STUDENT ORGANIZATION

CHANGE PROJECTAbby Ellis

November 18th, 2014EdLd 647: Organizational & System Change

QUESTION 1WHAT WAS THE SETTING AND

WHO WERE THE CHARACTERS IN YOUR PROJECT?

• I chose to focus on a student organization that I advise for my change project. The organization, Alpha Chi Omega, has 62 active member in it at this time.

• Alpha Chi Omega is at the largest it has ever been. The atmosphere of the organization has been changing because of the number of members in the chapter.

• All of the 62 members decided to take part in the new change that was implemented this semester.

QUESTION 2WHAT WAS THE CHANGE YOU WANTED TO

MAKE AND WHY WAS THE CHANGE NEEDED?

• Alpha Chi Omega is a sorority and therefor prides itself on its sisterhood. Sisterhood being the special bond that each member feels with one another.

• The large chapter size has caused a disconnect between members in the chapter.

• To being back the sisterhood that was once strong the chapter wanted to see a new program implementation to help get to know their sisters better.

QUESTION 3HOW DID YOU PROVIDE FOR EACH OF LIPPITT’S

5 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR CHANGE? Vision A. What was your vision for change?

A. My vision was that the members would be randomly paired with a sister to meet up with each week. I felt that this would help the organization get to know its members at a deeper level. I also hoped that it would help sisters reach out to people they might not normally reach out to.

B. How did you communicate your vision to others or involve them in sharing it with you?B. I went to a chapter meeting to ask the chapter if they felt a

change was needed and what kind of change they wanted to see. The discussion ended with an agreement that getting randomly paired with a sister every other week would be a good place to start making the change to a stronger sisterhood.

QUESTION 3-CONTINUED

Skills (e.g., intellectual, emotional, physical, technical). A. What skills were needed by you and other people to implement this change?

A. I felt there were two skills necessary to implement the change: organization of time and emotional connection. The members of the organization are very busy and finding the time needed to meet with there partner was an important skill for the change. Emotional connection was also important. If a member was disgruntled with their partner and did not want to meet with them they needed to possess the skill to move beyond the past issues and mend the relationship for the good of the organization.

B. What was your assessment of people’s skills and how did you teach them the skills they did not have? A. I was concerned that the members would not have enough time to meet

weekly with their sister assigned so we took a vote and decided to have the meeting bi-weekly instead of weekly. I was also concerned about the past emotional connections members may have had and took time to “teach” the importance of moving past the issues for the good of the group.

QUESTION 3-CONTINUEDIncentive A. What incentives, if any, were there for you or people to

implement this change? A. The incentive for the chapter was maintaining the

outcome that they desired. I brought the idea to the chapter and had them change anything they wanted based on what they felt were the needs of the organization. The incentive was to maintain sisterhood.

B. What incentives, if any, did you provide? A. I did not provide any material incentives only common

goal incentives were driving the change.

QUESTION 3-CONTINUED

Resources (e.g., funding, equipment, space & facilities, materials, human) A. What resources were needed to implement the change?

A. Funding, space, and materials may have been used but not required for the change. There were no requirements for what they meeting activity needed to be or where it needed to be. I do consider time as a resource that was needed.

B. What did you do to make sure these resources were available? A. I made sure to provide members with many things to do at

no cost and on campus to eliminate the need for funding and space. The chapter decided that having two weeks to meet with their partner rather than meeting with a new one every week was a was a more manageable way to use their resource of time.

QUESTION 3-CONTINUEDAction Plan A. What was the action plan for this change?

A. The action plan for the change was to begin two weeks after I met with the group because of an event they had going on. One of the members was going to be making the list and announcing the member match ups every other week at chapter meeting. Members would then have two weeks to meet up with their partner on their own time before they were assigned a new partner.

B. Who created it? What was the process in implementing it? A. The group as a whole created the process while I was

attending their meeting. They chose when to begin the plan, who would make the lists, and how long they had to meet with the partner. The plan itself was implemented by the chapter as a whole.

QUESTION 4WHAT HAPPENED

AS YOU BEGAN TO IMPLEMENT THE CHANGE?

A. What went well? A. I heard great success stories from members who met with someone they had never sat

down with one on one before. Members had a new vision of the person they met with than they did before.

B. What didn’t go so well? A. I felt there was a false start because they decided to wait two weeks to implement the

action plan the excitement for the change faded. B. Not all members were aware of the change plan and why it was happening.C. I feel that it is a gradual change.

C. What are the reasons things went well or didn’t? A. The chapter has so many other things going on that they had to push the start date back. I

feel that this caused members to lose sight of the shared vision.B. The chapter received several new members in-between when we made the change plan and

when it began. Those new members were not filled in with the vision and action plan from the older members.

C. The incentives were goal orientated and not all members (new members) were aware of what the incentive was so the change is taking place gradually.

QUESTION 5WHAT IS THE CURRENT SITUATION?

A. Was the change partially or fully implemented? A. I feel that the change was partially implemented because the

members were only being paired once bi-weekly instead of once a week.

B. If partially, what do you think it will take for the change to be completed?A. I feel that all the members would need a reminder of the

shared vision. I also feel that it would be beneficial to find another incentive to drive the members to come up with the one resource they were need to fully implement the plan, time.