to management experts, 70 percent of corporate change initiatives fail for various reasons including internal resistance and distrust, difficulties aligning the new strategic direction with existing capabilities, and lack of vision. Managing in turbulent times requires a solid understanding of what change is 1

2 about, what are its critical aspects, and how one can lead change initiatives in a disciplined and successful way. Case analysis and applied projects are the major vehicles for learning in this course. Assignments are designed not only to assess students grasp of relevant theories and analytical tools, but also to enhance communication skills relevant to general management. This course is particularly relevant for students who plan to pursue careers as general managers or management consultants. In keeping with the emphasis on the change process, the course focuses on the exploration and classroom discussion of cases, articles, and concepts from two readings books selected to provide a thorough understanding and immersion of the key topics. Students will also receive a thoughtful exposure to experts in this field via an interview assignment and hearing various perspectives on change from guest speakers. Students will learn how to better develop informed arguments and articulate their points of view. At the conclusion of this class, students will be prepared to diagnose the change situation, exercise leadership, build relations with key stakeholders, and develop and implement organizational change. Course policies: You are expected to attend every class, which is critical to the success of the course - and you are expected to arrive to class on time and stay until the end of the class period. You are expected to complete all of the reading, and come to class prepared to discuss what you have read. Further, you should be prepared to debate and discuss the material for the course to practice critical thinking and to build your understanding of the material. You should be an active listener, and be respectful of your classmates. If for some reason you are unable to attend a class, you should inform me prior to class. If you miss a class for any reason, you are responsible to find out about materials covered and any changes in schedule or assignments. Laptops, cell phones, smartphones, recorders, & other electronic devices may not be used in class unless advance permission is given by the instructor. Late assignments: assignments submitted after the deadline will either not be accepted or will incur a grade penalty unless due to documented serious illness or family emergency. Instructors will make exceptions to this policy for reasons of religious observance or civic obligation only when the assignment cannot reasonably be completed prior to the due date and the student makes arrangements for late submission with the instructor in advance. Class Communications Students should use their NYU addresses for class communications with the instructor and the members of their group. In addition, we will use NYU Classes as the primary source of class content, and for other collaboration as required. As such, students should check their NYU and NYU Classes on a frequent basis. 2

3 Ethical Guidelines: All students are expected to abide by the NYU Stern Code of Conduct ( A student s responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following: A duty to acknowledge the work and efforts of others when submitting work as one s own. Ideas, data, direct quotations, paraphrasing, creative expression, or any other incorporation of the work of others must be clearly referenced. A duty to exercise the utmost integrity when preparing for and completing written and oral assignments, including an obligation to report any observed violations. Students with Disabilities: Students whose class performance may be affected due to a disability should notify me immediately so that arrangements can be made in consultation with the Henry and Lucy Moses Center for Students with Disabilities ( to accommodate their needs. Course Components*: Class Participation (20%): Class attendance is mandatory and part of your grade. If you are not in class, you obviously can t participate in the class discussions. Absences may be excused only in the case of documented serious illness, family emergency, religious observance, or civic obligation. If you will miss class for religious observance or civic obligation, you must inform me no later than the second week of class. A critical requirement in this course is full and active involvement in the discussions and analyses of our key topics, case studies and articles. It is only through a thorough exploration of the complex processes through which change unfolds in real situations that you can obtain a full understanding of the challenge of managing change. A lot of what you learn in this class will come from in-class discussions. There are several things that you must do to enable the creation of a learning community in the classroom. You are expected to participate in all facets of classroom learning. You should be prepared for each class session. You are expected to complete all assigned readings, assignments, and case analyses for each session before coming to class. However, this is not sufficient. You must be able to contribute in a meaningful way to class discussion of these materials. Quality (thoughtfulness of comments and questions) is valued more than quantity (frequency of comments and questions). In addition, I may post short discussion forum topics (on NYU Classes) during the semester to stimulate discussion. Your thoughtful participation in these forums will be part of your overall class participation grade. 3

4 Individual Case Interview (15%): You are required to find one individual who has experienced significant recent (previous 18 months) change at work. Examples include: - Involvement in an entrepreneurial venture - Restructuring, Downsizing - Merger, Acquisition, Divestiture - Change in organizational leadership - Other major organizational change To complete the assignment, you must interview the person utilizing the interview protocol that will be posted on NYU Classes, either by recording or by taking comprehensive notes during the interview. The interview protocol does not ask for the interviewee s name you can guarantee your interviewee anonymity, identifying him/her through general descriptive information such as their position, the firm s industry, size, etc. Family members are not eligible as interviewees. This analysis should be 3-5 pages long, double-spaced, one inch margin, 12 point font, and must be submitted via turnitin.com on or before the due date. Individual Case Study written assignment (10%): You are required to prepare a written response to a case study. These assignments should be 4-5 pages long, double-spaced, one inch margin, 12 point font, and must be submitted via turnitin.com on or before the due date. You will choose one of the following case studies for this assignment, based on your level of interest in the case topics. Stratafin Inc.: Auditing Change* Radio Station WEAA* *See Course Pack information Details on this assignment (including case questions) will be posted on NYU Classes during the semester. Final Team Presentations: (25%): You will be assigned to a team in the early part of this semester for this assignment. Your team will profile an organization which has experienced significant organizational change. There are two components to this assignment: 1) Final team presentation 2) Written assignment that will accompany the team presentations. Each team member will share the overall grade for this assignment. Details of this assignment (expectations, etc.) will be posted on NYU Classes. 4

