University: Organisational Change and Development Report Analysis

This report addresses the necessary organisational changes and development within a university context, driven by government funding cuts. It identifies specific areas requiring transformation, including IT infrastructure upgrades, workforce downsizing, enhanced communication protocols, and error reduction. The report establishes clear objectives, such as staff reductions, environmental sustainability improvements, and enhanced student performance. It offers practical suggestions like recruiting subject-specialist teachers, hiring IT personnel, and promoting student creativity. Risks associated with the change process are analyzed, and mitigation strategies are proposed. The report culminates in a detailed action plan outlining the university's goals and the timeline for achieving them, providing a comprehensive framework for navigating the challenges of financial constraints and fostering institutional growth. The report is a student contribution and is available on Desklib, a platform providing AI-based study tools.

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT
Organisational Change and Development
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT
Executive Summary
The report focuses on the change and development that is required in a university in order to
deal with the fund cuts issued by the Government. For the purpose of the report, changes
required in the university are identified individually. These changes involve changing the IT
infrastructure, downsizing work, improve communication, and reduce errors and so on.
Objectives that are needed to be achieved are developed that highlights a long-term goal for
the university. Suggestions such as improving subject-specialist teachers, recruiting IT
personnel, developing light efficient technologies and creativity among the students are
provided in order to improve the condition of the university. Risks identified in implementing
the change process are also highlighted along with it mitigation strategies. For example, in
order to reduce the risk of one teacher conducting different subjects, a subject specialist
teacher can be recruited. The report also provides an action plan that highlights the goal of
the university and the time required to attain it.

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Table of contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Objectives...................................................................................................................................3
Scope and limitation of the report..............................................................................................4
Background information............................................................................................................4
Operative suggestions................................................................................................................6
Risks identified for the operative suggestions...........................................................................9
Action plan...............................................................................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
Recommendation......................................................................................................................12
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Every organisation needs to implement changes in order to develop itself in the
competitive market. These changes are based on the strategic analysis of the external as well
as the internal factors that affect the success of a business. The report focuses on the topic of
change and development required in a university. The reason behind the requirement of
changes in the university is because of the funding cuts imposed by the Government. Apart
from reducing the number of people, improvement areas have also been analysed in order to
meet the objectives and formulate an action plan.
Objectives
The objectives that need to be achieved after the completion of the report include:
 To reduce the number of academic and professional staffs by 10% and 5%
respectively
 To improve the sustainability of the environment by reducing prices of print along
with consumption of water and energy
 To reduce the errors in the records of students and finances and create an open and
transparent culture
 To improve communication between departments and develop oral communication
between peers
 To upgrade the infrastructure of the IT department
 To improve the low attendance and pass rates of the students by submitting creative
work

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Scope and limitation of the report
The scope of the report is to help in analysing the potential impact that may befall the
university if the changes are implemented. The risks that are may occur due to these changes
can be analysed and mitigation actions can be provided to the students.
However, the limitation of the report is the fact that there was less time in conducting
a thorough research about any further changes that were required in the company. The fact
that the research is purely conducted on a secondary analysis basis also proves to be a
disadvantage of the report.
Background information
The university consists of 50 academic and 50 professional staffs that are employed in
order to look after the educational as well as other departments of the university. However,
due to the funding cut by the Government, the need for change is implemented via a cost-
cutting exercise. Certain facilities have been identified in order to improve the infrastructure
as well as reduce the number of employees in the university.
Downsizing was one of the change strategies that were implemented by the
university. The decision to reduce the number of academic staff and professional staffs to 45
and 47 respectively can help in ensuring that extra cost does not have to be paid to people not
involved in proper contribution for the university. This can also help to focus on improving
other facilities in the university.
It is important to maintain the business as well as a natural environment in order to
conduct a sustainable business (Waddell et al. 2013). Conserving the natural resources like
water and energy are essential elements of changes that need to be undertaken by the
university. The cost of printing of brochures, academic curriculum, question papers can be

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reduced in order to preserve the finances of the university and ensure that no harm is done to
the natural resources.
Often it is seen that the minor errors lead to the downfall of a business. The university
needs to reduce errors relating to the records of the employee, students and more importantly
the finances in order to ensure that the university does not incur a loss. The reason for
changing this is because the university cannot afford to provide false information about any
matter that deals with the reputation of the university.
Godemann et al. (2014) stated that lack of communication is always a major concern
for a failure of organisations and its strategies. The university needs to make changes in the
communication so that every department, managers, employees and peers have a proper
interaction with one another. Written, direct as well as oral communication is required to be
maintained in order to establish proper interaction within the university.
In the modern world, Information Technology plays a crucial role in the success of an
organisation (Grant 2014). In the case of universities, the use of IT is required by the students
and teachers to remain updated about the daily events. Hence, the development of a good
internet connection, hardware and photocopy machines need to be maintained so that the
academic staffs, as well as the professional staffs, do not face a problem.
The most important aim of a university is to ensure that the students perform well in
order to set up a good career and increase the reputation of the university. In order for this to
happen, it is necessary that the university maintain the engagement of the students. They need
to be strict about the attendances of the students along with ensuring that students use
creativity and self-understanding for passing the examinations.

