Managing Organisational Change

Key information

Year of study
2022/23
Duration
10 weeks
Module code
M406
Credits
30
Department
Centre for Financial and Management Studies

Module overview

The public sector has witnessed substantial change in recent years, and change looks set to continue. Such changes began about two decades ago and were marked by a desire to privatise and ‘roll back’ the public sector. Although these processes are continuing on a global scale, more recent changes have focused on improving the capabilities of the public sector, often in terms of capacity building, or institutional or sectoral development. This in turn has led to significant changes for individual public sector organisations. Many of these changes or reform programmes have recast public sector organisations as being smaller and decentralised, often with a short lifespan, and being opened up to ‘market forces’. Of course, many large-scale bureaucracies remain; but even here change is occurring.

At the same time, new managerial processes associated, for example, with human resource management or management information systems have been introduced. Whether managers in the public sector approve or not of the underlying factors that have brought about such change, or of the specific organisational changes introduced, nonetheless they are responsible for dealing with these changes at an organisational level. This module is about how managers understand and implement organisational change, thereby helping them to fulfil their responsibilities.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • describe and assess the relationship between an organisation and its environment, and apply these concepts to public sector organisations in general and to your own organisation in particular
  • distinguish different levels of, and approaches to, organisational change both generally and with special reference to public sector organisations
  • discuss what is meant by organisational culture, power, politics, leadership and learning, and apply them to analysing the dynamics of public sector organisations in general, and to your own organisation in particular
  • identify how issues of structure, culture, power, politics, leadership and learning can be used to understand and manage change in public sector organisations
  • apply different techniques of managing change to processes of change in your own organisation
  • handle, communicate and apply with confidence the analytical framework of organisational change management.

Tuition and assessment

Students are individually assigned an academic tutor for the duration of the module, with whom you can discuss academic queries at regular intervals during the study session.

You are required to complete two Assignments for this module, which will be marked by your tutor. Assignments are each worth 15% of your total mark. You will be expected to submit your first assignment by the Tuesday of Week 6, and the second assignment at the end of the module, on the Tuesday after Week 10. Assignments are submitted and feedback given online. In addition, queries and problems can be answered through the Virtual Learning Environment.

You will also sit a three-hour examination on a specified date in September/October, worth 70% of your total mark. An up-to-date timetable of examinations is published on the website in July each year.

Study resources

  • Study guide: The module study guide is carefully structured to provide the main teaching, defining and exploring the main concepts and issues, locating these within current debate and introducing and linking the assigned readings.
  • Key texts: Senior B, S Swailes & C Carnall (2020) Organisational Change. 6th Edition. Pearson.
  • Readings: Throughout the module you will be directed to study a selection of readings, including journal articles, book extracts and case studies that are of particular relevance and interest to the topics covered in the module.
  • Virtual learning environment: You will have access to the VLE, a web-accessed study centre. Via the VLE, you can communicate with your assigned academic tutor, administrators and other students on the module using discussion forums. The VLE also provides access to the module Study Guide and assignments, as well as a selection of electronic journals available on the University of London Online Library.

Study calendar 2022/23

Module S1
25/10/22
15/01/23
S2
24/01/23
02/04/23
S3
21/04/23
18/06/23
S4
20/06/23
27/08/23
Managing Organisational Change (M406)  Running Not running Running Not running

Study calendars are subject to change.

Module overview

Unit 1 Organisations and Environments

  • 1.1 Introduction: Organisational Change
  • 1.2 Developing Country Organisations
  • 1.3 The Systems View of Organisations
  • 1.4 The Importance of the Environment
  • 1.5 Environmental Pressures for Change
  • 1.6 Conclusion

Unit 2 Organisational Change

  • 2.1 Introduction: The Nature of Change
  • 2.2 Typologies of Change in the Public Sector: Case Study
  • 2.3 Planned and Emergent Change
  • 2.4 The Standard Model of Change Management
  • 2.5 An Alternative to the Standard Model?
  • 2.6 Conclusion

Unit 3 Organisational Structure and Change

  • 3.1 Introduction: Defining Organisational Structure
  • 3.2 Forms of Organisational Structure
  • 3.3 What Shapes Structure
  • 3.4 Managing Structural Change
  • 3.5 Conclusion

Unit 4 Organisational Culture and Change

  • 4.1 Introduction: What is Organisational Culture and Why Does it Matter?
  • 4.2 Analysing Organisational Culture
  • 4.3 Sources of Organisational Culture: the Influence of National Culture
  • 4.4 Managing Organisational Culture and Change
  • 4.5 Conclusion

Unit 5 Power, Politics and Change

  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 Power, Politics and Conflict in Organisations
  • 5.3 Power in Organisations
  • 5.4 Conflict in Organisations
  • 5.5 Power, Politics and Conflict in Managing Organisational Change
  • 5.6 Conclusion

Unit 6 Leadership and Organisational Change

  • 6.1 Introduction
  • 6.2 What is Leadership?
  • 6.3 Approaches to Leadership
  • 6.4 Leadership and Culture
  • 6.5 Leadership and Change
  • 6.6 Conclusion

Unit 7 Learning and Organisational Change

  • 7.1 Introduction
  • 7.2 Processes of Change in Pubic Organisations: Key Developments
  • 7.3 Organisational Learning and the Learning Organisation
  • 7.4 Learning from Other Organisations
  • 7.5 Conclusion

Unit 8 Strategies for Change

  • 8.1 Introduction
  • 8.2 Organisational Diagnosis
  • 8.3 Organisation Development
  • 8.4 Ethics and Organisational Change
  • 8.5 Conclusion

Module samples

Disclaimer

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules