UOW 7HR006 - Leading Transformation and Change

Assignment Guide
This assignment relates to recounting an incidence of change that had happened in an
organisation ( highly preferred that the change had occurred in an organisation you are
currently working for or one that you had previously worked for ) together with the application
of relevant concepts, models and frameworks in respect of the incidence or aspects of
change.
The main action steps are:
1.
Identify ONE event or incidence of change relating to organisational culture,
organisational structure, organisational strategy, organisational relocation,
implementation of a hardware/software system, process, policy or any specific
component in the organisation. This incidence should have taken place in the past.
Do not choose an incidence of change that is either on-going or about to happen.
NOTE: If you have not observed or experienced a change in an organisation, you
could choose a company that you are able to research on. But, without first-hand
information available, you will need to research deeper into the aspects and situation
of change that have taken place in the company. You should expect that internal
information of most companies is not always readily available in the public domain.
2.

Recount, to be best of your knowledge and with some imagination allowed,

a. The reasons given by the organisation for making the change ( internal and/or
external drivers of change )
b. The process of implementing the change ( from planning to completion of change
at least, and if it did happen, sustaining of the change as well )
c. The feelings and perspectives of key stakeholders about the change

3.

An evaluation of the incidence and aspects of change based on related change

theories, concepts, models or frameworks

4.

A critical analysis of the outcome of the specific incidence of change, and justification
of the outcome based on relevant change theories, concepts, models and
frameworks.

5.

Personal and organisational learning based on the case study

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Report Structure
Electronic submission coversheet
Complete the details required in the submission coversheet. Name of student is not to be
provided for purpose of anonymous marking.
Table of Content
A table of content that provides a broad outline of the case study
Title of the case study
Provide a title to your work. The title should succinctly reflect the main focus on your case
study. An ideal title should be within the range of 4 to 12 words. Centralise the title at the top
of the page.
Key themes
Provide a list of between 4 and 6 different keywords that frame the focused areas of your
case study.
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1.

Introduction (500 words)

Discuss several key concepts about organisational change. Ideally, the concept that
relates to specific incidence of change should be part of the discussion. The scope
could include definition or explanation of organisational change, nature of change,
types of change, planned and emergent change, and concept that relates to the
specific incidence of change (for example, restructuring, cultural change etc). Several
citations are expected.
State the purpose of the case study. Name of the company and the specific
incidence of change should be part of the purpose statement. If you do not wish to
disclose the name of company for confidentiality reasons, you could use a pseudoname such as ABC company. Reason for using the pseudo-name should be given.
The purpose statement is expected to be short, not longer than 3 sentences.

2.

Organisation background and the perceived need for change (500-800 words )
Provide a brief background about the case study organisation. Focus on the key
information such as the nature of business, scope of operation, key performance
data and other significant details about the company. Avoid listing the history of the
company.
Describe the reasons (external and/or internal drivers) that have or might have led
the company to make the specific incidence of change. If actual reasons are not
readily available, you may suggest the possible reasons that could have caused the
company to make the specific incidence of change. Use past tenses here.

3.

Process of change (800-1000 words)

In this section, you are expected to trace and describe how the incidence of change
was planned, implemented and if available, sustained. The discussion allows for
imagination of some possible details of the process that could have taken place in
making the change, but are unknown to you. Use past tenses here

4.

Roles and perspectives of key stakeholders (800-1000 words)

Identify the specific key stakeholders who had been involved or were impacted by the
specific incidence of change. Key stakeholders could include the Board of Directors,
CEO, senior managers, employees, trade union, government, community,
customers, supplier, partners and others that have an interest and power relationship
with the company. For each of the identified key stakeholders, describe the feelings
and perspective of the stakeholder in relation to the specific incidence of change.
Generally, this section should discuss the emotions of the identified key stakeholders
and their respective level of support or resistance for the incidence of change.
Reasons for the expressed feelings and perspectives of the key stakeholders should
be provided.
If you had been involved in the change as a change agent, or had been personally
impacted by the incidence of change, you could identify yourself as a stakeholder in
the discussion. Similarly, you describe the feelings you had at that time and your own
perspective about the incidence of change. Use past tenses here.
4 to 6 stakeholders should suffice.

5.

