Change Management Assignment: Organizational Change Amaroo School

Question

Requirements: The word limits are just a guide to assist you plan and should not be divided into sections.

1. Identify an area of concern/concerns that require change in your organisation in the next 12 months. Identify reasons for the change. This should be an ‘actual’ example – do not select a change that has already been implemented or which you do not realistically intend to implement. Ensure that you provide enough detail about the setting, issues, the people involved and the intended change initiative for the reader to fully understand the change and change process being described (approx. 1200 words);

2. Design your implementation plan. This could take the form of a table, and/or diagram – use the format that you consider most clearly presents your proposed implementation (max. 500 words or 2 pages of plan documents);

3. Using the literature base that you have covered in this course (and any other relevant readings that you have located), explain the theory or theories that underpin(s) your approach to change management as a whole for the reader to fully understand the change and change process being described explain and justify your choice of specific implementation actions and strategies. (1800 words)

Comprehensive use of relevant literature is expected throughout your work. The word limit excludes references.

Answer

Use of technology in the education change management
This change management assignment outlines how technology are being adopted in education and changing learning stratogies. Teachers are using the technology to make their system of teaching to make it more creative and more engaging, more innovative and enjoyable. The location of the Amaroo School is Gungahlin region and biggest ACT public school. The enrollment of the students is growing every year in a large number of scales. The profile of the students of Amaroo school are representing multicultural background and highly diverse. Due to the excess number of students school need to use the technology to manage and control the system of enrollment of school. The school need to do some proper change is a system, faculty development and the process of online learning on the basis of requirements.

Description of change management
The effective role of the use of technology, in a school which is based on the settings of traditional, is to simplify through increased effectiveness and efficiency, the education of skills and knowledge. Ball & Ladel & Siller (2018) commented that, in order to completely examine this theory, they must explain several terms. With the use of technology in a school, the teachers and students both are able to learn based on different perspectives, the growing knowledge of the teachers through the use of technology is creating a big impact on developed learning of the students. Technology can help in the achievement of education through two methods which are primary; the dismissal of barriers based on physical to learning and the focus's transition from the bearing of knowledge to its using methods. Before the internet age and the invention of the distance learning, fascinating in a community of learning, like school or workplace network, needed a thick degree of physical approach amongst the members of the community. Every organization of school is ambitious for their learners to provide the students with the most powerful ways to support and learn with full the uniqueness of 21st century. Students are also having benefits through the use of technology, in contrast with their teacher, the students who are focused on the development which is professionally associated to their job regarding performance, students are once and again learning new variable contents and that contents are hourly removed from everyday life. The quality of the teacher is the main asset for any educational system. The quality of high rate of teaching and learning has a correlation which is direct to greater quality outcomes. There are a large number of positive aspects of changes displayed in the latterly launched supplementary conduct for an experiment for schools that places the importance of the use of technology.

Discussion of the concepts of change management

The improvement of school and success of the students are continuous difficulties which every school and countries and districts are facing in terms of achieve good reputation.

Improvement of the educational system of the school and developing the process of learning and teaching require change. In the viewpoint of Spector et al. (2014), the process of change includes the adoption, acceptance and institutionalization of change by each individual, the organization of the school and the local community of the school. It is not easy to change the whole management system of the school. The significant change needs those insiders and outsiders both who are associated with the school. The conditions of learning and working with staffs, students and teachers must change. Change of the management is a process, not an event and in addition, the technology which is based on internet allows the teachers to grow their own knowledge of teaching.

As an example, science teachers are using wiki or delivery system of content to network and sharing and spreading the information with other schools and teachers both within their local district of school and beyond district school. In the present scenario, students are living in a technology based world. A large number of students are using technology on a daily basis including social networking, web surfing and texting. Students found all these types of technologies are very useful and very enjoyable for their daily student life.

