Project Information
Course Project: This project must be completed individually.
Course Project milestones are due by Sunday of Weeks 3, 5, and 7. The final written component and the final oral presentation are due by Saturday of Week 8. Hence, it is necessary to begin working on your project as quickly and as early as possible.
Deliverables
This Course Project will help you utilize the concepts in this class by doing a thorough analytical and in-depth review and comparison of the change in two companies.
You will accomplish the following in the course.
- Research two publicly traded companies and compare and contrast their methods of handling a significant change in their organizations. Analyze and write about images of change in those organizations in a Change Analysis Paper ‐ Images of Change (Milestone 1, include four references). This component is due in Week 3.
- Determine the change in those companies and their barriers and resistors by creating a Determining the Change Paper (Milestone 2, include four references). This component is due in Week 5.
- Analyze and create applications for a change project in communication, based on the change in one of your researched companies. This is the Communicating the Change Paper (Milestone 3, include two references). This component is due in Week 7.
- Create the final written version of your project. The written component will simply be a combination of Milestones 1, 2, and 3, completely formatted using APA writing styles. You must ensure that your final written component includes a title page, table of contents, and a References Page (which will include the required 10 references from Milestones 1, 2, and 3). This component is due in Week 8.
- Create the final audio version of your project. The audio component will be a summary of your project. You must use an audio multimedia tool of your choosing (PowerPoint and Kaltura are the two most used). This component is due in Week 8.
Please note the following points related to the research component of this Course Project.
Utilize multiple references using online research, including the DeVry University on-site or online libraries. As well, consider using a public library or other area university or college library for print resources. Other secondary research sources you feel would be appropriate for this project may also be used. The purpose of completing the research component for this Course Project is to include strong references to support your findings.
Important Note!
Note! DeVry librarians are a wealth of information and will help you find sources. Using the chat feature, you can talk to them about what you need to find, and they will teach you how to use the library!
Note: Do not use Wikipedia as a reference source. If you find useful information from Wikipedia, triangulate your research, and find other, more credible source(s) that provide the same (or better) information, and then utilize the information from that more credible source in your paper and References page.
Examples
Here are some examples.
- Both Ford and General Motors experienced serious issues pre-, during, and post-TARP period, causing them to restructure and change how they do business. Each of them reacted to these pressures differently. A paper comparing and contrasting the way both companies reacted to this pressure would be very interesting and easy to set up in an organized fashion. Further, utilizing the grid of the image, you can discuss how they did handle these pressures (using which image) and how a different style of the leader (image) might have handled it differently.
- Both Hewlett-Packard and Home Depot have had issues selecting a new chief executive officer (CEO) for their company. Reviewing the last 10 years of CEO history, a paper comparing and contrasting the pressures involved and how they impacted the overall productivity of the companies would be sustainable throughout the term.
- Review any two companies in the airline industry, their entrance into (and possibly their completion of) bankruptcy, and how they handled the changes through management as a result (i.e., United Airlines and American Airlines).
- Review any two companies who have recently been through some part of merger and acquisition change and how they handled the culture changes.
- Review any two companies who have had industry changes, how they have reacted either successfully or unsuccessfully, and how their reactions perhaps resulted in their success or failure (i.e., Yahoo versus IBM).
These are simply illustrative. You can do research and find a number of companies and topics of change that could work for this Course Project, and you are encouraged to do so. If you have questions or need more ideas, please ask your professor for assistance.
Topic Selection
Select your two companies that have undergone some type of fairly substantial change in the recent past. Find the company and the change information online using EBSCO or using another appropriate resource in the DeVry Library. Other ways to find information include utilizing Google, Yahoo Finance, or Reuters and looking up annual reports of companies that interest you. Often, reading the first sections of these reports (i.e., letters from CEOs) will give you ideas about changes they have gone through in the past year(s).
You will need to ensure the following.
- Your companies are publicly traded so that their information will be easy to research and find.
- Your change in the two companies are comparable (i.e., don’t compare a new CEO to a change in the human resources information system [HRIS]. Do compare two changes in chief information officer.
- The changes happened in the recent past so that you will find sufficient online information about how they were handled, but not so recent that the information about the change results is still being researched and published.
The Change Analysis—Images of Change Paper (Milestone 1)
The Images section focuses on the six different images of managing change and how each approach to change affects all that follows in its implementation and continued support. Download the Project Images Grid from the Course Resources area. Select three of the images of change explained in the lesson from the grid. Then, analyze how those particular images would affect the ensuing diagnosis and implementation in your two selected companies on their change plans.
Here’s what to do.
