SCENARIO
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Task 1: Change Management Consultation

You have been hired as a change management consultant for a manufacturing company. The leadership of the company currently uses a top-down management approach. The organizational structure is a hierarchy (pyramid type). Employees are not encouraged to be creative or make suggestions or decisions. They are also not encouraged to experiment and come up with new solutions to problems.

The company has grown rapidly over the past decade, from generating $1 million in sales to $100 million. In the past year, the company expanded its business internationally and now has 500 employees worldwide. Due to the rapid growth of the company, the organization has not invested in training and development opportunities for its employees to drive innovation and process improvements. Additionally, the company’s processes and software systems for inventory management have become antiquated.

As the change management consultant, you will provide a report for the executive leadership team where you diagnose the need for change and explain how to plan for change, how to implement change, and how to sustain change. You will also explain how the company can transition to a learning organization in order to be on the forefront of change and innovation.

A. Discuss the need for change for the company in the scenario using either the systems contingency model or the organizational life cycle model.

B. Describe the differences between a learning organization and a traditional organization.
1. Identify which stage of Woolner’s 5-stage model the company is currently in.
a. Explain why the company is currently in the identified stage of Woolner’s 5-stage model.
2. Explain how the company from the scenario would use Senge’s 5 disciplines to become a learning organization.

C. Identify the end result and the nature of change to take the company from a traditional organization to a learning organization using Balogun and Hope-Hailey’s model.

Note: You may either identify both the end result and nature of change individually or identify the name of the quadrant in Balogun and Hope-Hailey’s model that aligns to the end result and nature of change.

1. Explain why the end result and nature of change would be appropriate for the company in the scenario using Balogun and Hope-Hailey’s model.

D. Discuss how four steps of the action research model could be applied to the change process (traditional organization to learning organization) for the company in the scenario.

E. Recommend two innovation strategies that management could use to transition the company in the scenario from a traditional organization to a learning organization.
1. Explain how one recommended innovation strategy would be used by management in the company’s change process.

F. Discuss how four steps of Kotter’s 8-step model could be applied to the change process for the company in the scenario.

G. Explain how each of the five pillars of sustainable change could be applied to sustain the learning organization environment of the company in the scenario.