Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to encourage and support the development of students' Teamwork skills. See 'Message from the Unit Assessor' below.

Task: The Assignment Task involves two distinct but related components:

1. Group Component – 15 marks in total (all students in the group receive the same mark)
2. Individual Component – 15 marks in total (individual students receive their own mark).

See below for full details of the two task components.

Group Component (15 Marks)
In groups of 3, students will develop a Study Guide (SG) for Topic 8 of the unit – 'Leading and Managing Change'. 

The Study Guide is to be structured in the following manner:

1. Introduction to the Topic (300-500 words)
2. Key Concept A
3. Key Concept B
4. Key Concept C 
5. Summary/Conclusion (300-500 words)

A 'Key concept' is a distinct subject or theme that is central to the topic of Leading and Managing Change. Examples include: 'change models/theory' and 'resisting change'. Only three concepts can be covered in the SG so groups are advised to make their selections carefully.

The complete SG will be assessed on a group basis. The marking rubric for this component of the assignment will focus on the Introduction and Summary content, as well as how effectively all sections of the SG are integrated.

Individual Component (15 Marks)

Each Key Concept section of the SG will be developed by an individual team member and it will be assessed on an individual basis. The sections are to contain the following features:

• An introduction to the Key Concept and basic description (approx. 300 words).  Rationale should be provided for why the concept is central to the topic and how it fits with (is linked to) the other two Key Concepts.
• A set of (2-4) learning outcomes (i.e. what will be learnt from studying the Concept learning material).  
• Directions to the learning material that is to be studied. Students are encouraged to use materials from non-traditional sources such as Websites, videos and Open Education Resources. They also have the option to use content from published textbooks, however the same source cannot be used for more than one Key Concept. If printed material is used, a copy is to be provided in the Appendix section of the Report.  
• At least one learning activity that will help to reinforce the stated learning outcome(s).

A 'Reference List' that accurately identifies the learning material and any other published sources referred to in this section of the Guide.

Introduction 

Trends like globalization, digital technologies, automation and e-commerce are constantly changing the market and its contributing factors. Whether or not a specific business organisation is evolving its business operations, the industry continues to change for a more robust, customer-oriented and technology driven organisational processes (Anderson & Anderson, 2010). In the highly competitive business industries of today, change is an inherent requirement to adapt to the changing market trends, satisfy changing customer needs, and make business operations more efficient than ever before. 

The need for change in a business environment is inevitable and rather than take the 'need for change' with a negative attitude, change can also be perceived as an opportunity to refine business processes. In the constantly changing industries of today, organisations often have to make significant changes in the organisational structure ranging across areas like business processes, employee roles, employee behaviour, leadership style, organisational identity, method of reporting, and workflow (Fritzenschaft, 2013). At first glance, changes on such massive scales can appear very challenging and difficult to implement without impacting profitability of the organisation. Successful adoption of a change scenario is a major undertaking and the future of the company largely depends on the success of adopting required change (Cameron & Green, 2015). This is the prime reason why managers often attempt to avoid change and make efforts to keep operations the same. 

Change in any organisation requires proper management and strategic planning most commonly referred to as change management. The process of change management is the managerial approach enabling adoption of change in a way that it ensures change initiative provides expected outcomes (Gibbons, 2015). 

This report takes a detailed look at the model of change management that can be used to gain insights into change management procedures and its need. Resistance to change is one of the most notable issues that causes change initiatives to fail as employees and managers have low morale to adopt change and quality of operations suffer. Lastly, the report evaluates a common methodology that identifies the stages involved in successful change management.

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