Course Syllabus

Impact of Corona (COVID-19) on the course plan

In order to reduce the risk of spreading the Corona virus (COVID-19), all course lectures and the project work will be done remotely, using Zoom. This is in accordance with the recommendations from the Swedish government and the official policy of our department for education during study period 1.

The examination of the course will also be done remotely during the planned slots with help of Canvas and Zoom. 

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the course examiner or the course assistant.

Course-PM

DIT035 Change Management in software development organization lp1 HT20 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Computer Science and Engineering

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Contact details

Examiner:
Agneta Nilsson
Room 456, Jupiter floor 4
Office Phone: 031-7724842
Email: agneta.nilsson@cse.gu.se

Course Assistant:
Hamdy Michael Ayas
Email: ayas@chalmers.se

 

Course purpose

This course focuses on explanatory theories on organizational change and change management. The aim of the course is that students should gain ample understanding of the phenomenon and concept of change and change management from different perspectives. The software industry is a particularly fast environment, at the front edge of competitive and rapidly moving environments, that change towards continuous practices based on agile practices, self-managed teams, and similar efforts. This emphasizes the need for ample understanding of change management on all levels of the organizations. The ability to efficiently and effectively introduce, adopt, manage, and achieve change initiatives needs to be conducted collaboratively in modern software industry. 

 

Schedule

TimeEdit (Länkar till en externa sida.)

Date	Time	Room	Topic	Lecturer
Tuesday 01/09	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/6288032395 Password: 1234 International numbers available: https://chalmers.zoom.us/u/ceHM5hAdXm	Lecture 1 - Introduction, and Change Modes	Agneta Nilson
Tuesday 08/09	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/6288032395 Password: 1234 International numbers available: https://chalmers.zoom.us/u/ceHM5hAdXm	Lecture 2 - Success Factors and Obstacles	Agneta Nilsson
Thursday 10/09	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/7448470254 Meeting ID: 744 847 0254	Supervision 1	Hamdy Michael Ayas
Tuesday 15/09	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/6288032395 Password: 1234 International numbers available: https://chalmers.zoom.us/u/ceHM5hAdXm	Lecture 3 - Planned Change	Agneta Nilsson
Tuesday 22/09	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/6288032395 Password: 1234 International numbers available: https://chalmers.zoom.us/u/ceHM5hAdXm	Lecture 4 - Emergent Change	Agneta Nilsson
Tuesday 29/09	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/6288032395 Password: 1234 International numbers available: https://chalmers.zoom.us/u/ceHM5hAdXm	Lecture 5 - Responses to Change	Agneta Nilsson
Thursday 01/10	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/7448470254 Meeting ID: 744 847 0254	Supervision 2	Hamdy Michael Ayas
Tuesday 06/10	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/6288032395 Password: 1234 International numbers available: https://chalmers.zoom.us/u/ceHM5hAdXm	Lecture 6 - Drift & Control	Agneta Nilsson
Tuesday 13/10	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/7448470254 Meeting ID: 744 847 0254	Guest Lecture	To be announced
Thursday 15/10	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/7448470254 Meeting ID: 744 847 0254	Supervision 3	Hamdy Michael Ayas
Tuesday 20/10	13:15-15:00	Link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/6288032395 Password: 1234 International numbers available: https://chalmers.zoom.us/u/ceHM5hAdXm	Lecture 7 - Double Loop Learning	Agneta Nilsson
Friday 30/10	17:00	Submission to Canvas	Exam / Final report deadline
Thursday 07/01	17:00	Submission to Canvas	Re-exam / Final report deadline
Friday 27/08	17:00	Submission to Canvas	Re-exam / Final report deadline

 

Course literature

Burnes, B. (2004) Kurt Lewin and the planned approach to change: A re-appraisal. Journal of Management Studies, 46(6), 977-1002.

Ciborra, C., Braa, K., Cordella, A., Dahlbom, B., Failla, A., Hanseth, O., Hepsø, V., Ljungberg, J., Monteiro, E. and Simon, K. From Control to Drift. The Dynamics of Corporate Information Infrastructures. Oxford University Press, NY, USA, 2000. Chapter 1-2.

Klein, K. J. and Sorra, J. S. (1996). The Challenge of Innovation Implementation. Academy of Management Review, 21(4), 1055-1080.

Kotter, P. J. (2007). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail.Harvard Business Review, 85(1), 96-103.

Mintzberg, H. and Waters, A. J. (1985) Of Strategies, Deliberate and Emergent. Strategic Management Journal, 6(3), 257-272.

Orlikowski, J.W. and Gash, C.D. (1994) Technological Frames: Making Sense of Information Technology in Organizations. ACM TransactIons on Information Systems, 12(2), 174-207.

Orlikowski, W. J., and Hofman, D. (1997) An improvisational model for change management: The case of groupware technologies. Sloan Management Review, Winter, 38(2), 11-21.

Smith, M. K. (2001) 'Chris Argyris: theories of action, double-loop learning and organizational learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/thinkers/argyris.htm.  Last update: May 29, 2012

Tjørnehøj, G. and Mathiassen, L. (2008) Between control and drift: negotiating improvement in a small software firm, Information Technology & People, 21(1), 69-90.

Van De Ven, A. H. and Poole, M. S. (1995). Explaining development and change in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 510-540.

