Introductory description

This module provides participants with an opportunity to understand change –its drivers, risks, consequences and people’s responses - and develop their personal competences through hands-on experience in a simulated business environment and practice in the use of relevant methods, tools and techniques.

Regardless of size and maturity, organisations today operate in a business environment that continues to grow increasingly complex and demanding of ever higher standards of efficiency, integration and customer service. Change can be both externally and internally driven, thus both skill sets of intelligent, timely reaction to external drivers and proactive planning to prevent organisational drift are critical to the sustained success of any organisation.

Individual competence in implementing change is essential for leaders and managers and this requires a resilient and positive mindset combined with skills in strategy formulation, communication, leadership, influence and the integration of various disparate functions within a complex organisational system. Developing a critical mass of competent individuals contributes significantly to organisational change capability.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. Introduction
2. The need for change
3. The scope of change
4. Change approaches and models
5. Power and conflict in the transition process
6. Managing teams through change: importance of trust, empowerment and involvement
7. Resilient culture
8. Tools and techniques for change: applications
9. Authentic leadership in organisational transformation
10. Communicating shared vision
11. Change modelling

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• As a group, analyse the internal and external drivers and impact of change on projects and the organisational system at large.
• Interpret the different ways people respond to change, discover appropriate leadership approaches and develop strategies to build stakeholder engagement.
• Select and critically apply appropriate models of change to a given situation.
• Select and critically utilise appropriate change tools and techniques in planning and implementing change.
• Critically evaluate their own personal effectiveness in leading and managing change.

Indicative reading list

Bridges, William. (2009) Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change (3rd edition). London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing. (ISBN: 978-0738213804)

Burnes, Bernard. (2004) Managing Change (4th edition). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. (ISBN: 0273683365)

Collins, Jim. (2001) Good to Great. London: Random House Business Books. (ISBN: 978-0712676090)

Goffee, Rob and Jones, Gareth. (2019) Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? Boston: Harvard Business School Press. (ISBN: 978-1633697683)

Handy, Charles (1993). Understanding Organizations (4th edition). Harmondsworth: Penguin. (ISBN: 978-0140156034)

Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. (2004) Confidence: Leadership and the Psychology of Turnarounds. London: Random House Business Books.

Kellerman, Barbara. (2008) Followership. Boston: Harvard Business Press. (ISBN: 978-1422103685)

Kim, W. Chan and Mauborgne, Renee. (2005) Blue Ocean Strategy. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. (ISBN: 978-1625274496)

Kotter, John P. (1996) Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. (ISBN: 978-1422186435)

Kotter, John P. and Cohen, Dan P. (2002) The Heart of Change: Real Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Pettigrew, Andrew M. and Whipp, Richard. (1991) Managing Change for Competitive Success. WileyBlackwell. (ISBN: 9780631191421)

Pfeffer, Jeffrey. (1993) Managing with Power. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. (ISBN: 978-0875844404)

Schein, Edgar H. (2016) Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers. (ISBN: 978-1119212041)

Senge, Peter. (2006) The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation. London, Business Books. (ISBN: 978-1905211203)

Subject specific skills

Planning and implementing systemic change, stakeholder engagement, responding to adversity, systems thinking, change leadership skills.

Transferable skills

Communication (including intercultural communication), collaborative problem analysis and decision-making, creativity, critical thinking, innovation, negotiation, motivation, transformational leadership, project management, adaptability, resilience, self-management, learning-by-doing