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Operative suggestions
Downsizing: According to O'Donnell (2016), downsizing refers to the process in
which organisations reduce the number of employees. This is mainly done in order to
eliminate the employees that do not contribute to the organisational success. This is one way
of maintaining changes in an organisation and increases the profitability. In the case of the
university, this can be effective in conducting changes. The staffs involved need to be aware
of each subject that is taught in the university in order to remain versatile. In this regard, the
case of downsizing at Tata Steel can be considered. In 2007, the company reduced the
number of employees from 77,448 to 39,658. This provides evidence that the company seeks
to increase productivity through professional treatment of the people. Georgalis et al. (2015)
stated that downsizing can have a mixed effect on the performance of an organisation. It
forces re-thinking the strategies that are adopted by the employees and the organisation. The
university has to rethink the aims and objectives and recruit people capable of teaching more
than one subject.
Environmental sustainability: One of the most important factors that every
organisation needs to be keeping in mind is the fact that it needs to maintain sustainability in
the environment (Lozano, Ceulemans and Seatter 2015). In the case of the university, this can
be done by reducing the excess consumption of water and energy. The manner in which these
are used particularly during class times needs to change as it brings about a great degree of
cost as well. The cost of printing brochures and other informative staffs of the university need
to be cut down in order to maintain the revenue of the university. Maintaining environmental
sustainability is an important Corporate Social Responsible for the university. This can help it
to attract more students for enrolment. A case study relating to the maintenance of
environmental sustainability can be provided after analysing the reduction of carbon footprint
by Coca-Cola. The company started using an energy efficient lighting system that wastes

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only 50% of the energy. This is a big step in the preservation of natural resources that are of
scarce in the world (Howard 2017). Thus, the university also needs to implement such tactics
in order to protect the environment.
Errors in databases: Errors in an organisation can lead to a negative impact as it may
lead to loss of jobs, finance and poor planning of strategies. Hence, as stated by Udal (2016)
it is needed that every organisation ensures that errors are reduced particularly in the case of
maintaining records. In the case of the university, it is seen that the changes are required to
reduce errors in the financial records, employee records as well as the student records. A case
study can be related that helps in providing an understanding of the impact of error in data
recording. In General Hospital Minna, poor record keeping about the health of patients led to
the wrong diagnosis. This resulted in the loss of lives as well as the reputation of the hospital.
Thus, the university needs to ensure that the errors are reduced in order to maintain its
reputation. Maintaining records based on finance and employees can help the university to
assess its capabilities and based on it they can make future propositions. Proper records of the
students can also help the university display the quality of education provided by the
university. Hence, in order to reduce this type of error, the university need people that are
good at bookkeeping and technically advanced personnel that can maintain the accuracy of
data using technical methods.
Communication: Maintaining communication between each department is essential
in order to ensure that vital information is transferred without any problem (Weick and Quinn
2016). One of the reasons behind the failure of organisations is the lack of communication
within the sector. In this regard, it can be said that the university also needs to improve the
level of communication between various departments of the university. Students need to
communicate with the concerned teachers regarding the need for changes in the university.
As stated by Pettigrew, Woodman and Cameron (2011) failure of communication can lead to

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disastrous results as seen in the case of Toyota. The Camry model of Toyota faced many call-
backs due to stuck floor mats. This was attributed to an electrical problem but was also
reprimanded as a failure of communication. Toyota did not have enough communication
approaches to engage in customer interaction. Hence, the company received setbacks that led
to the loss of the company. Hence, the university needs to ensure that it maintains
communication between different departments so that failure of information regarding
examination time or any other important university-related information like holidays are not
withheld from the students. In this regard, written as well as oral communication needs to be
maintained between the people engaged with the university.
IT infrastructure: In the modern day, technology is important in order to achieve
success in a workplace (Morrison and Milliken 2010). The over-dependence of technology is
mainly due to the fact that it helps in reducing the amount of work and provide accuracy. The
goal of the university is to ensure that the ICT hardware is updated. Both the students as well
as the teachers require the use of internet in order to teach and gather information about the
subject matter. Hence, a fast internet connection is also required in order to ensure that
research via the internet is carried on without difficulty. The university also needs to improve
the photocopy machine in order to provide assistance to the students based on the
assignments of the students. The impact of a failure of IT infrastructure in the modern world
can be attributed by the fact that Iridium a global satellite phone selling company failed to
execute the concept of wireless phones (Poole and Van de Ven 2014). This led to a huge loss
for the company as 66 satellites were used to emit transmission for the functioning of the
phones. Hence, the university needs to ensure that technical expertise people with an IT
background are recruited and given the responsibility of maintaining these infrastructures.
Student involvement: The most important purpose of a university is to ensure that
students are involved in improving the reputation. Hence, it is needed that every student