5 Team presentations (20%): During the semester, your team will be required to analyze two case studies (see class schedule below) and do a short presentation in class. Case study questions will be provided by the professor for these assignments. Each case will be worth 10% (2 X 10% = 20%). Details on the above team presentations (i.e. grading criteria and expectations) and the case questions will be posted on NYU Classes. Journal (10%): Consistent with other classes, you should document the key topics, discussions, case studies, articles, and other content during the semester. Your style and format of your notes is based on your learning style and personal preference however, you will be required to write a summary journal and submit it at the end of the semester (due Dec. 10). You will also be required to submit an interim journal (due Oct. 22) this will make sure you are on the right track. Although this interim journal will not be graded, you will receive feedback on your progress. The final journal (due Dec. 10) will be graded. You should use the broad class topics as your outline and also summarize the key discussion points from each of the guest speakers. This journal should be approximately 10 pages long as noted below: - One page for each of the major 7 course topics (see blue text on class schedule) total of 7 pages - One-half page for each of the guest speakers Additional details will be posted on NYU Classes *specific due dates noted on class schedule below Grading: Your course grade will be determined as follows: Course Component Percentage of Final Grade Class Participation 20% Individual Case Study 10% Final Team Presentation 25% Individual Case Interview 15% Team Presentations 20% Journal 10% Total: 100% 5

6 NOTE: As part of the grading process, all students will be required to assist in the overall evaluation of the in-class case presentations and the final team presentations. This will be done via a simple ranking process, and the format will be provided by the professor. Course Pack: You will see several to case studies and articles in the Class Schedule below. There are two options for obtaining these reading materials (articles and case studies) 1) I have set up a course pack unique to our class. This course pack can be accessed via the Harvard Business School Publishing site using the link below. The cases can then be purchased directly from Harvard Publishing. If you have already not done so, you will need to set up an account with this website. 2) You may access this copyrighted material via the NYU library. Guest Speakers: As an important supplement to our material and class discussions, I have arranged for several guest speakers to lead discussions in our class sessions. You are expected to fully participate in these discussions. Below is a preliminary outline of the topics to be discussed by these speakers: Topic: Innovation and Change Evolutionary career change Mergers and Acquisitions: culture/people Change Management Consulting (what change management consultants do, how they help clients, the process they use) Perspective from a senior leader 6

7 Class Schedule: Class Meeting Dates Readings / Case Studies Assignments Due** Introduction / Framework for Change T 9/3 Introduction / First Class TH 9/5 K: Chap. 1,2 T 9/10 K: Chap. 3 H: Chap. 1 Read: John Smithers* TH 9/12 H: Chap. 2,3 T 9/17 K: Chap. 4 H: Chap. 4 Diagnosing / Communicating TH 9/19 K: Chap. 5 H: Chap. 5 T 9/24 K: Chap. 6 H: Chap. 6,7 Read: Why do Employees Resist Change?* Mobilizing / Executing TH 9/26 K: Chap. 7 H: Chap. 8,9 T 10/1 K: Chap. 8 H: Chap. 10 Read: Change Through Persuasion* TH 10/3 Guest Speaker Sustaining Change T 10/8 K: Chap. 9 Individual Case Interview Due (written assignment) TH 10/10 Prep. Time Teams to discuss final presentations T 10/15 NO CLASS - HOLIDAY TH 10/17 K: Chap. 10 H: Chap. 11 Read: The Hard Side of Change Management* T 10/22 Team Presentations (Case: IBM s Decade of Transformation: Turnaround to Growth* Interim Journal Due TH 10/24 Guest Speaker The challenges of Mergers and Acquisitions: People and Culture T 10/29 Read: Toivonen Paper* TH 10/31 Continue Discussion: M&A T 11/5 Guest Speaker Case Study Due (Written Assignment) 7

8 Complementary Change Methodologies TH 11/7 Read: Radical Change the Quiet Way* Leadership and Change T 11/12 K: Chap. 12 TH 11/14 Team Presentations (Case: Tipping Point Leadership*) T 11/19 Leadership discussion (continued) TH 11/21 Guest Speaker T 11/26 Guest Speaker TH 11/28 NO CLASS - HOLIDAY T 12/3 Prep Final Team Presentations TH 12/5 Final Team Presentations T 12/10 Final Team Presentations Team Summaries due (Written Assignment) from Final Presentations TH 12/12 Last Class: looking back and moving forward Journals Due (Written Assignment) K = Kotter Book (Leading Change) H = Heath Book (Switch) *Course Pack (article or case study) **All written assignments are due at midnight of the assigned due date 8