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Psych 342 / Mgmt. 353 - OD Final Exam
Mildred Otis
ACME Technology
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Psych 342 / Mgmt. 353 - OD Final Exam
Background:
ACME Technology is a Silicon Valley company of moderate size which designs and manufactures integrated circuits that serve the telecommunications and wireless networking industries. Their client base has grown steadily over the past several years and includes manufacturers of cell phones, personal digital assistants, and wireless networking hardware companies. Recently, new product innovation has caused ACME's revenue to increase dramatically as their diverse and glo ...view middle of the document...
The Executive Committee at ACME has decided that even though the individual departments are happy to stay with their own stand-alone IT systems that serve their own individual needs well, ACME Technology must transition to an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system where one IT solution for the company, purchased from Intergalactic Software Solutions, will be implemented company wide.
Knowing that they can't afford a massive drop in productivity during this period of growth, as a result of the expert training that you received in Professor Pamela's OD class they have hired you as a change expert to design and implement a change management initiative to enable the success of this critical initiative at ACME Technology.
Objective
My objectives are to transform the organizational structure of ACME to enable them to meet the public need and to gain the knowledge and expertise required to challenge the competition.
To achieve these goals we must develop a plan. In order to implement a plan I must effectively identify that a problem exists by realizing the three characteristics of a problem: 1- Be aware of the problem; 2- Be under pressure to act; and 3- Have the resources to take action.
With that said, I have identified the challenges I will face in this process. I will begin by explaining what change management is and the specific issues ACME will have along with how I plan to resolve them. Below are a list of a few items I feel will greatly make or break this new venture:
Definition of Organizational Change Management
Provocations of Organizational Change
Difficulties of Organization-Wide Change
Approaches to Resisting Change
Approaches for Improving Organizational Performance
Carrying out Organizational Change
Definition of Organizational Change Management
Organizational change management refers to the practice of properly managing large, organizational changes in business. Change management is a quickly evolving practice designed to help support both managers and employers through the change process. As large changes can be very disruptive to an organization, change management seeks to minimize these impacts, while improving the efficiency of the change, and allowing the company to focus on continued growth. Managing change means making required changes in a planned and systematic fashion. As such, change management requires a variety of skills to be effective. These include managing employees and expectations, handling office or corporate politics, analyzing situations and reacting quickly to solve problems, basic business skills and understanding, and importantly, strong people skills.
Provocations of Organizational Change
Change should not be made for the sake of making change - it is a strategy for accomplishing some overall goal. Usually organizational change is provoked by some major outside driving force. Examples of these driving forces include: the need to m...
