Organizational Change Paper

Organizational Change

Many organizations are on a digital transformation journey to modernize and embrace new digital technologies such as the cloud that can drastically increase agility, improve efficiencies, enhance the customer and employee experience, and deliver overall value to the organization. Digital transformation involves more than just a technology shift in strategy; it requires a shift in how an organization operates. It involves changes to the way people work, their roles, responsibilities, and the skills required for them to be successful. Adopting agile practices is common in digital transformation efforts and requires people to shift from functional roles to more specialist roles. It requires more teamwork, collaboration, continuous learning, adaptability, and flexibility. Transitioning could also change job roles and responsibilities. For example, transitioning server infrastructure to the cloud would mean that server upkeep and maintenance will no longer be performed by staff.

Organizational change management plays a critical role in achieving a successful digital transformation. Applying change models can aid with this transition and help employees, and an organization better manage change. There are two common change models, ADKAR and Kotter, that will be introduced in this section. ADKAR stands for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement.

Figure 4

ADKAR Model

This model focuses on how individuals experience the change and seeks to achieve five goals that are applied after the change has been identified (Galli,2018). Goal 1: Awareness occurs when the change is communicated. Goal 2: Desire is the motivation of employees to participate in and to perform the change. Goal 3: Knowledge is about what the change entails and how to perform the change. Goal 4: Ability is the skills necessary to implement the change daily. Goal 5: Reinforcement is about maintaining and sustaining the change (Galli,2018). Both of these models can be used in conjunction with each other.

Figure 5

Kotter Model

Kotter’s model helps with the change itself, while ADKAR addresses how people internalize and cope with change.

The Bridges Transition Model developed by William Bridges helps organizations manage and cope with the people aspect of a transition.

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The model consists of three stages (ending, neutral zone, and new beginnings). The ending stage represents what is ending or disappearing as a result of the change (Graf et al., 2020). This could be people, processes, or anything considered a loss for an individual (Graf et al., 2020). By identifying what one is losing, they can then learn how to cope with the loss (Graf et al., 2020). The neutral zone is the in-between stage where the old is gone, but the new has not been fully embraced or adopted. In this stage, there might be some confusion and flux (Graf et al., 2020). The new beginnings stage is where the change is embraced, and shifts in attitudes occur (Graf et al., 2020). This model is incredibly beneficial when dealing with transformative changes that are very impactful to people and their well-being. By acknowledging the loss and allowing space for grief, in turn, this model enables people to experience new growth and opportunities.

This week, you will prepare an organization’s change plan to help make this organization’s digital transformation journey a success.

References

Galli, B. J. (2018, September). Change management models: A comparative analysis and concerns. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 46(3), 124-132. doi: 10.1109/EMR.2018.2866860.

Graf, A. C., Jacob, E., Twigg, D., & Nattabi, B. (2020). Contemporary nursing graduates’ transition to practice: A critical review of transition models. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(15–16), 3097.

Weekly Resources and Assignments

Review the resources from the Course Resources link, located in the top navigation bar, to prepare for this week’s assignments. The resources may include textbook reading assignments, journal articles, websites, links to tools or software, videos, handouts, rubrics, etc.

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List of Topics and Sub-Modules for Week 8

• Week 8 – Signature Assignment: Create an Organizational Change Plan
• Assignment
• Due March 13 at 11:59 PM

  Your organization is embarking on a digital transforming journey that involves adopting a cloud-smart approach. As CIO, you would like to leverage the cloud to increase business value, improve customer experience, drive agility, and shorten time to market. As part of this effort, you will also adopt agile methodologies. You recognize that while this transition brings enormous opportunities for your organization, it will require a cultural shift in how this organization operates. To be successful and reap the benefits of digital transformation, you will prepare an organizational change management strategy and plan to prepare this organization for its digital transformation. Be sure your paper includes the following:

  • Outline of the vision, goals, and benefits of the change
  • Impacts and implication of the change
  • Strategies for mitigating impacts and repercussions
  • Approaches helping employees with the transition
  • An organization change strategy and plan
  • A communication plan for communicating the change

  This paper will be 12-15 pages, not including the title and reference pages. The paper should include at least two custom tables and two diagrams created for this specific paper. Tools may include Lucidchart for students, or any other tool that may be known by students. Include citations to peer-reviewed articles that you used in research and developing this paper.Length: 12-15 pages, not including the title and reference pagesReferences: Include a minimum of 5 scholarly references.The completed assignment should address all of the assignment requirements, exhibit evidence of concept knowledge, and demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the content presented in the course. The writing should integrate scholarly resources, reflect academic expectations and current APA standards, and adhere to the Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.