Management Principles and Practices - Assignment 5

Module 5 Assignment: Creativity, Change, and Innovation

Introduction

This assignment is divided into three parts. In Part A, you will consider change in the health care industry. In Part B, you will analyze the case of TELUS when change resulted in increased customer complaints. In Part C, you will write a profile of your views of handling change in an organization.

This assignment is out of 100 marks and will count for 10% of your total course mark. The breakdown of marks is as follows:

Part	Marks
Part A: Changes in the Health Care Industry	60
Part B: TELUS Troubles	40
Total	100

Part C: Self-Profile will be counted toward your major project grade. It will comprise 16 per cent of your major project mark.

Instructions

Part A: Changes in the Health Care Industry (60 marks)

As you learned in this module, change is inevitable. In the following real-life case, you will see how the outside environment forces a change in the values and ethics of an organization and an industry.

Read "Changes in the Health Care Industry" case application on pages 363–364 in your textbook. Then answer following three questions (these questions are on page 364 of the textbook):

Describe the types of changes that have occurred at Prairie General in terms of structure, technology, and people. Cite examples. (20 marks)
Why do you believe there is resistance by the medical profession to systems such as CareWeb? Explain. (20 marks)
Assume you were going to make a presentation to a group of hospital staff (doctors and administrators) on why they should invest in technology such as CareWeb. How would you attempt to overcome their resistance to change and their attitude about continuing to do what they have always done? Discuss. (20 marks)

Part B: TELUS Troubles (40 marks)

Read Video Case 10: "TELUS Troubles" on page 389 in your textbook.
Watch the Video Case 10: "TELUS Troubles" on the CD that came with your textbook.
Answer the following three questions (these questions are on page 389 of the textbook):
1. What control measures can TELUS put into place to reduce customer complaints? (15 marks)
2. You are the manager of a large corporation with 18,000 employees, and the company is just about to lay off one third of them. What can you do to lessen the impact of downsizing on the remaining employees? (15 marks)
3. How might a manager introduce new control measures to encourage employees to quickly change their customer service behavior? (10 marks)

Part C: Managing in Chaos (Major Project) (8% of your major project mark)

De Bono (1985) has said that the thinking required by managers is one of the most complex kinds of thinking there is.

Write a two- to three-page report (approximately 500 to 750 words) describing how you as a manager or leader would respond to ever-present change within an organization or group (business or otherwise) with which you are familiar. Reflecting on the material presented in Module 5, what kinds of thinking would you use? How would you help your organization or group adapt? (100 marks)