23175 - Change and Organisational Development

Learning outcomes

Organizations are being challenged by dynamic forces such as international competition, increasing demands of consumers, or innovations in ICT. To survive in such environment organizations must continually change – sometimes very much . Therefore, the course will examine basic processes for organizational change and methods for managing change effectively. Aspects that hinder the change, as resistances, or those that instead promote and support change, as engagement, will also be considered.

The Purpose of this course is to learn about change processes and how to manage programs aiming to improve the organization, groups and individuals.

Course contents

1. Theories of organizational change

2. Levels of change: individual, group, organization

3. Organizational diagnosis and organizational well-being

4. Conflict management and overcoming resistance to change

5. Organizational development and change processes

6. Intervention techniques I: Group feedback analysis and team building

Readings/Bibliography

- Avallone F., Paplomatas A. (2004). Salute organizzativa: Psicologia del benessere nei contesti lavorativi. Milano: R. Cortina (capitoli da 1 a 7; leggere il 3, studiare bene 4 e 6);

- Mckenna, E.F. (2006). Organizational change and development. In E. Mckenna, Business psychology and organizational behaviour. A student's handbook Fourth Edition (pp. 539-565) New York: Taylor and Francis group. (ATTENZIONE: esiste una edizione precedente dello stesso volume!)

- Piccardo C, Colombo L., (2007) Governare il cambiamento, Milano: R. Cortina,

- Schein E.H. (2001). La consulenza di processo: come costruire le relazioni d'aiuto e promuovere lo sviluppo organizzativo. Milano: R. Cortina ( capitoli da 1 a 6; leggere il 6);

- Weick, K.E., Quinn, R.E. (1999). Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 50: 361-386 (leggere gli appunti del corso)

- one (or two) article/s from an international journal.

Teaching methods

Didactic methods that will be used to improve knowledge are: lectures, student reading and questioning, audiovisual methods, practitioner's report/guest lectures, small group discussions.

Didactic methods used to improve skills are: exercises (use of technique or tool), role playing, student assignments, student group assignments, and case studies.

Site visit, analysis of a real organization and managerial recommendations will be required as part of the evaluation.

Assessment methods

Learning (and evaluation) is based on the following tasks:

A) Traditional examination: open and closed questions about course topics (35 points)

B) Report on an intervention technique (or on some aspect of the change intervention) based on one (for students attending classes) or two (for those unattending classes) articles from international journals (30 points)

C) Paper on history and one organizational change made by an organization (using the internet, books, newspapers) (17 points)

D) Critical evaluation of a report on organizatonal change (ask to the professor for the case to evaluate) (10 points)

E) class participation (8 points)

 

For more details on how to write such papers, download from the Moodle website (http://easi.polocesena.unibo.it/) instructions on the examination, and additional materials.

Teaching tools

 

Office hours

See the website of Salvatore Zappalà