Assessment 7 – BMO3327

Quick note: autonomous and continuous self-learners are the most sought out candidates in modern organizations.

A. Individual Learning:

Since learning about organizational change and development concepts is the core purpose of this course, I found the student oral presentations in week three thru seven to have the most benefit for my learning; they taught me on a wide array of organizational change and development theories, concepts, and ideas. Out of the discussions in all seven weeks, my individual tabletop presentation (week seven, presenter 1) gained me the most knowledge because I had to go deep to understand and be able to teach my group about the topic. The presentation was about whether incremental change is the safest path for organizations or not.

As for the least helpful activity, I see that the (almost) duplicated presentations relatively taught me the least because the information groups were to present on had already been learned in the group report and so it was just restating of what was learnt. However, it is not wasted knowledge because I believe the information was reinforced in me; it was that I did not learn something new. All in all, the activities provided with the majority of the learning for this course, as it is an EBL unit rather than spoon-feeding teaching.

B. EBL Learning

Firstly, we must understand what is meant by Enquiry Based Learning (EBL) before we address how it assisted in the understanding of organizational change and development for me; Enquiry Based Learning is a learning process that puts the responsibility on the student to enquire knowledge in order to learn. EBL is thought to be one of the most effective ways for learning because the student is encouraged to go out and learn autonomously rather than depending exclusively on the instructor. The instructor in EBL still has a role which is to facilitate the learning process of and to guide students through giving them resources to learn from, and such (Kahn & O’Rourke 2005). So, by nature, tabletop presentations and readings supported Enquire Based Learning (EBL) because, as a student, I was supposed to read up all of the articles and learn about the various topics in Organizational Change and Development. Additionally, each week the presenters taught us in an easy-to-understand manner with notes that aided in EBL. After the weekly discussions and presentations, I would evaluate each student on the work they have presented and done then compare and contrast it to what I have read up on before the seminar. This provided me with a lot of valuable knowledge. (Wallace & Husid 2011)

On the other hand, in the individual theme expo essay I discussed various Organizational Change and Development approaches and models on the topic leadership and governance, some of which were not even required for the unit. The most prominent approach and model were Dunphy’s Six-Stage Model (Dunphy et al. 2003) and the Top-Down Management Approach. I believe I learned more than needed and that will only add to my knowledge which is of utmost importance to me.

Please refer to appendix for evidences of communication and such.

2. Group Theory & Pitch Presentations Moderation Rating:

In the Group Written Report I was responsible for finding and using approaches and models for our organization of choice to use in order to achieve organizational change in a healthy manner. I chose Kurt Lewin’s Classical Approach which has three stages: Unfreeze, change, and then refreeze. I discussed how at first an organization must unfreeze by stopping what it is currently doing, followed by performing the actual change that is required in the organization, then refreezing again in order to sustain the change. I saw that this approach is most suitable for such an organization (Kuwait Public Transportation Company) because it is a very large organization and this approach is the simplest one to implement due to the minimal amount of steps and ease of understanding them by the organization’s managers. I believe that my role in the group was an effective one because I provided it with holistic information on different approaches, I also gave the group ideas for the choice of company for the report. All in all, I did my fair share of work in the group. In the future, I will continue learning through EBL, which I believe is the most natural way of learning.

Please refer to the appendix for evidences.

C. OCD Theory

In today’s world, sustainability and the change towards it is becoming more and more important; organizations are finding that sustainable development is one of the few ways organizations can develop especially in such a competitive environment. At the very beginning of my work activity, I will be unable to make major changes in the organization that I am in. However, I can comply with the change regulations that will be brought upon by the organization’s managers; I will have more acceptance of new change and development. I have always been environmentally-cautious and green friendly, so in the future, I wish to become a change leader in the field of environmentalism. There will always be changes that need to be done in any organization. Once I become a change leader in environmentalism, further down the line, I will need to make changes, whether big or small, in the organization I will be working in.

In the past and even with my passion for environmentalism, if I were given the opportunity to work in an organization, I would not research it to find out if it is a sustainable and environmentally-friendly one or not. Now, however, I am more aware of these issues. Furthermore, if I end up owning my own company, I will ensure that it will be a sustainable one due to the fact that environmental sustainability is linked with financial sustainability; scarcity in resources means that we must take special care when handling them; we cannot overly indulge in them, especially if they are non-renewable. In addition, I will have the sufficient knowledge to handle employees rejection of change and development because I have vastly learned through EBL in this course on how in change scenarios there will often be cases of non-compliance. This costs the organization large sums of money to work around. So, here comes the role of a good leader to adopt a scheme of good governance to help employees across the organization abide by the new change which should always come with good governance. With the lessons I learned in Organizational Change and Development I have a better understanding of what needs to be done in order to help the people in the organization to accept the change willingly rather than forcibly. Some of these ways would include showing them how change can be positive for them since it can lead to more profitability. Additionally, we can tell them that the change is also good for the environment, the organization, and many stakeholders (Harris & Crane 2000, pp. 214-217).

References

Dunphy, D Griffiths, A Benn, S (2003), ‘Organizational Change for Corporate Sustainability’, p.153.

Harris, L & Crane, A 2000, ‘The Greening Of Organizational Culture’, Journal of Organizational Change and management, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 214-217.

Appendices

Communication within the team:

1) Minutes of meeting

2) Online communication