OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

These simulation modules are designed to give project managers and project management learners deep insight into a corporate change management project. The module will allow the learner to embark upon a transition that is focused on helping a mid-sized North American professional consultancy firm expand its software services and solution division to help enhance its regional and global competitiveness.

This project will involve the downsizing of one division and the reallocation of resources into the expansion of another division. Some positions will need to be eliminated.  SMC is a regional North American consultancy which specializes in corporate leadership training, organizational design, software and systems planning, and market and competitive intelligence. It has a mix of long-tenured staff and new hires. Its personnel are increasingly highly specialized professionals, often holding advanced degrees in software engineering, business administration and international relations.

THE PROBLEM

Through extensive data analysis enabled by a new corporate performance dashboard, the organization’s leadership has recognized that their ‘soft skills’ leadership training division which focuses on speakers’ training, media spokesperson training and effective management workshops is no longer generating the revenue at the rate it once did.

The firm’s software and systems planning and consultancy division, which is focused on helping mid-sized business plan their IT infrastructures and create effective decision-management solutions for maximum growth, is performing consistently above quarterly expectations. Given the current revenue analysis and the analysis of market conditions, the executive leadership team has decided to expand the software and services division, and downsize the leadership training arm of its business.

EDUCATION STANDARDS

1. The module draws on established organizational change theories. These theories underline that individuals “both fear and seek change” (Senge, 1990) and “business environment has become less predictable, with more frequent unknowns that are less readily subject to rational interpretation” (Clarke and Clegg, 1998)
2. The module will reinforce the importance of communications in heightened, high-stress change management situations. According to Hargie and Tourish (1993), “a crucial variable determining organisational success” and helps to minimize business disruption (cited by Kitchen & Daly).

Reference: Kitchen, P.J., Daly, F., (2002) “Internal communication during change management”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 7 Issue: 1, pp.46-53, https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280210416035

OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of the module, students will be able to:

1. Describe some of the key challenges of change management projects and the communications complexity inherent in in organizational transitions in a final memo
2. Analyze the communication preferences of the key stakeholders and select in-game dialog responses best tailored to the stakeholders
3. Identify some of the communications challenges in working with multiple stakeholders with competing interests and agendas (and worldviews)
4. Apply information based on the Synergistic Management Consultancy (SMC) case study profile, performance databoard, and the biographies of the clients you have been assigned to support
5. Evaluate the communications preferences based on the stakeholder profiles and the trial-and-error encounters with the clients

EXPECTATIONS

During this modules students are expected to:

• Engage with the content with curiosity and open-mindedness
• Value the importance of thinking critically and evaluating complex situation
• Demonstrate an appreciation for developing effective ways to solve business communications challenges

VERIFICATION

Steps to check for student understanding

1. Students will be asked to select the ideal dialog responses for key stakeholders on the project. The more effectively you communicate, the better the information you will be able to obtain, and the better the overall outcome of the project
2. The quality and accuracy of the stakeholder register
3. The overall effectiveness of the project management plan based on the information provided. This will include observations based on the discussions with characters and a very brief, informal critical path.

ACTIVITY

Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson

• Selecting the right dialogue options; when users select the less-than-ideal options, they can interact with their boss and mentor “Aiza” for advice
• A completed stakeholder register
• Create a final memo that briefly summarizes some of the key challenges of change management projects and the communications complexity inherent in in organizational transitions