Overview
Discussion Board Forum 8Purpose Using the human immune system concept as an analogy to how organizations respond to change, this assignment puts the student in the leadership role to preemptively evaluate an organization’s resistance to change using survey design.
Parameters You must provide a thread in response to the provided prompt for each forum. This thread will consist of 20 categorized questions and a description of data collection methods. In addition to the thread, you must reply to 1 of your colleague's initial posts. Your reply must be 300-400 words long and substantive in content, adding to the discussion the classmate began in their original thread. Discussion board posts are required to include a scholarly reference. Although no specific writing style is needed, you must apply graduate, professional writing to the conversation.
Prompt
Read the article "Change, Resistance, and the Organizational Immune SystemLinks to an external site." by Gilley, Marisha, and Gilley.
The organizational immune system is a complex network of individuals and procedures that, like the biological immune system, can identify and neutralize perceived threats to the organization.
This system often manifests as resistance to change initiatives, as employees and established processes work to maintain the status quo. Change leaders, however, recognize that this resistance is a natural human response and plan to identify and disarm those resistant individuals, often referred to as "sentinels," who may inhibit the change process.
Successfully leading change involves understanding that organizational change mirrors the biological immune response and preparing to mitigate or remove barriers to change, such as a dysfunctional culture or poor leadership, to ensure that potentially positive changes are not rejected.
A change leader could deploy a survey before a change event to forecast an organization's potential resistance. The data from the survey could generate insights about potential resistance, and the leader could then develop strategies to manage the resistance preemptively.
Assume you are the change leader tasked with creating a survey. Example categorization of questions and example questions are as follows:
History of Change:
- What types of changes has the organization undergone in the past?
- How successful were these change initiatives?
- What were the primary barriers to change encountered in previous initiatives?
Current Culture:
- Does the organization generally embrace or resist change?
- Are there established individuals or groups who are known to resist change?
- Does the organization support risk-taking and innovation or prioritize the status quo?
Individual Perceptions:
- How do employees generally feel about upcoming change initiatives?
- What are the individual fears or concerns associated with change?
- Do employees believe they will be rewarded for adapting to change?
Leadership and Resources:
- Does leadership visibly support and model the desired change?
- Do employees trust management to guide them through the change process?
- Are adequate resources (time, training, finances) allocated to support the change effort?
Create a survey consisting of the following:
- An objective statement
- At least 20 survey questions with corresponding categorizations
- Include the format for each question: Multiple Choice, Likert Scale, or Open-Ended.
- A description of the data collection methods
Replies Prompt
Reply to one fellow learner. Evaluate the survey and provide feedback on the objective statement, the set of questions, and the data collection methods. Provide constructive feedback on how the survey could be improved to collect data to forecast potential resistance to change.