Introductions, orientations and expectations

Tuesday, January 8:  Learn to use WebCT

Thursday, January 10: 
Discuss your experiences of change, the class objectives and methods for measuring their achievement.

1.  Master the basics of WebCT: 

• access your syllabus, course objectives, grading policy, assignments, and grades.
• post a message and an attachment on the bulletin board.
• send a message and an attachment through private mail.  

2.  If you are having any difficulty with WebCT

• consult with the class tutor, John Burroughs.  Make an appointment by calling 3762 or by emailing him at jburrou@siue.edu.
• consult WebCT help screens at http://workbench.webct.com/web-ct/help/en/student/student_index.html  

3.  If you haven't completed this task in class, post the following information on the bulletin board under the topic "Inventory of Organizational Experiences." 

• List the organizations that you have worked for?  
• Describe in detail any organizational change initiatives in which you have been  involved.
• List one to three major corporations that you would like to study this semester. (It is hoped that this information will be helpful in forming research teams.) 

4.  If you have not completed this task in class, go to the home page and select the bulletin board.  Then select the "Internet Readiness Survey" and answer all of the questions.  This will measure the class's level of Internet skills and also identify individuals  who may need some tutoring on the use of the Internet.

5.  Formal Assignment # 1:  complete tasks 3 and 4 above.  Score = 10 points.

Tuesday, January 15: 
Figure out if you are a change insurgent or a change resistor.

1.  Read Robert Reich's article "Your Job is Change" at Fast Company.  Its location is:  http://www.fastcompany.com/online/39/jobischange.html  

2.  Be prepared to answer the following questions in class.  (You should always be prepared for a written quiz on every reading assignment.)

• (According to Reich) why does the current corporate environment require the skills of the change insurgent?
• (According to Reich) what is the mandate and mindset of the change insurgent?
• Which of the ten rules of the change insurgent do you agree with?  Why?
• Which of the ten rules make you feel uncomfortable or raise questions?  Why?
• How fast is the environment of your work organization changing?
• How would your work organization respond to a change insurgent as described by Reich?
• How would your coworkers respond to a change insurgent? 
• What role do you play in your work environment?  change insurgent resistor, or what?

Thursday, January 17: 
Form into teams and evaluate your previous team experiences.

1.  Learn more about your colleagues by reading their postings under the topic "Inventory of Organizational Experiences."  Search out colleagues interested in studying the same type of corporation and invite them to join your research team.  Teams should range in size from four to six.

2.  I will create for each team a private forum on the bulletin board and a chat room.  I expect you to form virtual teams and heavily use these communication tools.  With private forums, you can communicate, coordinate collaborate with your team members without being restricted by the barriers of time and place.  With a chat room, you can communicate as a group (many to many) without being in the same place.  Both communication tools leave a written record of the the process and product of your work.  I will use these written records as a measure of your success as a virtual team.  Learning how to effectively use these tools is an integral part of this class in managing organization change.

3.  Each team needs to complete the following tasks:

• choose a leader who will be skilled at performing the following functions:
  • convenes the group in physical and electronic meetings.
  • encourages participation from every member of the group in every group task.
  • equitably assigns responsibilities to everyone in the group.
  • prevents one or two persons from assuming all of the group's work.
  • creates a spirit of collaboration.
  • facilitates a sharing of ideas so that individuals may learn from each other.
• pick a name for the team that captures the spirit your  team members and is related to the corporation that you will research.
• check to make sure everyone on the team knows how to use the team's private forum, the team's designated chat room and WebCT's private e-mail system. 
• exchange telephone numbers, times available for meeting online or in person.
• e-mail the instructor the name of your team, the names of the team members and the name of the team's  leader.
• choose the corporation that your team will analyze over the course of the semester and the reasons behind your choice.

4.  Begin searching for information on the Internet to see what information you can find on some of the major corporations that you might consider choosing as your topic for the semester.  Look for books, articles and electronic resources on the evolution of specific corporations over time and their change initiatives.  The most valuable information will be on specific projects, their leadership, the guiding vision, their implementation and their relative success or failure.  See the document Guidelines for Team Projects.  

5. Search Strategies for Management 451 provides links to major online news resources, business magazines, trade journals, sources for company profiles and corporate watch dog groups.  Use these links are starting points in your search for information of corporation history.

6.  Formal Assignment # 2, e-mail the instructor the team's name, the names of the team members, the team's leader, the corporation that will be the focus of your team's projects.  Also explain why your team has chosen this particular corporation.  Score = 10 points.

last revised by dhostet@siue.edu, December 11,2001