"That Was Great!": More High Impact Exercises For Teaching Or Consulting On Organizational Change 15
A two-hour interactive Academy of Management Annual meeting PDW workshop in Boston, Friday, August 9 8:00am-10:00am
Boston Park Plaza in Terrace
Do you teach, research, or have an interest in organizational change?
For the 15th consecutive year, we offer a PDW to provide a forum for educators, researchers and consultants to showcase high impact methods for teaching organizational change in its many contexts (undergraduate, EMBA, MBA, corporate training, consulting). The workshop covers high impact classic and contemporary exercises that receive very positive responses in change programs. Two key features underpin this workshop:
- The workshop has a "hands-on" approach where participants get to experience, in part, the actual exercise or activity being undertaken.
- The teaching philosophy underpinning the workshop is a "multiple perspectives" approach which assumes that a variety of approaches, assumptions and methodologies may be employed to explore the many areas associated with organizational change.
Presenters will introduce their exercise, provide the audience with a short, hands-on sampling of it and the method for debriefing it, and will provide more detailed take away notes.
- Gary Wagenheim (Simon Fraser U) Gary Wagenheim will present an exercise called The Mechanical Arm Writer, an interactive organizational change activity. This exercise highlights the difficulties inherent in balancing coordinated actions between interdependent participants to accomplish an organizational goal. The session facilitator will use the exercise to help participants learn the importance of developing appropriate support and communication skills for leading members through the change process.
- Jeanie Forray (Western New England University) will present The Communication Challenge, an original interactive team activity based on the children's game, Telephone. The exercise runs in two rounds. At the conclusion of the first challenge round, teams discuss their results and what they should do in the second round to improve their performance. At the conclusion of the second round, the facilitator engages participants in a discussion of the importance and limitations of communication in a change initiative, especially as related to role identity, trust, and commitment to the status quo. The exercise is suitable for all levels of educational engagement.
- John Bennett (Queens University of Charlotte) will present an exercise called In/Out. This exercise has been used to facilitate individuals and groups in their understanding of their relational and task connections to each other and to the group. It can be used with groups of 6 or more. It only requires an open space large enough to form concentric circles. The group is provided basic instructions and asked to position themselves based on how connected they are to the group with gradations being named "In/In" (inner most), "In/Out", "Out/In", and "Out/Out" (the most disconnected). Once participants select their position, a conversation about the choices, perceptions of choices, possibilities for movement, and other relevant topics are facilitated.
- Susan Adams (Bentley U) will present Preparing for Change Exercises, an interactive exploration on preparing materials, the learning environment, and participant receptiveness for change exercises. The focus will be on preparing more than the necessary materials. In particular, the interaction will highlight ways for facilitators to prime participants for engaged involvement that leads to desired learning outcomes.
- Tony Buono (Bentley U.) will present The Change Exercise End Game: Facilitating the Debrief focused on the importance of debriefing change exercises. Emphasis is placed on the reality that, on their own, students and clients often fail to fully reflect on the underlying message from the exercise, missing the opportunity to gain further insight in their learning. This interaction will focus on ways to help exercise participants (1) uncover their immediate learning of the lessons embedded in the experiential activity and (2) process their own developmental learning of how to debrief their own experiences. Focused debriefing will consider the use of different types of questions and how journaling with a focus on these types of questions can further facilitate the learning process.
No pre-registration is neccesary to attend the session.
For information on the session contact Gavin Schwarz (g.schwarz@unsw.edu.au).
Preparing for High Impact Organizational Change (2019)
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Gavin Schwarz
University of New South Wales
Sydney
612 93857278
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