By the end of Week 7, you will submit a Change Management Plan for successfully managing change related to a fictitious company, called Hamilton Snacks, which is acquiring a smaller Oregon-based company, called Arlo’s Granola. To learn more about the acquisition, read the Change Management Case Study that is attached.
The following Assignment is designed to help you begin work on your Change Management Plan. Before you begin, consider the following statistic: 70–90% of acquisitions fail (Martin, 2016). Why do so many acquisitions fail? One reason is because leaders grossly underestimate challenges related employee resistance to change.
In this Assignment, you will consider why employees may resist the change described in the case study and explore leadership strategies for reducing resistance.
Martin, R. L. (2016). M&A: The one thing you need to get right. Harvard Business Review, 94(6), 42–48.
To Prepare:
- Read the article “Change Management Models: A Comparative Analysis and Concerns.” (ATTACHED) Consider the steps for successfully managing change.
- Read the articles “Resistance to Change in Organizations”(Attached) and think about why employees resist change, how employees express their resistance to change, and leadership strategies for reducing resistance to change.
- View the media resource “Communication Strategy for Leading Change. (TranscriptATTACED) Think about the importance of implementing a communication strategy to reduce employee resistance to change.
- Read Chapter 11 in the Northouse text. Consider how adaptive leadership could be applied to reduce employee resistance to change.
- Read the Change Management Case Study that is below. Think about why employees may resist the change described in the case study, and identify specific leadership strategies for reducing employee resistance to change.
By Day 7
Submit a 2 page paper that addresses the following:
- Briefly describe three reasons why employees may resist the organizational change described in the case study.
- Using the follower typologies in this week’s readings, describe two types of employees that are likely to resist the change and two types of employees that are likely to embrace the change, and explain why.
- Recommend two leadership strategies for reducing employee resistance to organizational change. Provide specific examples of how each strategy would reduce employee resistance to change
