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Mark van Zwol

MSc BA Change management

“Searching for an interesting and challenging Master thesis assignment”

M. van ZwolM.van.zwol@student.rug.nl0614399097

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What is Change Management?

Changing, i.e. responding to the market and to other developments, is essential for survival for many

organizations. To organize is to change and to change is to organize. In the past, Change Management (CM) was a

subject only addressed incidentally; once a business had been through a process of change, it was time for a period

of ‘rest’.

However, change is nowadays a crucial and permanently topical matter for organizations. This in turn creates a need for experts

who have insight in business processes, organizational structure, leadership style and human resource management. The MSc BA

Change Management programme trains these experts.

Graduates of the Change Management programme are able to work independently as change managers within organizations.

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Introduction

In what language is the research performed?

The Master thesis is written in English. However, the field research can be done in Dutch language.

In which timeframe does the research have to take place?

Normally the period of time available for a Master thesis is four to six months.

What kind of research is performed?

Research is performed aimed at the analysis of change processes taking place in one or more organizations. The

research is preferably linked to a project in a company or a consultancy firm. The research, including the writing of the

thesis based on it, is supervised by a member of the teaching staff.

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Research types for Change Management:

Subject matter: change projects (company/companies) vs. change approaches (consultancy firm or science)

Time frame: retrospective (learning from change experiences) vs. prospective (investigate pre-change

conditions)

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Research objective:

Example 1 (project, prospective): Recommending the MT of Firm A about anticipating intern obstacles in order to make

possible a change of leadership on MT and location managers’ level

Example 2 (project, retrospective): Explaining to the MT of Firm A why there have been obstacles in changing the

leadership, in order to improve the situation (or avoid the same problems in the future)

Example 3 (approaches, prospective): Design a model for a consultancy firm which makes it possible to measure intern

obstacles for leadership change on several levels

Example 4 (approaches, retrospective): To provide insight in the factors that determine the obstacles for leadership

change in several companies

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Research questions (examples):

Process:

What difficulties are there for implementing a change?

Is the management equiped to lead the change?

Are the employees willing to change?

How does the organizational culture affect the change?

How should a chosen change be implemented?

Context:

How does the environment of the organization

influence the implementation?

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Thank you

Thank you for your interest in reading this PowerPoint.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me.

With kind regards,

Mark van Zwol