- Review the changes in each company and describe them thoroughly in a Word document. Explain how the change impacted the companies and who it impacted. Compare some of the similarities and differences between the change in the two companies.
- Review your prepared grid, and select three images of change from your grid. Complete the empty blocks on the grid for those three images using outlines, bullet points, and rough ideas for both company’s change.
- In a Word document, analyze, compare, and contrast the three images and explain how the behaviors of those images would be different or the same during your companies’ changes and how those differences could (or did) impact the success (or failure) of the change, comparing and contrasting the results at both companies.
- Explain which image (or combination of images) you feel would have best facilitated the described change, and explain why.
- Based on the information you read about the results of this change, state which image you think the leader of the change actually resembled the most. You may speculate on which image you feel best represents the change agent at either or both of the companies. This will depend on how much information you found about the internal workings of the company during the change.
This paper should focus on evidence that demonstrates how the management of the organization integrated one or more of the six images of managing change, how effective the change was, and what management could have done differently to increase the probability of successfully implementing the strategic change initiative. Again, this is a compare and contrast paper, so include information about both companies in your report.
Grading Rubric
| Category | Description | Total points |
| Analysis | Properly filled out and submitted change grid showing your initial analysis and notes. | 15 |
| Documentation and Formatting | Paper is properly referenced according to APA guidelines with at least four references, properly cited and in-text citations included. | 10 |
| Company Selection | Two companies selected, briefed, and referenced. | 20 |
| Organizational Change | A thorough description of the change explained. | 20 |
| Company Comparison | Comparison of the two companies, similarities and differences of the changes, and the results. | 20 |
| Change Management Image | Explain which image (or combination of images) you feel would have best facilitated the described change and explain why. | 11 |
| HRM Outcome A | Integrate distinct professional HR competencies and practical applications in HR management to ensure that an organization’s most important asset is available, capable and effective in an ever-changing business environment. | 4 |
| Total Points | A quality paper will meet or exceed all of the above requirements. | 100 |
Determining the Change (Milestone 2)
Select a diagnostic model that you can utilize to review aspects of change activities and actions that have been taken by the companies chosen. For this analysis, we are looking at the parts of the companies as well as their strategies, as surmised by your earlier research. It is acknowledged that this information will not be complete as you are looking at these companies as an outsider, but a thoroughly researched paper will give enough data to allow some well-defended assumptions on your part.
Here’s what to do.
- Select one diagnostic model (i.e., 6-box, 7S, congruence, or one of the others) to apply to the two chosen companies. Choose the model that you feel best identifies and measures the relevant aspects of the organization’s performance.
- Apply the data obtained in your research through an analysis of the appropriate chosen model. This will allow you to create a diagnosis of where each company is today (as per the criteria of the model).
- Create a SWOT analysis for each of the two chosen companies’ change plans and programs, utilizing information obtained in the diagnosis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).
- Compare the two company analyses to each other and offer your perspective (value judgment) of the effectiveness of the changes made to date in each case.
- Identify potential areas of resistance that may occur and at least one strategy to respond to each. (This will most likely come from your weaknesses and threats section of your SWOT. If not, take another look at your SWOT.)
- Make recommendations for further actions within the organizations and the rationale chosen for these recommendations.
| Category | Description | Total points |
| Diagnostic Model | Provide a comprehensive review of the change diagnostic model chosen that details the components included, as well as some background about the model itself through research from the author(s). | 15 |
| Documentation and Formatting | Paper is properly referenced according to APA guidelines with at least four references, properly cited and in-text citations included. | 10 |
| Model Rationale | Include your rationale defending why that particular model was selected. You can utilize a review of internal and external pressures that have affected the companies chosen. | 20 |
| SWOT Analysis | Create a SWOT analysis based on the above. Compare the two company analyses to each other and offer your perspective (value judgment) of the effectiveness of the changes made to date in each case. | 20 |
| Areas of Resistance | Address potential areas of resistance that were encountered or that you anticipate may be encountered and possible actions to minimize the negative effects of such resistance. | 20 |
| Recommendations | Include recommendations for further actions within the organizations and the rationale chosen for these recommendations. | 11 |
| HRM Outcome B | Employ an interdisciplinary perspective for strategic leadership, HR management and decision making so as to add value to the overall success of a business enterprise. | 4 |
| Total Points | A quality paper will meet or exceed all of the above requirements. | 100 |
- Write the paper, including each of the above sections and analyses.