Change in education
The impact of the use of digital-based technology in schools is playing a big role in the prosperity of student’s attention and more in a wide range the academic achievement based on digital technology. The raising variety of digital-based technology on learning in a consistent way identifies the benefits which are positives. For the change of education in the system there are some several points need to be followed below:

• The collaboration of the use of technology is more working than any individual use
• Technology is as potent as brief but focused intervention to grow to learn
• Tutorial and remedial use of technology
• In attainments tested gains tend to be a greater point in science and mathematics

In the present scenario, technology is a powerful tool for transformed learning. It can help to build and advance the relationship between the students and educators, reproduce the approaches to learning and collaborating and gain learning experiences to conference the needs of the all-new learners. Ally & Prieto-Blázquez (2014) stated that the plan of national education technology sets a wide national vision and design for learning qualify by the use of technology through constructing on the work of head education, school, district and leaders of higher education, developers, classroom teachers and nonprofit organization.

Area and overview of the education change management
Technology has some positive impacts on the process of student learning. With the use of technology, the school authority is controlling the process of enrollment and collecting and giving the pieces of information about the students and teachers with an ease.

Sánchez & Cortijo & Javed (2014) opined that, with the direct application of technology on an educational system such as an authority of the school, both the teachers and students can be observed as students. The use of technology in the educational system of Amaroo School is helping the members of school authority to maintain the way of exams, admission process, and information related to the students. The students before applying for the admission they can easily get the information about the school, the members of the authority, their faculties and their process of learning, syllabus and all the information through the official website of the school provided by the school authority. The teachers and the parents of the students are communicating on the basis of technology. Schools are providing their information related to student’s performance and their attendance their activities in school and their performance in the class their behavior and all other details about the students to their parents. The main concern of the school which is a huge number of enrollments which is increasing every year, with the use of technological process of enrollment, the Amaroo School can handle such numbers of students easily in a format and the school will not face any hazards in this system with such of the topics which are mentioned above.

Current content
In this 21st century, the world is growing fast in various sectors. The numbers of the students all over the country and world are rising every year in a great manner and to maintain the huge number of students in a systematic way they need to implement new ways. The enrollment of students of Amaroo School is rising every year, because of the numbers the school organization is facing lots of difficulties to their system of enrollment and maintenance. Keeping all these points in mind the school authority of Amaroo School is using the developed technological system. The opportunities of hand on hand learning are also provided by the technology. Technology is becoming a major part of everyday life is the other reason why it has been using in school and daily life of the students.

Implementation plan
The modern technology has undergone a massive advancement. The social, as well as the economic factors of any country, has become largely depended on the technological advancement. If the education system lack in technological advancement the students may experience disconnection with the outer world. The responsibility of any school includes making a student educated not only for academic skills but also for the future life. Use of technology in the learning process of a school will enhance the knowledge of the students and also will make them able to cope up with the outer world. Integrating technological advancement with education system makes it able to reach out the students from a remote location. [Refer to Appendix 1]

The chosen school for the Change Management Assignment, Amaroo School needs change management to improve the organizational activities and also the performance. According to the present scenario the following implementation plan has been undertaken for Amaroo School.

Literature review
This Change Management Assignment highlight ways in which all organization has to undergo continual changes to meet the needs of the customers. The demand and need of the customers or the service as per the Lewin’s Three-Step Model of Change the main objective of any organization is to satisfy the needs of the service users. In order to achieve this objective every organization keeps on changing their organizational structures, activities, strategies, and operations. Rune Todnem (2005) commented that organizational strategy and organizational change are inseparable from each other user is ever changing. The strategy of every organization requires organizational change to maintain the productivity and success of the organization. The social, economic and technological factors of an organization are ever changing and unpredictable also. The management team has to predict the upcoming changes and to set up strategies accordingly. The outcome of the change management is also unpredictable up to certain level. The management team needs to be prepared to rectify the unpleasant situations resulted from the change management. Change management of an organization includes changes in the duty of each individual. The change strategies impact on the employees either in a positive way or in a negative way. The employees must be communicated and trained properly to adapt to the changed workplace. One of the most common change strategies is technological advancement. Technological advancement mostly involves external innovations and the employees must need proper training to handle them. While adapting change management, the organizations need to conduct interesting marketing campaigns to attract the service users.

