Managing Change

(2.5 Credits)

Contemporary business environments contain challenges that demand an increasing pace, volume, and complexity of organizational changes. Most organizations, whether they are entrepreneurial start-ups or long-established Fortune 500 firms, find that they must change or lose competitive advantage. Additionally, senior executives are increasingly responsible for leading large-scale change efforts. This course is geared toward deepening students’ understanding of the challenges, techniques, and opportunities associated with initiating and implementing major changes in an organization. The objective is to prepare managers and leaders, or their consultants and advisers, to meet the challenges of organizational change successfully. We work through a series of cases and class exercises focused on diagnosing change issues effectively, the perspective of recipients of change, the role of leadership in different change situations, and finally, key elements of sustaining change. The course is applicable across a wide range of industries and career choices.