Assessment Details
As Australia comes out of lockdown in late 2021 we can expect the way many Australia based office workers to not return to a full time office physical location. Most likely with a sharp increase in the use of a remote digital workspace and collaboration tools.
You have been tasked with implementing a time management change program within a large team of IT professional workers in your organisation. The program needs to be fully implemented within 9 months.
Under new work arrangements all IT workers will do a split week 2 days office and 3 days home.
To support this new permanent way of working a new (to the organisation) suite of project based collaboration tools are going to be implemented.
Your team have had four weeks to prepare your change plan, and are now tasked with commencing implementation as per the agreed schedule, starting immediately. You need to obtain the cooperation and buy in of the workers, as many are likely to dislike a major change in work practice to that they have become used to over the last 18 months. Any delay in effective adoption will most likely cause delays in the roll out of a current infrastructure upgrade program underway which is critical to the future of your organisation.
Requirements
Activities for each stage of the change program, but most importantly show analysis – why you believe the activities proposed at each stage will achieve sustainable (‘sticky’) change over the long term. Justify your analysis of why you believe your activities will create sustainable change with evidence of change management theory from credible sources.
You may assume you have available any resources/people you think you may reasonably need. You may restrict yourself to ONE key activity for each stage to allow you to properly provide (evidenced) analysis. Do not give a lengthy description of the activity, just a few words – it is the ‘why’ it will help change that we want, not ‘what’.
Business Report Format
• Cover Page (title, student name, actual wordcount)
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary (key findings only, not a description of methodology or introductory material approx. 5% wordcount)
• Introduction (includes needed background, a brief description of the issue, scope of the report approx. 5% wordcount)
• Main Body Heading(s) (titled as required, 8 Kotter stages recommended)
• Conclusion (not a summary, and no introduction of new material approx. 5-10% wordcount)
• Appendices are not required.
Important Notes
The format will be an applied business report and will require extensive research, analysis and preparation, consistent with the overall weighting of 25% of the total subject, but with due consideration for the restricted timeframe allocated.
There is a word count of 1,500 words. You are required to stay within +/- 10% of this word count. It is included in the response section of the rubric marking guide below as a fail indicator for that section, and in addition will be taken into account overall if required.
Do not use a table format or bullet points, and demonstrate correct grammatical structure to your language. Also remember to reference all introduced strategies.
Key Focus
In completing this assessment you will be assessed on your ability to analyse why the proposed change activities that fit each stage of the Kotter change model will assist in sustainable change.
You will NOT be assessed on whether the change issue and its solution is the best, or their relative merits to other factors not included in your report. You may consider their relative merits to each other as part of your conclusion.
We do NOT want a description of the theoretical principles in change or the Kotter model, rather we want analysis by application to the issue considered at each of the 8 stages of the Kotter change model.
Response (refer to the rubric marking guide below)
Carefully consider the scope of your report and detail your precise response in scope. Stay focused and only respond to the scope you have detailed in your introduction. This is weighted at 25/100 of the total marks for this assessment.
Analysis (refer to the rubric marking guide below)
The major emphasis in this assessment is on the rigorous analysis of the researched material through application. The analysis component (see the rubric marking guide) is weighted at 35/100 of the total marks for this assessment.
Research & Referencing (refer to the rubric marking guide below)
This will require detailed research of the issue in terms of the specified task and then the applied learning of core subject and extensive research of related material. A careful selection of credible sources (see marking guide for numbers required) will be key to your success. It will not be possible to provide an insightful analysis without a careful matching of sources and your selected key findings, and proper in text referencing evidencing your argument.
Organisation & structure (refer to the rubric marking guide below)
A business report is required, use the structure provided above in the section headed Business Report Format.
Submission
This task will be marked by the course lecturer and/or tutors. To submitted via moodle Turnitin by the due date. There are no extensions available and a 100% late penalty immediately.
Feedback
Feedback and marks will be provided in Moodle.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the presentation of the expressed thought or work of another person as though it is one's own without properly acknowledging that person. You must not allow other students to copy your work and must take care to safeguard against this happening.
Special Consideration
Students whose ability to submit or attend an assessment item is affected by sickness, misadventure or other circumstances beyond their control, may be eligible for special consideration. No consideration is given when the condition or event is unrelated to the student's performance in a component of the assessment, or when it is considered not to be serious.
Students applying for special consideration must submit the form within 3 days of the due date of the assessment item or exam. Supporting evidence should be attached. For further information please refer to the Higher Education Assessment Policy and associated Procedure available on.