Grading Rubric
Communicating the Change (Milestone 3)
An important part of any change project is how the change is communicated to the organization, to the change agents, to the line workers, to the customers, and to the public. Along with media relations issues, communicating change (especially in a publicly traded company) can involve multiple legal and regulatory aspects as well as personnel and management concerns. Perhaps the single most difficult piece of handling Kotter’s “establish a sense of urgency” is that too many inexperienced or immature change agents read this to mean “panic the troops.” Never do this.
This project piece will have three parts.
- The main part of this project component will ask you to pick one of the company’s change plans and develop a communication plan for the company. This plan should be submitted by using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and setting out the stakeholders, the timeline of the communication plan, the method of communication, the rationale for why you chose this method of communication, the purpose of the communication, and identifying who will do the communicating. The grid for this project can be found in the Files section of the Course Menu and is titled Grid for Week 6—Communication Plan.
- Select one of the communication pieces that you would have used that is listed in your communication plan, and write the communication in a Word document (either the text or the script, if the communication would have been oral). Be sure to review the Week 6 information and the examples of communication plans and types for more assistance on this piece of the project. If you use any form of communication from templates you find online or in a textbook, be sure to cite your source. Your instructor will grade this based on how well it relates to the audience and stakeholder group to which it is intended.
- The real-world aspect of this project is that you will write a one- to two-page analysis of one of the media pieces about one of the company’s changes written (or provided via oral media) by the company. For this section of the project, please analyze any media, news, or other communications that explained the change going on in the organization. Explain in your paper how the company handled communicating the change to its stakeholders.
Grading Rubric
| Category | Description | Total points |
| Stakeholder ID | ID Stakeholders have been identified on the Excel spreadsheet grid. | 10 |
| Documentation and Formatting | Paper is properly referenced according to APA guidelines with at least two references, properly cited and in-text citations included. | 5 |
| Communication Timeline | Timeline of communication has been identified and explained on the Excel spreadsheet grid. | 10 |
| Communication Type | The type of communication has been identified and explained on the Excel spreadsheet grid. | 10 |
| Communication Rationale | The rationale for why this method of communication was selected. | 15 |
| Communicator ID | ID correct communicator has been identified on the Excel spreadsheet grid. | 10 |
| Communication Pieces | At least four communication pieces listed on the Excel spreadsheet no more than six. | 10 |
| Analysis | An analysis of the actual communication plan as seen from the public eye. | 15 |
| Communication Sample | A sample communication piece for the organization. | 11 |
| HRM Outcome C | Assess the culture and workplace environment and propose and make HR decisions that align with and help achieve an organization’s strategic goals. | 4 |
| Total Points | A quality paper will meet or exceed all of the above requirements. | 100 |
Course Project: Final Presentation – Written Submission
The written component will simply be a combination of Milestones 1, 2, and 3, completely formatted using APA writing styles. This final written document must be uploaded in the Week 8 Final Written Assignment area. You must ensure that your final written component includes a title page, table of contents, and a References Page (which will include the required 10 references from Milestones 1, 2, and 3). Keep in mind, you will be simply compiling all three milestones and creating a final APA style document for final submission. Also, adhere to the following points, as you finalize this document.
- Use of at least 10 references.
- Remember the title page.
- Remember in-text citations.
- Remember the table of contents.
- Use proper use of APA style.
Grading Rubric
| Category | Description | Total Points |
| Content | All three milestones included | 30 |
| Citations | In-text citations included | 10 |
| Formatting | Proper use of APA style | 5 |
| References | At least 10 references, properly cited | 5 |
| Total Points | A quality paper will meet or exceed all of the above requirements. | 50 |
Course Project: Final Presentation – Oral Multimedia Submission
You will be required to upload your final oral presentation in the Week 8 Discussions Area. Your colleagues and the professor will have a chance to view your oral presentation and comment on it in that discussions area. This final oral presentation must also be uploaded in the Week 8 Final Oral Assignment area. It is the instructor’s option as to the modality of each presentation (PPT Audio or Kaltura).
The requirements for the audio presentation are as follows.
Course Project Presentation
- Introduction
- Change analysis summary
- Determining the change summary
- Communicating the change summary
- Presentation quality
- Verbal presentation quality
Presentation Guidelines
A. Ten to 12 minutes (maximum) are allocated for the presentation.
B. No more than 10 slides are allowed in the final oral presentation. Do not embed any video files, audio files, or animated graphics, due to the limitations of the Canvas LMS.
C. Ensure that your presentation contains audio.
Grading Rubric
| Category | Description | Total points |
| Quality | Introduction, presentation quality, and verbal presentation quality | 15 |
| Summaries | Change analysis summaryDetermining the change summaryCommunicating the change summary | 30 |
| Formatting | Proper use of APA style | 5 |
| Total Points | Total Points | 50 |
