SGA1249

MANAGE CHANGE

LEARNER ACTIVITIES

SGA1249-H2/12/09
SGA1249 Manage Change Learner Activities

Activity 1a

What does change mean to you? Write a paragraph and explain what
change means to you.

Activity 1b

Give 4 examples of positive and negative changes that you have

experienced in your lifetime. What was it that each one of them positive or
negative?

Activity 1c
With the benefit of hindsight, what would you do differently in each
situation?

Activity 2a

Is all change negative? In your Study Group, discuss this question and
write a paragraph explaining your stance.

Activity 2b

Go to the website:

http://dwp.bigplanet.com/workingresources/changeresiliency/

and undertake the How Well do you Manage Change Quiz. What were your
results?

Activity 2c
Open your Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole and
read Seven Essential Skills for Leading Change.

Why is change necessary? Explain what ‘A restless dissatisfaction with the

way things are’ means.

Give 5 examples of the changes that you have seen well-known

organisation’s face. In your opinion, have the changes been successful?
Why? Take turns in sharing this information with the class.

Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole

Activity 3rd edition 4th edition

2c page 559 page 724

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Learner Activities SGA1249 Manage Change

Activity 3a

Explain in your own words what organisational effectiveness means. How

does an organisation know it’s effective?

Activity 3b

In your Study Group, brainstorm the situations where an organisation would

need to be flexible. Why is flexibility such an important characteristic that
organisation’s need to possess in the 21st Century? Take your turn to write
up your answers on the whiteboard and discuss with the class.

Activity 3c

Explain in your own words what the difference is between reacting and
responding to change. Explain 2 different times when you have both
reacted and responded to changes. What made you react or respond to
each situation?

Activity 4a

In your own words what is Radical, Incremental, Unplanned and Planned

Change?

Activity 4b

In your Study Group, brainstorm and describe a situation where each of

these types of change has been implemented either in your workplace, or
in an organisation that you know of. Write them up on the whiteboard to
discuss.

Activity 4c

“Organisational change…..is a long term vision and effort to improve the

operational problem-solving and regeneration process”.

Explain what you think this means in the 21st Century, and support your
answer by using and supplying examples from the business community
where this has been enacted.

Activity 5a

In your Study Group, brainstorm 6 internal triggers for change in an

organisation. Write your answers on the whiteboard and discuss with the
group.

Activity 5b

Describe 3 examples of change programs that you have witnessed/been

involved with that have come from internal triggers for change.

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SGA1249 Manage Change Learner Activities

Activity 5c

Name the type of change programs where specialists would need to be

consulted. What role would the specialist play in these examples?

Name 5 types of companies that would act specialists and/or change

agents during a change program.

Activity 6a

In your Study Group, brainstorm what you see that are the major trends
affecting the external environment in your chosen industry (or any other
industry) at the present time.

As a result of these trends, what do you foresee as the major operational

changes that may be needed in business in this industry?

Activity 6b

Who are the stakeholders in a change program? Explain why stakeholder

involvement and approval would be crucial prior to implementation.

Research utilising the internet what information would you include in a cost
benefit analysis to the stakeholders?

What information would you need to document, and in what form?

Activity 6c
Think of a business that you are familiar with, or one that you know of in the
community. Conduct a SWOT analysis from information you know about
the company.

What do you perceive are its current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities

and threats? Present your information to the class.

Activity 7a

Explain in your own words what Kurt Lewin’s 3 Step Change Theory is.

Activity 7b

In your Study Group, brainstorm the names of organisations that you have
been involved with or know of that have instigated symbolic changes like a
new logo, new uniforms and stationery.

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Learner Activities SGA1249 Manage Change

Activity 7c

“Refreezing…sometimes the only way to make the changes actually stick is

to recruit new staff who are readily adaptable”.

Discuss this with your Study Partner and prepare an argument against this
statement…in other words, you are presenting an argument about why this
statement is not true.

You are then to present your argument for and against to the rest of the
class.

Activity 8a

In your Study Group, identify and explain at least 3 organisational situations

where the 3 Step Process could be undertaken at different stages and at
different times of the organisation’s life.

Activity 8b

What role does management need to play in a change program? Give 2

examples of your observations of management involvement in a change
program that you have experienced. Examples can be taken from either
your own personal experience, or from those of your social network.

What were the management strategies? Are you critical or supportive of

their actions? Present your stance to the class.

