"That Was Great!": More High Impact Exercises For Teaching Or Consulting On Organizational Change
A two-hour interactive Academy of Management Annual meeting PDW workshop in Anaheim Sunday, August 10, 8:30AM - 10:30AM
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Anaheim</st1:city></st1:place> Marriott Grand Ballroom B&C
This workshop follows on from similar sessions in <st1:city w:st="on">Honolulu</st1:city> (2005), <st1:city w:st="on">Atlanta</st1:city> (2006), and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Philadelphia</st1:city></st1:place> (2007). The 2008 session will provide a forum for educators, researchers and consultants to showcase high impact methods for teaching organizational change in its many contexts (undergraduate, EMBA, MBA, corporate training, consulting, etc.). The workshop covers high impact classic exercises that receive very positive responses in change programs, as well as newer approaches Two key features underpin this workshop:
- The workshop has a "hands-on" approach where participants get to experience, in part, the actual exercise or activity being undertaken.
- The teaching philosophy underpinning the workshop is a "multiple perspectives" approach which assumes that a variety of approaches, assumptions and methodologies may be employed to explore the many areas associated with organizational change.
Presenters will introduce their exercise, provide the audience with a short, hands-on sampling of it and the method for debriefing it, and will provide more detailed take away notes.
1. Ian Palmer (U. Technology, Sydney) and Richard Dunford (<st1:placename w:st="on">Macquarie</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">U.</st1:placetype>) will present the exercise developed by Professor Jim Clawson, UVA and entitled "Joshua Chamberlain at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Gettysburg</st1:city></st1:place>". This exercise highlights a range of issues that link organizational change to leadership and communication processes. The exercise takes participants back to the American Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg where more than 54,000 Americans died over three days. It focuses on one aspect, the task of Joshua Chamberlain to convince 120 deserters to join with him to go into battle. These deserters were from his 20th <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Maine</st1:state></st1:place> regiment and Chamberlain had orders to either shoot them or take them with him. The deserters are in chains, in hot, dusty conditions, tired, hungry, angry, dispirited and disillusioned with the war. Chamberlain had two minutes to walk over to the group and address them. In class, participants are turned into deserters and different members are called upon to stand in front of the group and address them to see if they will join with him in battle. In debriefing, it is used in particular for demonstrating how better change leadership communication processes seek emotional commitment to change, what this looks like and how it can be "tapped".
2. Susan Adams and Tony Buono (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Bentley</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype></st1:place>) will present an exercise for prioritizing change goals which engages participants in clarifying and understanding the goals of change-related projects, forcing them to fully examine the underlying values and rationale that drive the change and its outcomes. The exercise begins with an identification of a particular organizational change. Small groups then brainstorm a list of specific goals of the change (both positive and negative, in terms of what the group/organization wants to achieve and avoid). Individual group members are then asked to capture their top goals for the change from that list (typically 4-6 maximum). The next step involves individuals or groups systematically discarding these goals, one at a time, sharing their rationale as to why that particular goal had a lower priority than the other(s). After 2-3 rounds, the discussion focuses on the goals that remain, comparing and contrasting decisions and similar/different priorities. Debriefing examines the values underlying the goals, the tradeoffs involved, and why some goals are valued more than others, pushing the participants to better understand exactly what it is they want to achieve.
3. Gary Wagenheim (Simon Fraser U.) will present an exercise that focuses on a fun highly interactive group problem-solving exercise-the innovative maze-to facilitate learning about organizational change. The session facilitator will use the innovative maze to help participants learn the importance of leadership, followership and the mutual support required to innovatively and effectively manage organizational change. Participants will have the opportunity to explore the innovative maze and discuss their learning and classroom application. The learning objectives of the innovative maze are to help participants understand successful organization change requires: making mistakes; systems thinking; leadership and followership; continuous rebalancing of strategies and actions; mutual support; open communication; and braving uncertainties. Each participant will receive a copy of the innovative maze that includes: purpose; set-up; instructions; and alternative uses.
4. Ann Feyerherm (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Pepperdine</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">U.</st1:placetype></st1:place>) will present the exercise entitled "Earthlings". This exercise highlights change issues by exploring emotions, reactions and attributions that people have in dealing with different situations. The exercise can be used to illustrate how one tries to decipher different cultures, assumptions that are made, and resulting conclusions. A few students are chosen to be "consultants" and the remainder of the class "earthlings." The groups are given sets of instructions which set their roles and goals. The "earthlings" are given instructions which set up their "culture". The "consultants" are given instructions to find out if this is a place where the residents have skills, are trainable and are willing to accept development. The dynamics which occur are often predictable with the resultant dynamics giving a rich debrief and learning about cross cultural consulting and the change issues associated with these contexts.
5. Gavin Schwarz (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">New South Wales</st1:placename></st1:place>) will lead all presenters in a discussion of outcomes for organizational change teaching and consulting.
No pre-registration is neccesary to attend the session.
For information on the session contact organizers Gavin Schwarz (g.schwarz@unsw.edu.au), Ian Palmer (i.palmer@uts.edu.au), or Richard Dunford (Richard.Dunford@mgsm.edu.au).