Reference no: EM132218913

Assignment Overview

Deliverable Length: 500 words

Assignment Description

As director of change management for Heavy WorX, this is your first role as a member of an executive team and as a leader who is tasked to bring needed change to an organization.

Your peers welcome you to the team but express apprehension with regard to new initiatives or programs, citing that the company has already seen its share of changes and with little positive outcome. Despite the impending challenge, you are excited about your new position because you have the opportunity to be a critical part of the company's future.

Using the library, Internet, your textbooks, or other credible resources, conduct in-depth research to gain a high-level understanding of the principles, methods, and tools that are used in organizational development (OD) and to understand the steps, processes, or planned change models that are used by OD practitioners.

To inform your peers about your role and how you will successfully initiate any large-scale changes, discuss the following:

What are your roles and responsibilities during a planned change initiative as both a leader and OD practitioner within Heavy WorX?

What are the disadvantages and advantages of leading and managing change as an internal OD practitioner as opposed to an external OD consultant?

Of all the typical ethical dilemmas that may surface for an OD practitioner, which do you think is the most challenging, and how would you address it?

Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 100-word reply about their Primary Task

Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:

What did you learn from your classmate's posting?

What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?

What clarification do you need regarding the posting?

What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates' postings?

Scenario

After many years of experience in lower and middle management roles, the scope of your responsibilities now broadens in your newly acquired position as the director of change management with Heavy WorX, Inc., a midsized manufacturing company.

Citing the challenging economic environment, the company consolidated its operations, eliminated approximately 43 percent of its total workforce, and closed three manufacturing plants earlier this year. Although downsizing was a necessary means for the company to cut costs, the company is now suffering from the fallout of the poorly devised restructuring plan.

Heavy WorX, Inc. produces iron castings, focusing on transportation, construction, agriculture and industrial markets worldwide. The markets served are wide and diversified, including automotive, truck, agriculture, construction, hydraulics, and a host of other specialties.

For several years, the company was relatively successful but now it is in a slump. Team members are working harder than ever before, but the profits are going nowhere. Decreased product demand means that business is slow, and the pressure to improve performance is felt by each team member and every department. Team members are concerned about employment stability and the likelihood of future opportunities.

Your new position serves as a tremendous opportunity for you to gain valuable experience. The position of director of change management is also a newly created position in the company, so its roles and responsibilities are loosely defined. The stakes are high, and immediate results are critical to the future of the company.

The company has seen its share of changes and is in need of real solutions that will provide both short-term and long-term results.

Any new changes must increase efficiency and create more trust among team members as well as cooperation between departments. In the weeks to come, there will be several challenges and opportunities as you become acclimated to the company's current organizational climate and work to understand the short-term and long-term needs of the organization to propose effective solutions.