An essential part of any change project is how the change is communicated to the organization, the change agents, the line workers, the customers, and the

An essential part of any change project is how the change is communicated to the organization, the change agents, the line workers, the customers, and the public. Along with media relations issues, communicating change (especially in a publicly traded company) can involve multiple legal and regulatory aspects as well as personnel and management concerns. Perhaps the most challenging part of handling Kotter’s “establish a sense of urgency” is that too many inexperienced or immature change agents read this to mean “panic the troops.” Never do this!

Here's what to do:

1. Write an analysis of the communication your company used to communicate the organizational change.
   • Research and analyze any media, news, or other communications that provide details on the change that occurred in the organization.
   • Explain how the change was communicated to its stakeholders and the information shared in the communication you researched.
   • Discuss whether the communication effectively addressed the change to its intended audience (refer to the Chapter 7 reading).
2. Create an original communication sample your organization could have distributed related to the change. Do not re-create a communication previously used by an organization.
   • Write the communication in a Word document (either the text or the script if the communication would have been oral). You may select to complete an interoffice memo, press release, employee or customer newsletter, or a corporate email update.
   • Use your creativity to communicate the message. The form of communication you use should be based on the appropriateness of the message. You will be graded on how well your communication relates to the audience and stakeholder group to which it is intended. 

Grading Rubric

CategoryDescriptionPointsDocumentation and FormattingThe paper is properly referenced according to APA guidelines with at least four references that are properly cited, including in-text citations.5AnalysisThe paper analyzes the actual communication plan as seen from the public eye.60Communication SampleA sample communication piece for the organization is provided and uses resources from the course.31HRM Outcome C

Assess the culture and workplace environment and propose and make HR decisions that align with and help achieve an organization’s strategic goals.4Total PointsA quality paper will meet or exceed all of the previous requirements. 

Topic Selection

Select an organization that has experienced a substantial change in the past 5 years. Find the company and the change information online using EBSCO or another appropriate resource in the DeVry Library. Other ways to find information include utilizing Google, Yahoo Finance, or Reuters and looking up annual reports of companies that interest you. Often, reading the first sections of these reports (i.e., letters from CEOs) will give you ideas about changes they have gone through in the past year(s).

You will need to ensure the following:

1. Your organization is publicly traded so that information will be easy to research and find.
2. The changes happened recently, so you will find sufficient online information about how they were handled.

Here are some research examples. These are simply illustrative. You can research and find several companies and topics of change that could work for this Course Project, and you are encouraged to do so. Please ask your professor for assistance if you have questions or need more ideas

• Review an organization impacted by the pandemic. Furthermore, you can discuss how they handled these pressures (using a specific image of change management) and how a leader with a different image might have handled it differently.
• Organizations have needed help selecting a new chief executive officer (CEO) for their company. Review the company's CEO history and write a paper comparing the pressures (internal or external) and how they impacted the company's overall productivity.
• Review a company entering the airline industry, its entrance into (and possibly its completion of) bankruptcy, and how it handled the changes through management.
• Review a company that has recently been through mergers and acquisitions and how they handled the culture changes.
• Review a company that has had industry changes, how they have reacted to those changes, either successfully or unsuccessfully, and how their reactions perhaps resulted in their success or failure.

Paper Formatting (Use current APA formatting)

• Use a title page.
• Font: 11- or 12-point Times New Roman.
• Running Head is not required.
• The paper is to be double-spaced with one-inch margins.
• Each section of your paper should have headings (per the sections you are developing) that will guide the reader.
• Indent paragraphs.
• Insert page numbers at the top right.
• Use current APA for the in-text citations throughout the paper. If you need to become more familiar with APA formatting, refer to the Library and tutoring for assistance.
• Include a separate reference page at the end of the paper. All references per APA are to be in alphabetical order.
• Save your paper in the following format: Your last name, the initials of your first company discussed in the case study and the week of the deliverable.