Change Management
Change Management explores how we lead teams of people in organisations undergoing change. Change is all around us. We traditionally tackle it using project or programme management methods such as PRINCE2 or MSP. These methods help us organise the mechanics of change: strategies, plans, schedules and reports. Nevertheless we also need to consider the human side of change. Organisational sociology helps us make sense of how people respond to change at the individual, local and organisational levels. With understanding comes an ability to cope with, lead and manage change
What is Change Management?
Unlike many of the methods offered by AFA, Change Management is not an approach sponsored by the Cabinet Office but it is a comprehensive set of models, tools and techniques that will allow you to come to terms with Change Management. Nevertheless, you are likely to be familiar with the format of the examinations from APMG that you will sit. The ideas assembled in Making Sense of Change Management, our study textbook, come from a diverse even conflicting range of sources. You will already be familiar with some of the metaphors on offer. But others will challenge your thinking about yourself, your organisation and how change happens.
The Course Structure
The structure we use looks at: Individual Change We consider how individuals react to change - grouping a wide diversity of ideas into behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic and humanistic approaches. At each step along the way we explain the underlying ideas, strip away the complex jargon and allow you to consider which ideas have resonance for you. Team Change The course thinks about teams in terms of the different types of people in a team and the different roles of teams during change. We build and experiment with powerful tools for assessing the lifecycle and effectiveness of teams. Organisational Change Your organisation has a culture. It can be described and will describe itself in terms of metaphors. We look at familiar descriptions such as the machine and political metaphors. Then we go on to challenge you with possibly new and unfamiliar ideas around the organisation as an organism or the organisation in flux and transformation. Leading Change As your build your own model of how change happens around you, you will be ready to look at a wide range of leadership styles. This will equip you to understand how others are leading change and how you can contribute and also lead change.
Benefits of Change Management
Studying Change Management will:
- Help you understand how you react to change
- Allow you to assist those around you as they go through change
- Make you think about your team and its effectiveness in a different light
- Give you powerful insight into how your organisation functions and reacts during change
- Equip you to lead more effectively and sympathetically
"Many thanks for your hospitality and training, I enjoyed myself and found both the MSP training and wider conversations very helpful"
- DT, MSP
"Can you pass on our thanks to the trainer, as he didn't teach us just to pass the exam, he taught us how to use it"
- MM, PRINCE2
"I had a very good trainer who knows his stuff. He was very good at examples and analogies, makes the course specific"
- SJW, MSP
"My course was very clear, the trainer approachable and there was a good mix of teaching points and examples"
- DW, PRINCE2
"I thought my course was very good with good examples and experience beyond the course notes"
- KC, MSP
"This Benefits Management course is very useful with easy to understand diagrams and slides"
- GB, Benefits Management
