STRATEGIC CHANGE MANAGEMENT - 2023/4

Module Overview

“There is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than to be a leader in the introduction of changes. The one who innovates will have for enemies all those who are well off under the old order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.” (Machiavelli, The Prince) 

In today’s environment, leading successful change is no longer a managerial luxury but a critical necessity.  Change is important for survival. If companies do not implement necessary changes, they will sooner or later die. Still, many managers – and employees - resist, even faced with necessary changes.  

This course is designed to help students learn about strategic change and how to implement it more effectively within organizations. We will explore the nature of change and examine different kind of resistance.  Students will be expected to reflect on their experiences (both positive and negative). 

“Change is¿a complex and untidy cocktail of rational decision processes, individual perceptions, political struggle and coalition-building.” (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001). The class will also dive deeper into the complexity, including why it is useful to adopt a systemic rather than a linear-causal thinking approach, why it helps to reflect on the role of power and politics, and what is the importance of (symbolic) leadership in initiating and guiding through change.  

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

SALLER Frank (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

 Indicative content includes: 

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  Change Management Fundamentals: Why Change Management Skills Are A Key Success factor in the 21st century 
  


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  Change Frameworks (Bridges Model, Change Formula, Covey’s Circle) 
  


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  Dealing with Change Resistance (Kübler-Ross-Curve, Political Stakeholder Matrix) 
  


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  Leading Change (Kotter’s 8 Step Model, ADKAR, Other 7 Approaches) 
  


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  Power and Politics (Based on J. Pfeffer’s Analysis of Power Dynamics and French & Raven’s Study) 
  


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  Systemic Thinking, system principles and typical mistakes in change processes 
  


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  Change communication: Enabler concepts, communication masterplan, message triangle 
  


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  Change consulting 
  


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  Self-Management in Change: Strengths Analysis, Driver Analysis, Immunity to Change 
  


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  Organizational Culture and Its Impact on Change Readyness 
  


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  Change and (Symbolic) Leadership 
  


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  Practical Cases and Interviews with Company Representatives 
  

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Alternative Assessment Students will have to sit a verbal examination similar to the content of the team presentation.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to put theories of strategic change management into practice 

1. Group presentation - 30%

Teams are requested to analyze the change implementation process of a company or organization of their choice. They are asked to analyze the change from at least 2 different perspectives and to… 

- refer to tools, methods and theories discussed in class or explained in the relevant literature  

- base their analysis on public sources, document analysis, own experience and / or interviews  

Potential perspectives: Top management, middle management, employees, employee representatives (works council), consultants, „the public“. 

Rating Criteria:  

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  Relevance to question  
  


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  Structure/presentation  & clarity of writing / presenting 
  


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  Evidence of understanding  
  


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  Application of tools and frameworks 
  


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  Quality of conclusions/ recommendation  
  

2. Individual Learning Journal - 70%

As individual assignment, students are asked to write a “learning journal” that covers the course pre-reading materials as well as the class lectures and discussions. 

A journal is an instrument to deepen the learning process, a tool for self-discovery, a place to generate and capture ideas, and a training ground for them to digest what they have learned. It is a document that grows and evolves throughout the whole class and during the weeks after. It serves to help students stay focused (what am I taking away here?), and aids in monitoring the progress of their learning. The process of having to formulate and write something will help them to anchor the key lessons and encourage them to reflect on them. In addition, this process enables them to identify gaps in understanding, knowledge, or skills. 

The “learning journal” will include the following elements: 

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  Summarize key points from the articles provided as reading and relate them to the presentations and exercises from the class session. 
  


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  Questions on: “How did you experience the different lectures? What were your most important learnings? How do they relate to your experiences or observations you made in your past? Which concepts were the most important ones for you and why? With what did you struggle the most and why?” 
  


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  Description of at least one situation from the past that students would handle differently in the future based upon what they learned in this course. 
  

 Rating Criteria:  

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  Relevance to question  
  


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  Depth of reflection 
  


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  Ability to connect different concepts, thoughts and experiences 
  


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  Structure/presentation & clarity of writing  
  

Feedback: Feedback will be provided in the following forms: Written feedback on the group work and the individual assignment will be given on by the first marker and the moderator in the context of the marking grid uploaded on Surreylearn. 

Module aims

• Provide concepts, frameworks, and tools related to strategic change management that can be applied to any ambiguous change challenge
• look at change both from the side of people initiating / managing change and of people who are affected by a change.
• Understand how organisational culture impacts strategy and the role it plays in strategic change management
• Expose students to real world projects and reflect on their leadership and teamwork capabilities

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to give students the opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding of the relevant theory and business practices and problems which are pertinent to the field of managing change.  

The learning and teaching methods are likely to include delivery of tutor-led classes and group work. Whilst the lectures are mainly designed to illustrate and explain theoretical concepts and models on change management, in the group work students will have the opportunity to explore concepts, models and theories in more depth. Prior to attending the classes students are expected to undertake the essential readings for the sessions. The teaching and learning format is designed to emphasize critical understanding and evaluation of contemporary issues in the management of complex, strategic change 

The learning and teaching methods include: 

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  Lectures with small case studies 
  


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  Presentations by external company representatives and Q&A sessions 
  


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  Activities conducted in teams  
  


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  Self-directed learning 
  


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  Individual reflections and peer coaching 
  


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  Video and role simulation 
  


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  Peer 2 Peer Coaching 
  

The teaching delivery is structured as follows: 

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  Lecture, seminar, case discussions, guest speakers  
  


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  Outside classroom study: readings, homework and working independently in groups on the projects 
  


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  Guided group work: working in groups on the tasks with possibility to discuss with module leader 
  

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM066

Other information

Digital Skills: The theoretical content, the examples and cases discussed throughout the module partly focus on digital transformation and hence increase digital skills of the students. Beyond this, several of the guest lectures are held in a digital way, including remote interaction which will further develop the participant’s digital proficiency.  

Global and cultural intelligence: The Surrey MBA cohorts are regularly very international with various cultural backgrounds. During the in-class discussions students develop their global and cultural capabilities by being exposed to and discussion different perspectives. Since group work is a core part of the module and at least for some of the group tasks I randomly allocate groups, the students develop their cultural capabilities during the group work in these multicultural teams. In the session on “change and organizational culture”, we will also have a review about differences and commonalities of frameworks on org. culture and on national cultures.  

Resourcefulness and resilience: During the regular group work students develop their resourcefulness and resilience by working in heterogenous teams. This applies particularly during the sessions on “Self leadership” in change, where we discover own factors of resilience, look into their own immunity to change (Kegan) and understand personal drivers (Kahler). 

Employability: During the module the students will gain a broad overview of different elements of change managements and the skills needed to start a role as an internal or external change agent. We will put an additional highlight on the cooperation between companies and change consultancies, being of high relevant for both different roles. Since being able to deal with change and to initiate change is increasingly becoming one of the core functions of high-level managers, the newly learned skills increase their employability. 

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.