MGMT 582 – MANAGING CHANGE – SPRING 2024

Assignment 1: Identifying and Critically Assessing Change Management (Individual, 20%)

Due: Friday, March 29, 2024 @ 11:59 PM

Choose one business with which you are familiar, have worked for, or in which you have first-hand
knowledge, so that you have some idea of how the organization operates. This is not a research project
about that particular organization; you are simply using it as an example to demonstrate your
understanding of change management concepts and theories in application to a change management
event that you have experienced. First-hand familiarity or experience with the organization is
paramount.

For this assignment, isolate and describe one significant change management event** that company has
attempted to make. Any change will do for this assignment, but examples include anything related to
adapting to Covid 19, introducing a new product (which affected employees in some way, not simply a
product enhancement such as a new flavour of cookies), restructuring departments, implementing a
new protocol or IT system, etc., that had a direct effect on your team and work environment. Similar to
your choice of company, the change itself doesn't matter; what is important is your ability to define a
change and use it as an example for this assignment.

** You are being marked on your ability to identify a change and the contributing elements so you
should not be asking for permission or approval upfront to use a change.

** You must briefly, on your title page in an Author’s Note, state the company name with website, your
relationship to / position within the company, and the change management event.

** This is NOT a strategy paper, but a change management event paper. If you are unsure, please speak
with me prior to starting your paper.

Using this change event within this organization that you experienced or witnessed to explore the
following in 1,500 words:

Assignment requirements:
1. Introduction. Include an introduction that outlines the purpose of the assignment, the key themes
that will be explored, and the structure (how the logic will build from start to finish) of the paper.
2. The organization. Describe the organization in a way that provides context for the change: change
management terms and concepts must be used including org structure, managerial style, culture,
reason for the need for change, etc. Do not include any information about the organization that is
not relevant to the change.
3. The Change. Using change management concepts and terminology, isolate and describe ONE
change event. Do not use word count on a long narrative or story about the change; the emphasis
should be on using that change as an example to demonstrate your understanding of multiple
change management concepts and theories.
4. Critical Assessment. Using change management concepts and terminology using the textbook and
course articles (3), critically assess the organization’s readiness for the change. A critical assessment
refers to using your critical thinking skills to compare the type of change attempted within the given
structure/managerial style of the organization to identify where there was misalignment. You must
identify misalignment for this assignment, even if the change in reality went smoothly.

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 MGMT 582 – MANAGING CHANGE – SPRING 2024

5. Types of resistance. Using change management concepts and terminology and based entirely on
the results of the critical assessment, what kind of resistance did you see/experience and where
would you, as a change manager, have anticipated resistance arising? Please identify TWO types of
resistance; ensure there is a direct connection between each type of resistance and - from the
critical assessment - the underlying cause of the resistance. Symptoms of each type of resistance
should also be included but the emphasis should be on the cause.
6. Conclusion. Summarize the key takeaways from having explored the key themes listed in the
introduction.

Some tips for writing your paper:

• Ensure you keep the focus of the paper on change management, not on whether the change itself
was a right or wrong decision. This paper is about the implementation of a change, the application
of theory learned, and not about the strategy that drove the change.
• The purpose of this assignment is to use a current real change event to demonstrate how well you
can recognize change management theory at play and how adept you have become at diagnosing a
situation using that theory. For that reason, the focus of your paper should be on change
management, not on telling the story of the event.
• Please draw from MGMT 582 course material only, primarily the Burnes textbook, and be sure to
include AT LEAST 3 course articles to demonstrate that you have read and understood the readings.
The readings will add depth to your analysis.
• APA 7 is to be used, including the title page. All sources must be referenced in APA 7 format and a
reference list must be included at the end of the paper.
• Note that no additional research other than the MGMT 582 reading list and one company website or
news article should be done for this assignment; devote all of your energy to drawing from
the MGMT 582 text and reading list to demonstrate how well you understand the theory and your
ability to use it to analyze a real situation.
o When citing from the Burnes textbook or article, refer to the specific theories and theorists
within Burnes, not just the Burnes article/textbook in general. For example: use (Lewin,
1942, as cited in Burnes, 2017) instead of just simply (Burnes, 2017).
o For grading purposes, and to make it easier for me to understand your application of the
theory, and even though this is not correct APA formatting regulations, please include the
relevant page # also when citing the Burnes textbook.
o (Lewin, 1942, as cited in Burnes, 2017, p. 86)
• In order to go into enough depth on each of the assignment requirements listed above while still
writing concisely, the length of your submission should be approximately 1500 words, not including
the title page and reference list.
o Less than that means that you have not gone into enough depth.
o More than that means that you are not writing concisely and this doesn’t guarantee that
you have gone into enough depth.
• Refer to the document "Reminders about Academic Writing" for writing expectations for this
assignment.
• 1500 words max – not including Title page and References. Please do not exceed 1500 words.
Writing clearly and concisely is an excellent skill to hone. Please reach out to the RRU Writing Centre
for support and guidance.

This assignment is worth 20% of your total grade.