Michael Gilbert (2013) stated that education system needs to be changed or upgraded regularly to make students able to face the outer world. A school is a place where a child learns his life lessons along with improving the academic skills. The content, structure, activities of a school have huge impact on the students’ mind. As per the theory of distributed cognition, student spent most of his time at school; hence the school plays an important role in shaping the characteristics of its students. The global social, economic, political situations are changing every day. According to the social demand the education system needs to modify its strategies and practices to make their students able to enter the bigger world. The traditional education system did not include modern technologies. The learning process was mostly dependent on books. In this regard the theory of individual mental functioning can be mentioned that the present world has been experiencing a massive technological advancement from last few decades, the working environment has largely become dependent on the technological devices, internet access, and software application. The education system needs to incorporate this technological advancement to enhance the skills of the students. As the result of technological advancement, most of the school have installed smart class facilities for the betterment of their students. The intense use of technological developments in education system helps the student to keep pace with the changing society. On the other hand, this Change Management Assignment can have negative impact on some students. The learning capacity of every student is not equal, everyone cannot adapt to the changed practices easily. Therefore sometimes change management in education system must be implemented very carefully. The outcomes of the change practices should be analysed in details to avoid unpleasant situations.

Richard Hatcher (2005) opined that the head teacher of a school is an intermediate between the government education policy and the school's organizational structure. The head teacher interacts with the management team to set the institutional working frameworks. The relevance of Distributed Leadership can be pointed out in this regard where the power and the leadership of a head teacher both are required for successful school strategies. The head teacher has the power to decide the working framework of a school, whereas, he or she also needs to be a good leader to direct the other members of the school. The personal values of a head teacher are reflected in his decisions. Sometimes it can be seen that the head teachers use their power to influence the other.

On the other hand, John Kotter (2007) commented that change management can come up as a failure sometimes. As per the contingency theory the change management needs to be understood the employees and their allocated responsibilities should be performed within the required time. When the organization fails to aware their employees about the urgency of the change management, the strategy may become useless. Another reason for the failure of new management can be lack of proper guidance and training. When the organizational structure undergoes a massive change, the working environment and the activities of the employees change with it. The employees need to be trained and guided by the management team to adapt to the new system. The working principles of the new technology or new devices should be explained to the employees to increase the effectiveness of the new management system. In order to conduct a successful transformation, long-term vision of the management system is very much needed. This has given rise to theory of distributed cognition in educational institutes where the management personnel needs to predict the possible outcomes whether it is positive or negative of the Change Management Assignment. If any unpleasant situation arrives due to the change management, the management should be prepared to recover it. Hence vision is a critical aspect of change management process.

As per Michael Fullan (2002), a leader is the responsible person for the successful implementation of a change management. Leadership is a very critical role to play in any sector. A leader can motivate and influence the performance of the fellow workers. If a leader is successful in explaining the objectives of an organization, the employees will be able to perform their part of responsibility with better efficiency. In case of school, the teachers play the role of leader by guiding the students for their future life. Thus, the current educational institutes demand a soft management theory that where the students are motivated by the teachers not only in academic sector but also in their future life. The sustainability of any organization is largely dependent on the leadership. In the hierarchy of any organization, there is several level of leadership. The top leader cannot improve an organization alone. Leadership succession is necessary to successfully run an organization. If the top leader has the characteristics of a complete leader then he or she will be able to motivate the other leaders to carry on the tradition. Thus the succession of leadership will result in the improved management practices within an organization. In case of school the teachers the teachers can motivate the students to follow their moral values in their life.

On the contrary, Geraldine Davis (2012) commented that every people react to a change very differently. Thus there is more effective need of situational leadership, according to which the opinions and viewpoints of every individual are distinct from others. The moral values of an individual grow on the basis of its social, cultural background. Some individuals face struggles to adapt to the change management within the organization. The duty of the leader is to understand the situation of the employee and to make him able to adapt the new situation. The leader needs are cooperative to understand the problem of the fellow workers. The leaders might also be aware of the local cultures to predict the response towards the Change Management Assignment.