Activity 8c

Organisations need to operate on a philosophy of continuous change.

Write a paragraph on the changes that you have seen with McDonalds over
the last 10 years.

Activity 9a

‘The shifting of people’s existing thinking on the need for change can only
be achieved when it is demonstrated that a serious problem exists’.

In your Study Group, brainstorm 6 examples of when you have either

experienced, enacted or observed a ‘reality check’ and the need for
change. Present this information to the class.

Activity 9b

What is meant by the term empowerment? Why would it be necessary to

empower employees during a change program?

Give 3 examples of employee empowerment initiatives that you would

introduce to gain commitment to an organisational change. Share them with
the class – which would be voted the best strategy?

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SGA1249 Manage Change Learner Activities

Activity 9c

What do you think would be contained in a communication/education plan?

Why? On a whiteboard, take it in turns to write down your answers.

Activity 10a

Open your Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole and
read pages 110-112. What is an organisational culture? How could it
change over time to become negative?

Activity 10b

Research on the internet to discover why theorists say that cultural change
can take up to 10 years to implement? Document your answer in a
paragraph and share your findings with the class.

Activity 10c
In your Study Group, brainstorm 5 strategies that you could use to
implement cultural change in a workplace. On a whiteboard, take turns to
write up your information.

Activity 11a

Open your Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole and
read What is an informal leader? How can they influence change? Write
down your answer.

Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole

Activity 3rd edition 4th edition

11a pages 323 - 4 pages 101 - 2

Activity 11b

For each of the types of Power and Influence, give an example of a

situation where you have witnessed this power in the workplace. If you
have not had workplace experience, then think of a social setting or
communication organisation you may be involved with.

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Learner Activities SGA1249 Manage Change

Activity 11c

You are the Manager of a medium-size business which has been growing
steadily for 10 years. You currently have 25 employees under your
leadership, all of which are highly qualified and motivated, all except one
person really, Susan.

While you have always seen Susan as a “cup half empty” person, lately
she’s been getting worse. She’s not hiding her facial expressions when
there’s changes introduced, she’s exhibiting negative behaviour and body
language for all to see every day (slamming drawers, big dramatic sighs,
and visual signs of impatience), and its starting to affect the morale of the
other staff.

While you accept that she’s having a hard time dealing with the constant
changes that the Global Financial Crisis has brought about, she’s silent
when you ask the group for suggestions on how to improve the
implementation of the changes. You are at a loss on what to do next.

Brainstorm with your Study Group on how you will handle this situation with
Susan and what strategies you will use. Take turns for your group to write
your answers up on the whiteboard.

Activity 12a

“Leadership is important during the change process”.

Discuss this with your Study Partner and give examples to support your
answer. Then take turns to present this information to the class.

Activity 12b

Explain in your own words what Authoritarian, Participative and Laissez-

faire leadership is.

Then open your Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole
and read under the heading of The Situational Approach. What does this
mean?

Name a situation where each leadership style would be considered

appropriate leadership.

Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole

Activity 3rd edition 4th edition

12b page 252 pages 284-5

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SGA1249 Manage Change Learner Activities

Activity 12c

Go to the website:

http://psychology.about.com/library/quiz/bl-leadershipquiz.htm

and take the What’s Your Leadership Style Quiz

What was the result? Is there anything that you can do to change your
style?

Activity 13a

Identify and list 6 reasons why people resist change. Provide an example of
what you think the associated behaviour might be to match that reason for
resistance. Take turns to write this on the whiteboard.

Activity 13b

From your experience, explain 4 situations where you, or people you know,
have resisted change. In each situation, what was the root cause of this
resistance?

Activity 13c

In your Study Group, compare your lists from Activity 13b. Brainstorm with
your partner about what strategies you would use to overcome this
resistance to change situations.

Present these ‘resistance to change’ behaviours and your remedy

strategies to the class.

Activity 14a

“Effective communication leads to effective change”. Discuss this with your

Study Partner and list the reasons that support your answer. Take turns in
writing your results on the whiteboard and compare these answers with the
rest of the class.

Activity 14b

Go to the website:

http://www.schulersolutions.com/change_management_communicatio.html

and read the article Planning Change Management Communication

In your own words, summarise the 6 steps listed in the article and then
conclude with a sentence on their usefulness in your current or a potential
future situation.

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Learner Activities SGA1249 Manage Change

Activity 14c
Change can be embraced by employees if management utilise the correct
strategies and involve people when discussing the change….

