MS-25: MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONS

JUNE 2003

Note: This paper consists of two Sections A and B. Answer any four questions from section A. All questions in this section carry 15 marks each. Section B is compulsory and carries 40 marks.

SECTION A

1. Discuss the process of change in organisations and the factors that affect it. Explain the concept of tranformational change and the pre-requistes and stages involved in it.

2.What is an organisational intervention? Explain different types of interventions in bringing about change in organisations, citing suitable examples.

3. What steps can a change agent take to overcome resistance to change and facilitate the implementation of the change?

4. Discuss the key roles involved in managing change.

5. Explain some models of organisational change and their relevance to different situations citing examples.

6. Write short notes on any three of the following

(i) Work redesign model

(ii) Process consultation

(iii) Internal vs. External consultant

(iv) Survey feedback

(v) Internal resource development

SECTION B

7. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end:

Telesales Incorporated is a large company operating in the UK insurance sector. Amongst its workforce are telesales operators selling a range of motor vehicle and life assurance policies. Telesales was considering the introduction of computer-based training (CBT) for courses such as ‘ introductory telesales.’ However, prior to deciding to make this change they needed to establish whether CBT was at least as effective a medium as their existing ‘traditional’ training approach. Discussion between the internal consultant assigned to the project and personnel department employees combined with a reviews of published literature enabled ‘effective’ to be defined in terms of training outcomes such as observable changes in employees use of the telephone and associated knowledge. It also helped the formulation of three inter-related questions the research needed to answer:

· How effective is CBT for self-study relative to the existing approach?

· How effective is CBT for group study relative to the existing approach?

· Is CBT study in groups more effective than CBT self-study?

In order to describe and explore the effect of CBT on training our comes, the Internal Consultant, in conjunction with the Training Manager, designed a study which examined the effectiveness of this type if training over six months. The review of the literature suggested that four distinct groups would be needed:

1. Self-study CBT: using the CBT software individually without a trainer to facilitate and provide input.

2. Group study CBT: Using the same CBT medium but studying as a group of trainees without a trainer to facilitate and provide input.

3. Existing training course: Using the message and content of the CBT but applying it to a facilitated group in which computer-based training was not used and the input was provided by a trainer.

4. control group: Where no training took place during the study period to provide a benchmark.

A representative sample of 120 of Telesales employees who required telesales training were selected and 30 allocated to each group at random. Data was collected over the six-month period using the combination of questionnaires, observations and interviews outlined in Table 10.1

A confidential questionnaire to measure quantitatively, any changes in individuals knowledge and a structured observation of individuals telephone manner were designed and pilot tested. These collected data on knowledge and skills that should have been developed by the training interventions. The control group was also tested, despite receiving no training, to record any changes in manner due to other factors. In addition questions were included in the questionnaire to measure trainees reactions to various aspects of the training as well as assess the representative ness of the sample.

An earlier reading of the academic and practitioner literatures had suggested that the social context in which training took place would also influence its effectiveness. Descriptive observation was used to collect data on the behaviour of each of the three groups of trainees paying particular attention to events and associated actions and behaviours.

Statistical analyses of data collected through the questionnaire and through the structured observation of telephone manner, both indicated that immediately after training knowledge and telephone manner had improved significantly for both employes who had undergone group CBT and those who had followed the existing training course. This suggested that both approaches were “effective’. Improvements for those employees who had undertaken self-study CBT, although still statistically significant, were less marked, suggesting that self-study CBT was less effective. Interviews and descriptive observation data collected during the training offered a range of possible reasons for this such as the lack of group discussion.

Analysis of data collected six months after training revealed a more complex picture. While significant improvements in telephone manner and knowledge were still evident for those employes who had received either group or self-study CBT, statistical analysis showed their effectiveness to have declined significantly form that recorded immediately after training. By contrast, there had been no significant decline in telephone manner or knowledge for employees who followed the existing training course. The control group’s effectiveness, measured by the questionnaire and structured observation of telephone manner, remained the same over the study period. This suggested that changes were unlikely to have been caused by other factors. The training manager, therefore, concluded that the existing training course was more effective i the long than either of the CBT interventions considered.

Case study questions:

(a) Which strategies were adopted in this study?

(b) What were the benefits of adding a longitudinal dimension to the evaluation?

(c) What benefits do you think were gained form using multiple methods of data collections?

(d) Why do you think and evaluation research rather than an action research approach was adopted?