Hajisoteriou & Angelides (2014) stated the problems regarding leadership in intercultural school. The moral values of the students from different cultures are different and so is their demand. Thus in this case the Instructional leadership models that the schools traditionally use tend to fail. The leaders need to consider the cultural beliefs of every student while making the organizational decisions. The leaders need set up the content and activities of the school according to the present social requirements. Managing intercultural students makes the situation more complex. The students must be motivated by the leaders to respect the cultural differences between them. The academic skills and also the life lessons of the students must be improved by the education system. Therefore proper management changes and modifications are required for an effective education system.

Change management is the most important tool for the long-term sustainability of every organization. The need and demand of the service users change almost every day. If an organization fails to satisfy the present demand, it will not be able to sustain for a long time. Thus here we can point out the need of transactional leadership that illustrates the fact that in order to achieve the satisfaction of the service users, an organization needs to modify its structure continually. The strategic approaches of an organization are dependent on the existing scenario. As the social, economic, environmental factors change the organization also needs to change its management system to maintain or increase the efficiency and profitability. The success of the Change Management Assignment largely depends on the leadership. A leader can motivate and influence the co-workers to improve their performance.

In case of education system, change management is equally important. A school is a place where the students enhance their academic skills and also the lessons for their future life. The Pedagogical leadership states that the responsibility of a school is to make the students able to handle the greater world efficiently. The content and the learning process of a school are modified according to the current social condition. As the present world is experiencing a major technological development the organizations are also changing their strategies and activities accordingly. The education system also requires incorporating the technological advancements in their content to make the students comfortable and confidence in handling the technological devices.

Amaroo School has the plan to change the learning process of the school to cope up with the present scenario. The school has planned to enhance the technical skills of the students. Use of technology also makes the learning process very interesting and helps the students to easily understand the lessons. Use of visualisers among the primary school students enriches the basic understanding of the content. Amaroo School has planned to provide the students desktops or laptops in the classroom. The devices will be used to store information and to access and process them when needed. The school has also implemented cloud-based communication system which will be used to arrange virtual field trips for the students.

Use of technology in education system has great future possibilities. The modern world is fully dependable on the technological advancements. Every profession requires technical skills to be successful in the respective fields. Use of technology in education system helps the students to enter the bigger world after their school. If the students get used to handling the technological devices and other facilities from the young age, it will be beneficial for their future professional life. Use of technology in education system enhances the practical skill and knowledge of the students. Not for the future life, it is very important for the academic skill also. Internet access helps the students to collect information from the vast source. Moreover, it enables the students to access information 24/7. The learning process does not remain restricted during school hours only. Cloud-based communication helps the student to participate in video conferences to have a better clarity on any topic. The Change Management Assignment emphasizes on the role of Use of technology in education system improves the skills of the students in academics and also in future professional life.

Reference list:
Spector, J. M., Merrill, M. D., Elen, J., & Bishop, M. J. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology. New York, NY: Springer.

Ball, L., Ladel, S., & Siller, H. S. (2018). Introduction. In Uses of Technology in Primary and Secondary Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham.

Rune Todnem By (2005) Organisational change management: A critical review, Journal of Change Management, 5(4), 369-380.

Michael Gilbert, (2013) "A plea for systemic change in education", On the Horizon, 21(4), 312-322

Richard Hatcher (2005) The distribution of leadership and power in schools, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 26(2), 253-267

Michael Fullan (2002) The Role of Leadership in the Promotion of Knowledge Management in Schools, Teachers and Teaching, 8(3), 409-419

Sánchez, R. A., Cortijo, V., & Javed, U. (2014). Students' perceptions of Facebook for academic purposes. Computers & Education, 70, 138-149.

Geraldine Davis (2012) A documentary analysis of the use of leadership and change theory in changing practice in early years settings, Early Years, 32(3), 266-276

Hajisoteriou, C., & Angelides, P. (2014). Facing the ‘challenge’ School leadership in intercultural schools. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 42(4), 65-82.

Qomo.idcp.eu, 2018. Visualisers in education. Retrieved from http://www.qomo.idcp.eu/visualisers-in-education [30/05/2018]

Appendices
Appendix 1: Implementation Plan