Description
Developing a Plan of Action
Paper instructions:
Section: Removing Barriers (3 pages)
In this section, you will design a formal step-by-step plan for removing barriers to change and providing employees the necessary tools to empower action toward your vision. Outline the tools you will need and specify the necessary resources.
Also include the following in this section of your plan:
o Identify structural barriers that could potentially prevent employees from feeling empowered to change and describe how you would remove these barriers.
o Identify the necessary training for employees to be successful with this change.
o What changes would be needed to align current systems to the new vision?
o What is your plan for dealing with potentially troublesome supervisors?
o Describe how your plan empowers others and discuss the benefits of employees feeling positive towards the change process and feeling empowered to participate.
Section: Generating Short-Term Wins (1 page)
As you consider ways to create short-term wins, complete the exercise on quick wins presented on page 140 in the course text, The Heart of Change. Include your answers to the exercise as part of this section of your Plan of Action (uploaded with order).
After narrowing your list down to the top five, use the “Quick Wins Diagnostic” from the article “The Quick Wins Paradox” (attached with the order) to evaluate the potential impact of the items on your list.
Next, respond to the following:
o Which item do you think should be given top priority in creating a quick win?
o Develop a plan for creating this win. Outline the steps you would need to take to help this plan succeed.
Reference:
Van Buren, M. E., & Safferstone, T. (2009). The quick wins paradox. Harvard Business Review, 87(1), 54–61.
Section: Consolidating Change ( 1page)
Forces that work against the change process—such as complacency, resistance, and structural barriers—never disappear. However, following Kotter’s eight-stage process can mitigate these forces enough for a new culture to form.
Organizational culture is important because it affects the behavior of individuals within it—when you change the culture, employee behavior will continue to change as well. For example, think about how an organization’s culture impacts the way it recruits and trains new employees. It would be difficult to ensure lasting change if the organization continues its hiring practices based on a former way of operating. Cultural change comes at the end of a long process, a continuum of meaningful quick victories that finally results in lasting change. Kotter’s eight-stage process is not meant to be accomplished quickly, but, rather, it is a step-by-step process that is structured to ensure continual motivation, enthusiasm, and worthwhile results.
In a 1 page paper, develop a plan for the consolidation of short-term wins into the production of more change. Be sure and consider each of the elements in Exhibit 2, “What Stage 7 Looks Like in a Successful, Major Change Effort,” on page 150 of the Leading Change course text. Include the following in your plan (uploaded with order):
o How will you maintain the sense of urgency?
o Once you have achieved short-term wins, what is the next set of changes that should be addressed? How would you approach these changes?
o In what ways are you structuring the changes to avoid trying to address too many changes at once or pushing others too hard?
o How would consolidating your wins bring others on board and build confidence in your vision?
Section: Anchoring New Approaches (1 page)
For this section of your paper, you will need to consider the culture of your organization. As you make the changes you have outlined in your plan of action, there are likely to be areas where the new changes will conflict with existing cultural standards and traditions.
In a 1 page paper, describe how you plan to make your changes permanent. Include a discussion on:
o What will be the greatest obstacle to making changes permanent in your organizational culture? How will you address this?
o What are methods you can use to keep employees informed of the progress and effects of changes?
o How can you continue to have buy-in for new changes?
References:
Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Chapter 10, “Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture”
Chapter 10 explores methods for making change part of the organizational culture.
Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Step 8, “Make Change Stick
Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Chapter 9, “Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change”
Van Buren, M. E., & Safferstone, T. (2009). The quick wins paradox. Harvard Business Review, 87(1), 54–61.
Beer, M., Eckert, R. A., Dichter, S. F., Canavan, P. J., & Sulkowicz, K. (2006). Big shoes to fill. Harvard Business Review, 84(5), 43–47.
Johnson-Cramer, M., Parise, S., & Cross, R. (2007). Managing change through networks and values. California Management Review, 49(3), 85–109.
Explanation & Answer
Hi, I have attached the final paper as a word document below. Please let me know if it is satisfactory or you need further work done on it. Thanks
Running Head: PLAN OF ACTION
1
DEVELOPING A PLAN OF ACTION TO REMOVE BARRIERS
Removing Barriers
Change, though necessary and good for both the organization and its employees, is usually met by
resistance for one reason or the other. It is difficult for an organization to implement change if the
barriers to it are not removed first. Below is a formal step-by-step plan for removing barriers to
change after identifying them.
Step 1: Obtain Top Management Commitment
Change requires teamwork and collaboration. Teamwork and collaboration is usually the result of
a shared common future. It is at the top management level that a common future originates and
therefore gaining commitment to the change process is important. More specifically, garnering top
management commitment is the same as them agreeing to play the following roles in the change
process:
•
Establishing a sense of urgency for the change process.
•
Creating a team of team of people who understand and can express and communicate the
need for change.
Top management commitment can be obtained further through involvement in change workshops
as participants. Survival of a change process is highly unlikely without the commitment of top
management.
Step 2: Promote Stakeholders’ Inclusion
It is important to, early in the change process, identify all the stakeholders and have the included
in the change process. There is usually a need to influence amongst people who are part of an
PLAN OF ACTION
2
organization. Barriers arise when these individuals are excluded and denied an opportunity to
fulfill this need and necessary actions required of them in the change process will be ignored.
Promoting stakeholders inclusion creates an awareness, assessment, acknowledgement, and
resolution of differences that may exist as part of the change. This action will result in a
collaboration of stakeholders. Employees may need training on how to use new systems that come
with the change. Plan for dealing with potentially stubborn supe...
Review
Review
