Objectives
This assessment task relates to course learning outcomes numbers 1 to 3.
Before starting this assessment read the marking criteria (below) and information about academic
essay writing on the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) website:
http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1497 (Click ‘Academic Communication’)
Purpose
The primary purpose of this assessment item is to help students develop skills in critical thinking in
the analysis of change failure in the organisational context.
The secondary purpose of this assessment task is to give students the opportunity to enhance their
analysis, critical thinking and written communication skills; particularly in the areas of developing
argument and essay writing.
Description
Assessment task 1 requires the writing of an academic essay. This essay should be an ‘argumentative
essay’, and must therefore contain an argument that is used as the structuring element of the paper.
Students are expected to engage in extensive research within the academic literature relating to
organisational change and evidence your argument from scholarly sources.
Details
IBM, in Making change work (Jorgensen, Owen & Neus, 2013 cited in Gibbons, 2015), found
enormous variation in change success between organisations that know what they are doing and
those that stumble around.
The IBM survey identified a cohort of “Change Master” companies, who claimed an 80
percent success rate for change (almost double the average in the survey) and much better
than “Change Novices” who managed a miserable 8 percent success rate.
You are to explore why change efforts fail in organisations and provide evidence from the literature
including theories and models to support your argument. Identify and analyse the nature of change
failures and the key causes. It would enhance your discussion to use organisational examples to
further evidence your claims.
Additional Information
Your essay should be a properly constructed academic essay. It should contain an effective
introduction, body and conclusion. The introduction should introduce the essay and include your
argument. The body should present the evidence you have collected to support your argument, and
the conclusion should restate your argument, summarise the evidence and make a conclusion
regarding your argument.
The essay should contain a coherent, but necessarily restricted review of the academic literature on
organisational change and change failure. The literature review should be integrated into the essay,
not a separate section. DO NOT use headings or include an abstract. A reference list is compulsory
(refer to your selected Referencing Protocol). Do not include a bibliography. This assessment item
involves researching your assigned topic to enhance your understanding of organisational change
concepts and utilisation of academic literature. The prescribed textbook for the course must be cited
in relation to change management principles. You will be expected to present information and
evidence from, and cite relevant academic peer reviewed journals. You must undertake research
more broadly than articles posted on Moodle. The minimum to pass this criterion is EIGHT (8)
scholarly references, which must include the prescribed textbook plus SEVEN (7) relevant academic
peer reviewed journals. The quality and number of citations will demonstrate the breadth and depth
of the literature used to formulate your argument. Your marker is interested in the analysis that you
have developed from YOUR review of the literature and how well you use the literature to respond
to the topic.
