The purpose of this assessment is to assess your development of data gathering, analysis, communication, and interpersonal skills in applying assumptions and experiences of change: Managing Change, Assignment, CU, Singapore

Overview

The purpose of this assessment is to assess your development of data gathering, analysis, communication, and interpersonal skills in applying assumptions and experiences of change.

You will learn how to use information from and about individuals to inform your understanding of change at work by:

•  Planning, preparing for and conducting an interview about an individual’s experience of change at work
• Applying principles from two contrasting theories of individual responses to change to explain that experience
• Speculating on the kind and degree of contribution these theories could make if applied to the management of change at work.

Assessment Details

Everyone who has worked in an organisation has experienced change. In its broadest sense, ‘work in an organisation’ is the effort exerted by any group of people who come together for a common purpose. ‘Change’ can mean any form of alteration, modification, variation, adjustment, conversation, transformation, transmutation, or revolution! In this assessment we are interested in describing, understanding, and explaining change as it happens to people in the context of work in organisations. As current or potential managers, if we can understand and explain change, we are more likely to be able to predict its effects – positive, negative, and mixed – and be better prepared to manage them.

To understand change as it happens requires us to ask good questions, and actively listen to the answers. In this assessment, you will conduct an interview about change at work with someone you know (e.g., a family member, a work colleague, a sporting team-mate, etc.). This person should have at least 10 years’ experience of working in an organisational setting (paid or unpaid). The more work experience they have, different to your own, the more interesting the responses may be! Using the selfdeveloped interview guide and your record of the interview, you will reflect on how well change theories are able to explain what happened.

We will teach you how to interview because it is an important qualitative data gathering technique. We will introduce you to theories about change. It will be your job as part of this assessment to bring data and theories together and tell us what you have learned about change.

We advise you to use a ‘semi-structured’ structured approach for interviewing (i.e. suggested question prompts with some flexibility). Please download the below assessment brief for further details on what you are required to do as part of this assessment.

Assessment 1 proposed structure:

Title page

1. Introduction
2. Change interview summary (approximately 400 words) – this section
will contain your key findings as supported by your quotes (Appendix B).
3. Change theories at the individual level (approx. 1000 words)
3.1 Theory 1
3.2 Theory 2
4. Personal reflection and conclusion

References

Appendix A: Interview guide (5-6 interview questions, with prompts)
Appendix B: Verbatim quotes (3-4 direct quotes, one page limit)
Appendix C: Interview transcript