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maintains the disciplinary rules that are set up at the university. This includes attending the
classes regularly and ensuring that the assignments submitted by them are creative and does
not involve any plagiarised contents (Beckhard 2010). The university also needs to maintain
these rules in order to gain reputation in the market. Universities such as Oxford University
provide for strict actions against the students that disobey the rules. They even encourage
creativity among the students instead of focusing on techniques that are provided in the
books. Hence, it can be said that this university also needs to encourage such actions in order
to maintain a proper attendance of students. It is also needed that students are allowed to
participate in a question-answer session with the teachers in order to improve knowledge.
However, the change in the techniques may also have certain risks involved as it goes against
the culture of the university.
Risks identified for the operative suggestions
Downsizing: Recruiting of multi-talented employees can help the university to use
one teacher for different subjects. The risk involved in this involves the fact that the teacher
cannot focus on one particular topic. They have to focus on multiple topics that might provide
negativity among the students. In order to mitigate this, it is necessary that the university
recruits teachers based on the subject they teach. Hence, only one teacher can be assigned to
one subject. The alternate strategy for this includes reducing the number of courses offered in
the university.
Environmental sustainability: The risk in maintaining the energy-efficiency lightning
system is that during a class or examination there may be power cuts. This can be attributed
to the weather as a cloudy weather does not provide the source of power required for
lightning up a place (Anderson 2016). This can be mitigated by using solar panels in order to
trap and store the sunrays and use it during such emergencies. However, in the case of failure

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of this strategy, an alternate strategy can be developed that involves creating awareness and
strict policies regarding switching off electricity and using unnecessary water.
Errors in databases: The need for technically advanced personnel can lead to the
over-dependence on them by other employees. The risk involved in this is in the case of
absenteeism of the technical expertise, the university will have to depend upon the traditional
approach of bookkeeping. This can be difficult as the computers may contain the latest
information about the records of the university. In order to mitigate this, it is necessary that
the university needs to reduce the over-dependence on technical personnel by keeping records
outside the computer database. Record log books can be maintained for such temporary
glitches that may occur at the university. However, an alternative strategy involves providing
basic training to the non-technical employees on the way to update information in the system
during the absence of the technical people.
Communication: Maintaining oral and written communication can result in risks of
frequent mailing to the employers about insignificant events (Benn, Dunphy and Griffiths
2014). This may involve small misunderstanding with peers or minor problems in results. In
order to mitigate this, it is necessary that the communication structure follow a hierarchical
movement. This involves that any grievance needs to be circulated from the class teachers
and then to the head of the university in a systematic manner. In the case of failure of this
strategy, it is important that the university develop a lateral movement of a communication
system.
IT infrastructure: Similar to the recruitment of technical personnel, the recruitment
of IT specialists can also result in over-dependence of the people. This can again cause risk
factors as the technical expertise cannot be taught in an easy manner. Hence, mitigation of
this risk would require the university to maintain technology that can be easily accessed by

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other personnel (Aarons et al. 2015). This may have a negative effect on the competing
universities may gain a competitive advantage in the market. Hence, failure of this strategy
can result in the recruitment of more trained employees that are capable of enhancing the skill
sets of the other members of the university.
Student involvement: The risk involved in encouraging frequent creative sense
among the students is that they focus may be completely taken away from the academic
courses. This is a huge risk factor as the students need to gain knowledge about the things
that are essential for gaining a good job. This can be mitigated by providing a schedule that
provides time for both creative as well as academic learning. This can help to maintain the
balance of education in the university. In this regard, it can be said that an alternative course
of action can be developed by providing students with an opportunity to provide proposals
based on the condition of the university.
Action plan
According to Pasmore and Woodman (2017), action plans are required in order to
access the actions that are required in order to mitigate the overall risks that exist in an
organisation. Strategies required implementing and the people responsible for implementing
this action are stated. The timeline requires for developing the plan is also stated that provides
a clear understanding of the problems in the university.
Action
area
Strategy
to
implement
Task Person
responsible
Resources
needed
Measurement Timeline
Encourage
the
students
This can be
done by
providing
Install
plagiarism
detectors
Dean of the
university
Trained
employees
and
Access
performance
by conducting
In about
6 months

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to study in
an ethical
way to the
university
benchmark
based on
the
strategies
of other
reputed
universities
and
recruit
subject-
specific
experts
upgraded
technology
examinations
Table: Action plan
(Source: Created by author)
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that having analysed the possible changes and the risks
involved in the implementation of these changes, it can be said that the university can prevent
loss even with the fund cuts from the Government. The objectives set by the university are
gettable as it involves proper analysis of the present condition of the university. In order to
ensure that the risks are mitigated in timely manner recommendations can be suggested that
can help the university to attain its objectives within the target time.
Recommendation
After the analysis of the changes that need to be made along with the risks involved, it
can be said that the university needs to ensure that the students get the desired education. The
university needs to encourage students to be creative and identify the main cause of the
problems in the university. Based on the analysis of the students a proposal can be made by
the students suggesting the changes that they require in the university. This needs to be a

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learning curve for the students to get motivated about attending the university and work hard
in order to obtain more than the pass marks.

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