What strategies can you think of that would involve communicating with
people? Find 6 and explain what they would be used for. Present this
information to the class.

Activity 15a

Effective goal setting is fundamental to the success of any change

program. Create 2 work or personal goals (write the goals in a Statement)
using the SMART Principle.

Activity 15b

Go to the website:

http://www.newtrainingideas.com/communication-plan.html

and read the article Why Do I Need a Communication Plan? What’s the
Value of Strategic Communication?

Summarise the article in your own words.

Activity 15c

You are the HR Manager of a large company who is about to plan a major
organisational change where a number of staff will be offered voluntary
redundancy due to a refocus away from current needs and work practices.

Describe what you are going to put into an education campaign for these
staff members who will be offered voluntary redundancy. Take turns to
write this information on the whiteboard. Analyse and compare the list that
the class came up with and yours – did you leave anything out?

Activity 16a

Following on from Activity 15c, you have been informed by senior

management that the whole voluntary redundancy process is envisaged to
take 3 months from now, meaning that the decision to take the VR
(Voluntary Redundancy) needs to be finalised within 2 weeks so everything
else can be organised. In their ‘package’ the staff will be offered free re-
training to the value of $5000 each, their redundancy package of 8 weeks
pay for every year of service and other entitlements, including sick leave,
paid in full.

Develop a timeline for the implementation of this communication/education

strategy.

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SGA1249 Manage Change Learner Activities

Activity 16b

Following on from 16a, now that the timeline for the implementation has
been established, specify what activities you will implement to educate the
staff involved.

Activity 16c
You have experienced some resistance from the staff identified for the VR.
In your update and progress discussions with management, you discover
that you are to persuade the people to take the VR that is offered, or their
position will be terminated without compensation.

How are you going to ‘persuade’ the people concerned to take the VR?

Then undertake a Role Play with your Study Partner, with each one taking
the turn of the HR Manager and employee. Were either of you ‘persuaded’
by your Study Partner’s argument? Why, why not?

Activity 17a

Articulating the vision….what does this mean? How would you articulate
the vision of any change program?

Activity 17b

In your Study Group, brainstorm and list 10 resources that would need to
be allocated to any change program. Take turns in writing your results on
the whiteboard and compare notes.

Activity 17c

Explain why major change needs to be implemented slowly. To support

your answer, provide 2 examples of when you think major change has been
implemented quickly and it subsequently failed.

Present your examples to the class, complete with your reasons for the
change failure.

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Learner Activities SGA1249 Manage Change

Activity 18a
Open your Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole and
read, Create a Climate of Certainty.

Why is explaining ‘what will not change’ a successful strategy for

embedding change?

Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole

Activity 3rd edition 4th edition

18a page 555 page 718

Activity 18b

What is the benefit of organisational change to customers, clients and

suppliers?

List 5 examples of what you might perceive as the benefits of

organisational change to these stakeholders.

Activity 18c

‘Change is as good as a holiday’. In your Study Group, discuss this

statement and list the advantages and disadvantages that this concept
might produce in an organisation with one of you producing the
advantages, the other the disadvantages.

Then the class is to arrange itself according to the side of the advantages
and the disadvantages. Conduct a class debate – which side came out on
top, why?

Activity 19a

Open your Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole and
read. Identify and explain the steps in monitoring change.

Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole

Activity 3rd edition 4th edition

19a pages 467-471 page 561

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SGA1249 Manage Change Learner Activities

Activity 19b

How are concepts and activities of continuous improvement and change

linked in an organisation?

Activity 19c

Open your Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole and
read Concerns sparked by change.

What criteria would you use to evaluate the effectiveness of a change

program if you were continually experiencing these ‘concerns sparked by
change?’

Management, Theory and Practice textbook by Kris Cole

Activity 3rd edition 4th edition

19c page 561 Page 725

Activity 20a

Go to the website

http://www.indent.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/an-introduction-to-
risk-management.pdf

and read the article on Risk Management. Why is managing risk so

important?

Activity 20b

From your own experience, describe when you have thought about, and
then measured risk of an activity you were about to undertake – it could be
work or personally related.

Activity 20c

In your Study Group, research and document the types of risk management
strategies that could be used across a workplace. This can be related to
specific operations and/or a change program. Present this information to
the class. Were there any strategies that others had that you should
consider?

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