Managing organisational change

Task: Your task is to develop a change management plan to communicate to internal stakeholders a proposed fictitious merger of Virgin Airlines and British Airways.  Kotter (1995) proposes eight steps for PR practitioners in understanding change and implementing an effective communication strategy to support organisational change.  Your plan needs to be informed by your knowledge of organisational communication theory and Kotter’s eight steps of successful change management described in the table below (table is attached as a word document to this order). The full Kotter (1995) reading is available via e-reserve through the CSU library.

Your plan must demonstrate your understanding of organisational communication theory to inform the development of your plan to communicate the change. Your plan needs to be presented in the following format:

- Executive summary: Summary of the change and recommendations supported by theory.

- Goal and objectives of the change management plan

- Stakeholders analysis

- Discussion of the key organisational considerations in planning for and communicating such a change including: organisational culture, ethical issues, areas of resistance, key messaging, channels of communication, leadership styles and organisational boundaries. These considerations need to be discussed and analysed in the context of organisational communication theory covered in this subject.

- Proposed timeline for implementing the change management plan

- Evaluation of the change management plan.

- Bibliography.Please cite references using APA style. 

- Appendix

Rationale: Organisational change has become a way of life. In planning to introduce significant organisational change managers often fail to consult and involve staff in the process resulting in resistance to the proposed change. Employee’s resistance to change can stem from a lack of understanding, which tends to occur through poor communication. This is often cited as the main obstacle for achieving organisational change (Quirke, 2008). This assessment has been designed to assess your ability to:  

- identify key organisational goals and design communication that supports them;

- analyse internal communication and stakeholder needs;

- understand the role of communication in change management; and to plan communication strategies.

Presentation: Your assessment task should be presented in the report format outlined above in the description of the assessment task. Please include your name and student number on each page of the assessment.  Assessments must be typed using 12 point font and 1.5 spacing on A4 white paper. All appropriate references must be noted and referenced using APA Style. Assignments are to be professionally presented as if they were submissions, proposals, or reports to management. In the workplace correct spelling, appropriate vocabulary, sound grammar and punctuation are required of all organisational communicators.