Module 4 – Case

Managing Organizational Change

Assignment Overview

For this assignment, first, do a thorough review of the required background materials and read up on each author’s discussion about Kotter’s eight-step model of change, Lewin’s three-step model, and the five phases of Action Research. There are also some videos on some of these models that might help as well.

Case Assignment

When you are done reviewing these models of organizational change, take a look at the following scenario, determine which of the three models of change would be most appropriate, and answer the questions below. You are required to use APA style of writing, cite at least three of the scholarly sources from the background readings (required and optional), and write 4 full pages (excluding title and references pages).

Scenario

Acme corporation has had recent problems with increased turnover of employees and decreased profitability. However, leadership is not sure exactly what the problem is or what to do about it. Senior managers have been arguing for many months about what to do, but it is clear that leadership does not have a strategy to get the company back on track. The company (prior to organizational changes) had 24 sales associates that averaged $423,000 in combined sales each month with a profit margin of 32%. This breaks down to a monthly sales average of $17, 625 per sales associate.

Since the changeover, the employees are stretched thin and have become demoralized as management has been slow to respond to the turnover and has increased pressure to exceed monthly goals. The average monthly sales have steadily decreased for six months after the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) replaced the vice president of sales, two sales directors, and six sales managers with employees from another organization. The Vice President, directors, and managers have yet to establish relationships, are not very engaging or motivating, have more of a transactional style of leadership, and micro-manage every detail of the sales associates performance. The following table shows company sales performance since January of this year and includes month, number of staff, average sales, profit percentage and total profit.

Month	Sales Staff	Sales	Profit %	Profit $
January	20	$322,800	32%	$103,296
February	19	$321,100	32%	$102,752
March	18	$318,500	32%	$101,920
April	18	$267,900	32%	$85,728
May	15	$260,500	32%	$83,360
June	12	$247,700	32%	$79,264

Please use the scenario and the table above to answer the following questions (support each section with sources from the required and optional readings list):

1. Introduce your paper with your thoughts on the scenario and why it happened.

2. Explain which organizational change model (Kotter’s Eight-Step, Lewin’s Three-Step, or the Stages of an Action Research Project) would be most suited for this scenario supporting your decision and response with a source from the required or optional readings list.

3. Provide a solution to the scenario and build a plan of action for this organization using the individual steps of your chosen change model.

4. Use and fill in the table below with your expected forecast potential to show growth in sales staff, sales, and total profit from July through December. Use the formula below the table (New Month Sales x 32% = ______), to calculate expected sales and profit percent for an increase in profit dollars for Acme Corporation.

5. Provide a discussion on how your proposed change model associates with your completed monthly table below.

Table 1: Expected Sales and Profit Forecast

Month	Sales Staff	Sales	Profit %	Total Profit $
July			32%
August			32%
September			32%
October			32%
November			32%
December			32%

· New Monthly Sales X Profit Percentage = Total profit

6. Conclude your paper to align with your introduction, a summary of findings from each section, and wrap up in a final thought.

Assignment Expectations

Case Assignments are to be prepared in Microsoft Word 12 pt font, be at least 4 pages in length (excluding title and references pages) and include 3 scholarly sources from the required or optional readings list.

The paper should include the following:

· Title Page formatted per APA.

· An Introduction, Body of Work, and Conclusion.

· Report content should include a brief introduction to the assignment, background information about the organization being studied, and your discussion of organizational structure in terms of the concepts or theories being applied in the assignment. Use subtitles, bullets, and tables to improve presentation values.

· References page (double-spaced, 12 pt. type, Times New Roman font) should be formatted par APA Style- See APAstyle.org.

· Attention is to be given to citing sources of information in-text as well as in the reference list at the end of reports. Citation and reference style instructions are available at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/

· Submit your report in the Case dropbox for this module on or before the date due, as indicated in the TLC Homepage.

· The paper should be written in third person; this means words like “I,” “we,” and “you” are not appropriate. For more information, see Differences Between First and Third Person.

· Submit the presentation through the appropriate Dropbox by the due date. Your submission will be graded with the assignment’s grading rubric.

Grading Note: Students’ Quantitative Reasoning skills were assessed in the Signature Assignment in Case 3 of MGT301 at the Introduction Level. In this Case Assignment, they will be assessed in a second Signature Assignment at the Reinforced Level of Quantitative Reasoning. Toward the end of the program, they will be assessed again in MGT423 with the Emphasized Level of Quantitative Reasoning skills.

Your submission for this Signature Assignment will be assessed on the criteria found in the grading rubric for this assignment to assess Quantitative Reasoning at the Reinforced Level.

Citation and reference style instructions are available at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/. Also, see Trident’s Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper .

You will find the following useful as you critique sources:

Cornell University. (2015). Critically analyzing information sources: Critical appraisal and analysis. Retrieved from http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/skill26.htm

Cornell University. (2014). Evaluating Web sites: Criteria and tools. Retrieved from http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/webeval.html