Intended Learning Outcomes
The main intended learning outcomes for the Change Management workshop were:
1. Formulate a clear vision for the change project
2. Define an action plan to carry out the proposed change.
Workshop methodology
The overall workshop was designed as action learning, i.e., the participants worked in groups on their own contextual challenges. The workshop was composed of three modules, with a short assignment per module, and a final assignment in the form of an action plan for the change process.
The following was the structure for each of the three modules:
1. The contents for each module were delivery by videos or/and readings
2. Individually, each participant should read/watch the contents of the module
3. The module assignment would be carried out in the groups and submitted to workshop facilitators
The workshop was an online training activity with local face-to-face group activities. Online meetings between participants and facilitators could be requested but were not included in the plan.
Workshop contents
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Modules
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Assignments
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1. Change and resistance to change
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Stakeholder analysis, incl. expected change resistance and methods of overcoming resistance
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2. Organizational culture and change
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Organizational culture analysis using OCAI instrument
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3. Transformative leadership
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Defining the elements of transformative leadership and the change management steps for the local project
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Final assignment
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An Action Plan for the change process, including what?, who?, when? Evaluation and follow up.
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Workshop logistics
Timing: The workshop was available on the Virtual Learning Platform from August 2019 to the end of the year. Each module was estimated to last one week, including assignment and facilitator feedback.
Participants: Interested participants were asked to sign up, with a maximum of 12 participants (= 2 groups) per university. Participants were mainly expected to be the Local Task Force members but also other interested staff members from the five African universities could participate. Each participant was expected to use an average of 6 hours per week on the workshop. The role of the two facilitators was to give online inputs, answer questions and give thorough feedback to the module assignments, as well as to the final assignment.
Workshop evaluation
The interest for the workshop varied. Only one participant from SUA signed up, while from KNUST and UENR more than 10 participants signed up.
As the workshop got off to a start it turned out that the time planning was very difficult for already very busy and overworked university staff members. The fact that no online meetings with facilitators were planned as common ‘fix-points’ and that participants therefore had to plan their own individual work with the module contents and also participate in planning and agreeing on time(s) for group work with the module assignment, led to a sad demise of workshop activities after a short while. All workshop material is available in the password-protected Virtual Learning Environment on Moodle.