MBA 687 Project Guidelines and Rubric
Competencies
In this project, you will demonstrate mastery of the following competencies:
Develop a workforce
Propose an operating plan
Justify organizational change
Scenario
You are an HR consultant, contracted by the VP of an LLC in Wilmington, Delaware, to solve their internal challenges. This U.S. office is a branch of a larger Singaporean software solutions organization that has a total of 140 employees and generates $20M in revenue per year. The CEO of this organization, headquartered in Singapore, wants to explore new markets in the United States, gain access to new customers, diversify risk, leverage resources, and increase profits.
Unfortunately, the newly formed U.S. branch has been facing several problems from the beginning.
Employees at the call center and the sales and marketing division are disengaged and emotionally fatigued due to contradictory communication between the branch’s leadership and the leadership at the Singaporean headquarters.
The branch team members feel frustrated and undervalued as a result of conflicting feedback from their VP and management team.
Messages from leadership lack consistency, especially regarding policies and practices related to human resources.
There is no training for team members.
Communication problems between the Singaporean headquarters and U.S. branch are resulting in low employee morale.
Overall, the standard operating procedures (SOP) followed successfully at the headquarters in Singapore could not be replicated at the U.S. branch. As a result, the CEO’s vision of successfully furthering expansion into the U.S. market remains unfulfilled.
Your goal as an HR consultant is to create a change management toolkit that includes the following:
A needs assessment or change readiness audit
An organizational change management plan
A change management communication plan
A letter recommending strategies to ensure that the changes and their benefits are retained
To create the toolkit, you will compile your work from Milestones One and Two. So far, you have completed your change readiness audit and created a change management plan. Now, you will record and share a presentation to demonstrate your change management communication plan. This plan should include your recommendations for workforce development techniques and how you plan to communicate these to employees and leadership of the U.S. branch, as well as leadership at the Singaporean headquarters.
It is not enough to implement change successfully; efforts should also be made to sustain the change. You must also write an executive letter to the VP of the U.S. branch, recommending strategies and best practices to ensure that the changes are implemented and maintained.
Part Two: Change Management Plan
Submit your change management plan from Milestone Two that was created according to the following criteria. Be sure to revise your plan based on feedback that you received on your milestone. In this report prepared for the VP, you will detail the strategy to convince the workforce to implement the changes.
Refer to the Case for Change Guide and other company data, such as the Leaders’ Self-Evaluations, the Vision, Mission, and Strategic Goals document, and the Employee Engagement Survey (all linked below in Supporting Materials). Ensure that the report details the pre-implementation and implementation phases of the change management plan.
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
Identify two key stakeholders or sponsor roles for the change process from the Singapore headquarters and the U.S. branch.
Refer to the Leaders’ Self-Evaluations document for additional context.
Discuss the significance of each stakeholder’s role in gaining buy-in, acceptance, and support for change across departments.
How can each stakeholder improve the change initiatives’ likelihood of success (for example, by acting as opinion leaders, connectors, counselors, and journalists)?
Identify strategic goals that align with the change management plan and provide rationale. Consider the following in your response:
Refer to the Vision, Mission, and Strategic Goals document; U.S. Branch Overview; and Leaders’ Self-Evaluations.
Ensure there is alignment of the change management plan with the strategic goals of the organization (Singaporean headquarters and U.S. branch).
Research emerging trends that could influence employees of the U.S. branch.
Explain how improvements to organizational systems can ensure successful and sustained behavioral change.
Refer to the Exit Interviews to identify the areas of change.
What are the processes, procedures, or policies that need improvement?
How will these improvements impact behavioral change of employees at the U.S. branch?
Recommend enhancement strategies for team collaboration.
Refer to the Exit Interviews and the Leaders’ Self-Evaluations to identify the problems of team collaboration.
What are the reasons for the lack of collaboration between team members across both locations of the organization?
How can an individual performer become a team player to improve team collaboration?
How should leadership behavior change to build trust?
Determine a change management model that can be used at the U.S. branch and provide justification.
Based on your evaluation of the challenges that the U.S. branch is currently facing, choose from the following change management models:
Kotter’s Change Management Model, Lewin’s Change Management Model, or the ADKAR Change Management Model
How would you use the model you chose at the U.S. branch?
Describe the steps needed to implement the change management model at the U.S. branch. Support your response with research.
How would you mitigate and remove any roadblocks in the change management process?
What are your plans to deal with the impact of planned and/or unplanned changes and any contingencies?
What milestones need to be accomplished for change implementation to succeed?
How would you measure success on your plan?
Part Two: Change Management Plan
Submit a 7- to 9-page Word document with 12-point Times New Roman font, double spacing, and one-inch margins. Sources should be cited according to APA style. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information on citations.