Evaluation (1000-1200 words) [IMPORTANT SECTION]

Review academic theories, models, frameworks, ideas that are directly relation to
what you have just described from sections 2 to 4. Relate the aspects of change (for

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example, the nature of change, type of change, specific incidence of change, change
process, stakeholders feelings and perspectives etc ) to the theoretical concepts (
theories, models or frameworks). This is a key connection of analysis between the
real world and the theoretical world. Each chosen change theory, concept, model or
framework should specifically RELATE to the actual situation or aspect of change as
described in your sections 2 to 4.
Apply 3 to 5 key theories, concepts, models and frameworks with substantive
discussion. Citations are needed
NOTE: this section focuses on relating the relevant theories, concepts, models and
frameworks to the sections that you have described above. Treat this as a Literature
Review section. Avoid analysing or comparing the concepts and the actual aspects
or situation of change that you have described in sections 2 to 4 above.

6.

Critical analysis (1000 1500 words) [IMPORTANT SECTION]

In your perspective, state your position in terms of the outcome (success or failure) of
the specific incidence of change. Based on the stated outcome, analyse the actual
situation and aspects of change, and compare them with relevant theories, concepts,
models, and frameworks so as to establish the factors or reasons that might have
contributed to the outcome.
Apply between 3 and 5 key theories, concepts, models and frameworks with
substantive discussion. Citations are needed.
Selected relevant theories, concepts, models and frameworks applied in section 5
(Evaluation) may be re-used in the section but the manner of writing would need to
be different as this section involves analysis and comparison between the actual
situation against the chosen theories, concepts, models and frameworks.
NOTE : this section focuses on the comparison between the actual situation and the
change theories, concepts, models and frameworks. Each matching pair of a
specific actual and specific situation of change described in your sections 2 to 4 and
the relevant change theory, concept, model or framework is considered as
establishing a positive factor contributing to the outcome of the incidence of change.
Conversely, a mismatch pair establishes a negative factor contributing to the
outcome of the specific incidence of change.
It is absolutely not necessary to force fit all the positive factors to the successful
change nor all negative factors to the failed change. It is acceptable to have a mixed
number of positive and negative factors. What is important are your arguments in
justifying the outcome of the incidence of change.

7.

Conclusion (500 words)

Summarize the key points discussed in sections 2 to 6, coherently and succinctly.
Avoid providing a list of points that does not sum up the main ideas of the discussion.
There is no necessity to make any recommendations for improving the situation or
aspects of change.

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8.

Lessons learned (500 words)

Reflect on what you have written about the case of change from sections 2 to 6, and
describe the lessons you have learned personally as well as any organisation could
learn based on this case study. Therefore, you should have 2 types of learning in
this section as follows:
Personal learning
Describe the lessons that you have learned from this case study. Lessons learned
could be drawn from sections 2 to 6. 200-250 words should be enough
Organisational learning
Describe the lessons that any organisation could learn if it plans to carry out the
same incidence of change. Organisations could learn from any aspects or situation
of change that you have described from sections 2 to 6. Avoid repeating the same
lessons you have learned personally. 250 to 300 words will be acceptable.
NOTE: it is expected that this section contains fresh perspectives about the situation
or aspects of change. A direct and plain collection of points discussed in sections 2 to
6 will be considered inappropriate and unacceptable.

References
It is expected you will have between 8 and 15 references for the above discussion. The
references, comprising a balanced range of academic sources comprising books, journal
articles and qualified websites, should comply with the UOW Harvard Referencing Rules.
Appendices
You can provide additional information, illustrations, charts, diagrams etc as appendices. Do
label the appendices as A, B, C.and so on. Appendices are used if additional details
are useful but not significant enough to be included in the report.
KEY ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
1. Description
Full address of why the change was attempted, the context, how the process was
managed and different behavioural and emotional perspectives (Sections 1 to 4 )
2. Evaluation
Critical evaluation of relevant theories, concepts, models and frameworks (Section 5)
3. Critical analysis
Apply appropriate academic sources in order to compare the chosen scenario to
theories, concepts, models and frameworks. (Section 6)
4. A reflective assessment
Contains fresh perspectives of the lessons learn at personal and organisational levels.
(Section 8)
5. Overall presentation
Contains a cohesive storyline and balanced presentation that reflects an appropriate
format. Correct application of the prescribed UOW Harvard referencing system.
NOTE: Avoid committing excessive errors in grammar, spelling, and sentence structure.
Lengthy sentences and paragraphs should be avoided, too. Write the report from the
third-person perspective. For example, do not use I , we , our , my, you or us in
the report. The term the author can be used in place of I and my in the report.

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