External pressures often challenge organizations to make difficult changes. Skilled change managers can help leadership develop creative solutions when they understand the variety of internal and external pressures that commonly cause change. Change management approaches, such as the action research approach, (see test) can help ensure all stakeholder’s needs are considered, which will improve the likelihood of them getting on board with the changes.
Review the following case study:
Case Analysis: The Sunderland City Story
Imagine you are in a managerial role in a company experiencing a similar situation as Sunderland. Funding is to be cut due to the recent recession, and leadership would like to go with an OD approach. Analyze the situation at Sunderland through the OD lens to provide insight to company leadership about upcoming change management decisions they will need to make soon.
Write a 525- to 700-word paper using a minimum of 2 outside scholarly sources – and at least one use of our chapters in which you:
Identify the anticipated environmental pressures (internal and external) on the organization that required changes to its current strategic and operational plans.
Describe how the 8-step OD Practitioner action research approach may have been used to understand and address the concerns of these managers. Focus on 2-3 key steps where these managers should have played a greater role.