Organizational Change Management

Abstract

In our course, we will examine the organizational change management process. We will also make an emphasis digital transformation. Three main themes are covered:1. Human & process side of change2. Neuroscience of change3. Organizational culture to drive change

Objective

The objective of this course is to enable you to lead an organizational change process more confidently in your company, while taking into consideration all the relevant components that will contribute to a successful implementation. Change management is all about creating the compelling story and a robust process to make people feel the need to change by elevating the spirit, capturing the collective energy, intelligence, imagination, and goodwill. We will approach change in a holistic term, adapting to context and encompassing behavioral, emotional, and cognitive aspects that may contribute to successful change initiatives. You will gain insights on your own organizational change management strengths, weaknesses, blind spots and how you may wish to compensate for any eventual shortcomings. Key learnings include: +Understanding the change process with tools and frameworks +Recognizing how people adopt change differently +Examining organizational cultures that facilitate or impede change +Positioning the change within the organization

Content

Why do so many organizational change initiatives fail or do not fully meet expectations? A first part of the answer may be that change initiatives are managed as programs or projects often taking a step-by-step or recipe approach. Our approach is different. It is based on understanding how individuals change in an organizational context. Our course is based on lectures, discussions, team work and analysis of short business cases. The course is set-up in three main parts: 1. Human & process side of change: we learn and discuss the predominant organizational change frameworks and paradigms as well as their shortcomings and come up with ways to create a more robust process. 2. Neuroscience of change: science has deciphered a wealth of knowledge about the human brain, intelligence and emotions. There are some groundbreaking findings that are pertinent for change leaders. Together, we will discover the latest research on how humans beings cope or adopt to organizational change. 3. Organizational culture to drive change: The colloquial definition is ‘the way we do things around here.’ Often, organizational culture is deeply embedded in firms and the company ‘lives’ the culture and their values without much conscious awareness. Understanding organization culture is a key lever in business transformation. We will analyze short business cases in a context of digital transformation. The first case is a formidable journey that the Volkswagen group has embarked upon at CARIAD and the second is a fictitious set-up in a digital transformation context at Rolex. You will get the short cases either prior to the class sessions or as in-class assignment. We will discuss change implementation process in detail. We will also take some time to explore our own personal change management styles, apparent strengths and how we may compensate for weaknesses and blind spots. You will have an opportunity to work in teams to practice your approach to change. The overarching idea is to balance academic theory and real-life practices. You will receive the course preparation materials via moodle.

Resources