Weick, K. E. and Quinn, R. E. (1999). Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 361-386.

Weinberg, M. G. (1997) Quality Software Management. Dorset House Publishing: New York. Chapter 2-3.

Plus selected case article(s) available in the folder “Case articles” – at least one.  

 

Course design

During the course, we meet on Tuesdays between 13:15-15:00 for lectures. The lectures introduce and highlight the core of the required reading of the course to help you understand the theories. To make best possible use of these lectures, you are recommended to prepare by reading the assigned articles before each lecture (see reading guidelines for the lectures in the events in the calendar).

Each lecture provides an individual exercise, with the purpose to help you gain appropriate understanding of the theory and how these theories can be used for analytical purposes of organizational change. These exercises will serve as material for the final report and exam of the course. You are free to work with these as you prefer, individually, in pairs or groups. If you have any questions or wish to discuss anything you are welcome to brings this up at available lecture or supervision time. This will allow us to discuss and learn from shared examples how to improve and advance the understanding and academic writing.

In addition, three assignments are required, conducted in groups of 3-4 people. Deadlines for the assignments are marked in the course overview in the introduction. To support further learning and reflections, as well as to support the individual meta-cognitive competencies such as self-reflection and self-evaluation, we apply peer reviewing between groups. Find a fellow group to work together with and exchange your assignments to conduct peer reviewing for each other. Both your own text and the received peer review are requested as hand-ins of the assignments.

From the course participants, a certain amount of intellectual curiosity in theoretical reasoning and reflections of implications is expected. Active participation in discussions and seminars is central for the course. The course literature consists of scientific articles available in the folder "Required Readings" at the learning platform Canvas. All course communication, material, and hand-ins is conducted via the learning platform Canvas.

 

Changes made since the last occasion

A course assistant is involved in the course which will allow some time for supervision for the development of the final reports.

 

Learning objectives and syllabus

Knowledge and understanding

• Define the concept of change based on different dimensions and characteristics.
• Describe essential skills of a change agent.

Skills and abilities

• Demonstrate an understanding of different perspectives of change management.
• Discuss implications of different change management approaches for individuals, groups, and organizations.
• Constructively review and reflect upon the works of others in terms of: suitability and correctness of the interpretation of the content, and clarity, completeness and quality of the presentation.

Judgment and approach

• Apply theories included in the course to analyze and explain selected cases of change processes, and clarify relevant effects on individuals, groups and organizations.
• Synthesize the knowledge and communicate your insights from the accumulated knowledge.
• Communicate your analyses clearly and apply correct referencing technique in a written report.

Link to the syllabus.

 

Examination form

The examination of the course is a mandatory individual report that demonstrates sufficient understanding of the theories presented in the required reading of the course. The report shall have a theory-centric structure based on a synthesis of your own (i.e. not a sequential presentation of the theories following the structure from the lectures),focusing on presenting and explaining key concepts, and demonstrating your understanding by exemplifying how the theories could be applied to explain and describe a concrete situation in a selected case article (or multiple case articles). This is a way to analyze organizational change efforts from different theoretical lenses. In addition, the report shall include relevant reflections on topics presented in the guest lecture (see schedule). The report shall use correct citation and reference technique following the APA style. There are numerous resources online to learn the reference system of APA, see e.g. https://student.unsw.edu.au/apa.

The report shall be maximum 5 pages (excluding the list of references). Be concise and to the point, while still applying full sentences in academic writing style. The individual report must be submitted to Canvas at the latest Friday October 30, 17:00. Re-exam dates are offered Thursday January 07, 2021, 17:00 and Friday August 27, 2021, 17:00.

You are graded individually based on the quality and level of knowledge and learning achievements you demonstrate in your final report related to the specified learning outcomes, with the grades passed with honor(VG), passed (G) or failed (U).

 

Grading criteria

Pass (G): To pass the course, you must include all the articles (i.e. the required reading) in a synthesis in your report that demonstrates correct understanding of the theories by appropriately describing key concepts, and applying these to the cases you have selected (minimum one), and provide relevant reflections on the guest lecture on October 15. This means that a sequential presentation of the theories following the structure from the lectures of the different theories is not sufficient. You need to formulate your own headings that reflect identified common denominators of the theories; this constitutes the required synthesis. The case study should be used to exemplify how the theories could be applied to explain or describe a concrete situation; this demonstrates further your understanding. The report must conform to the specified academic style, including correct citation and reference technique following the APA style.

Fail (U):A student, whose report does not include all the required readings, fails to provide a synthesis in the report, fails to demonstrate correct understanding of the theories in the analyses of cases, fails to provide relevant reflections on the guest lecture, or does not conform to the specified academic style with correct citation and reference techniquefails the course. Note: A sequential presentation of the theories, following the structure from the lectures, not include all the required readings, or incorrect citation and reference techniques will equal a Fail (U) with no further feedback regarding the content in the report, and referral to the re-exam as the next opportunity.

Pass with honour (VG): To pass the course with honour, you must fulfil the requirements for a G, and in addition the report must demonstrate high quality reflections and syntheses of the knowledge involved and demonstrate the use of relevant and correct language, where the totality, structure and layout achieve a high level of quality.

 

Course Evaluation

During the course we will work with formative evaluation, and a summative evaluation at the end of the course. The result of the evaluation is reported to the program manager and a summary is made available to students and teachers.