Note: Changes may be made due to unforeseen circumstances. Last revision: 220315.

Course-PM

TEK660 Managing change in the construction industry lp4 VT22 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the Department of Technology Management and Economics, Division of Service Management and Logistics.

Contact details

Examiner and course responsible: Pernilla Gluch, pernilla.gluch@chalmers.se

Main teachers: Pernilla Gluch, Petra Bosch-Sijtsema, Henrik Eriksson

Tutors: Pernilla Gluch (PG), Petra Bosch-Sijtsema (PB), Stefan Book (SB, TheVision Partner)

Other lecturers: Peter Fredriksson (Skanska), Mats Färnstrand (change management consultant, Kvadrat), Steve Cook (Norconsult), Anna Kadefors (KTH), Ulf Däversjö (Akademiska Hus), Ingrid Svensson (Karolinska Institutet, prev. Chalmers), Kristina Gabrielii (SmartBuilt Environment/Gabrielii Konsulting).

Administrative support: Jenny Weijland, jenny.weijland@chalmers.se

Course purpose

The overall aim of the course is to train students to actively participate, as leaders and co-workers, in various organizational change processes in the construction industry. The course seeks to develop analytical skills required to manage change in complex situations. This involves raising the students' knowledge and stimulate a critical thinking related to organizational change theories, change management practices, continuous improvement and ethical conduct.

Course literature

Cameron and Green (2020) Making sense of change management, Kogan page. Available as e-book at Chalmers Library (you have to login with your CID to get access). Link: https://proxy.lib.chalmers.se/sso/skillport?context=145450 (Links to an external site.)

20-25 academic articles related to lectures.

Course literature also includes handouts from lectures continuously posted on Canvas.

Additional readings for your project work.

Course design and schedule

The course consists of: 

• 10 lectures
• 5 guest lectures
• 2 workshops (compulsory)
• 2 exercises
• A major part of the course is a project assignment in groups including writing a research report and an oral presentation (compulsory)
• 4 tutor meetings related to the project work

Scedule: TimeEdit (Links to an external site.)

Locations: The course will mainly be given on campus with some elements online (see Timeedit). For online elements a link that give you access to a Zoom meeting is continuously posted in the Canvas calendar.   

Tutoring will be carried out online. You make arrangements with your tutor on e-mail and make online arrangements for the meeting. Tutors are assigned to you on 24 March.

 Learning objectives

• Define, describe, review and interrelate core theories on change management and change processes
• Describe and discuss phenomenon and/or problems related to organizational change in the construction sector
• Describe and apply management practices related to change management and continuous improvement, eg. ISO9001
• Develop analytical skills required to manage change in complex situations
• Have a sustainable and ethical understanding and approach to organizational change processes
• Discuss and critically engage with existing theories and research within the subject of change management
• Collect, analyze, assemble and contrast various literature and theories on organizational change and change processes in relation empirical examples from the construction sector
• Critically review and discuss peer students work
• Read and write academic texts

Project assignment

A large part of the course is a project assignment in groups. The project work contains five compulsory activities:

1) A research report written in groups of 2-3 students.  

2) Start-up workshop (23 March)

3) Peer group discussions (11 May).

4) Final presentation in group of 7-9 students (25 May)

5) Individual reflection on the project work.  

The research report shall be within 4-5000 words excl. references, written in Word format and include:

• Title
• Well-motivated problem statement
• Method/approach
• Results and answers to the problem by using concepts, frameworks and theories covered by the course.
• Discussion with suggested solutions to approach the change studied
• Literature references

Examination

The students are expected to be main drivers of their own learning. The keywords of the course are participation, responsibility and commitment. 

The examination is based on an oral exam, a research report written in small groups, a group presentation and an individual reflection exercise. In addition, active participation in guestlectures and exercises can affect the final grade.

The oral exam tests your theoretical knowledge within the subject of change management. To prepare for the exam you will get a list of 20-25 questions 3 weeks before the exam date. The oral exam is planned for 18-19 May and you will be given an 1h time slot 3 weeks ahead of the exam when you have to attend.  

Grade limits:

• Grade 3: 25 – 39
• Grade 4: 40 – 53
• Grade 5: 54 – 65

Your course grade will be based on the sum of your points on six different course elements as described below.

Course elements	Scales Max points	Assessment criteria	Compulsory/ optional
Research report	25	·    Demonstrated understanding of the area of change management and sound argumentation for given standpoints. ·    Ability to assess the quality of existing research within the subject of organizational change ·    Shown ability to discuss and critically engage with the ideas of other writers ·    Shown ability to collect, analyze, assemble and contrast various literature and theories on organizational change in relation empirical examples from the construction sector ·    Supported by empirical data (eg. interviews, survey, documents, trade press articles, documents) ·    Critical evaluation and insight. ·    Coherence – a clear and logical flow in text- and clarity in presentation.	Compulsory Min 12 for pass
Oral exam	10	·    Demonstrated understanding of the subject in hand with sound argumentation for given standpoints. ·    Active participation in follow-up discussions	Compulsory Min 5 for pass
Final presentation	10	·    Clarity in presentation ·    Demonstrated communication skills ·    Critically review and discuss peer students’ work	Compulsory Min 5 for pass
Individual reflection	6	·    Ability to summarize the project work process ·    Ability to describe experiences gained from the project work process ·    Ability to reflect on future personal learnings from the project	Compulsory Min 3 for pass
Guest lecture reflections	10	·    Ability to summarize the guest lecture content ·    Ability to summarize the main personal learnings from the guest lecture	Optional: Bonus points, max 2p/lecture
Exercise reflection	4	·    Ability to summarize the exercise content ·    Ability to summarize the main personal learnings from the exercise	Optional: Bonus points, max 2p/exercise

Changes made since the last occasion

• One extra opportunity for tutoring.
• The lectures on Institutional change and Sustainability transition are combined to give more time for project work towards the end of the course.
• Two sessions (9/5 and 11/5) are scheduled for group work related to the preparation for workshop 2: peer review.
• A specific session (23/5) is scheduled for group work related to the preparation for presentation to make it easier for the group to find a time that suits all.
• The extension of the group size from written assignment (2-3 students) to presentation (7-9 students) is described in the course PM.
• Updated course literature.