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TEK660 TEK660 Managing change in the construction industry lp4 VT23 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Technology Management and Economics

Contact details

Examiner: Pernilla Gluch, pernilla.gluch@chalmers.se

Course assistent: Dominika Klopotek (DK), dominika.klopotek@chalmers.se 

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

Supervisors: Pernilla Gluch (PG), Petra Bosch-Sijtsema (PB), Stina Hellsvik (SH)

All teachers and supervisors works at the division of Service Management and Logistics, Department of technology Management and Economics. Vera Sandbergs allé 8.

Other lecturers from academia and industry: 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 (IQ Samhällsbyggnad).

Administrative support: Moa Rosvall, moa.rosvall@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.

Schedule

TimeEdit

Detailed schedule

Location: For lecture halls and rooms, continuously visit Time Edit for most recent information. Supervision and some lectures/workshops will be done on Zoom. 

Make sure to attend the correct group for workshops and exercises in smaller groups on campus.

Course literature

Main textbook:

Hallin,A., Olsson, A., and Widström, M. (2021) Change Management, Studentlitteratur. Available on Cremona.

Academic articles and course documents:

20-25 academic articles related to lectures. Available in Chalmers Library’s databases, for example in Scopus.

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

Additional readings for your project work.

Extra resource:

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.)

Course design

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

The course consists of: 

• 11 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 supervision meetings related to the project work

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 posted in the Canvas calendar minimum 30 minutes before the lecture starts.   

Supervision will be carried out online. You make the meeting arrangements directly with your supervisor on e-mail in good time before each meeting. Supervisors are assigned to you on 23 March.

Late hand-ins are not admitted. Contact the examiner if you due to unforeseen circumstances have missed a deadline or mandatory elements in the course.

Changes made since the last occasion

A new textbook that aligns better with a project-based context and a Scandinavian industry setting.

Minor amendments of lecture contents to align with the new book.

More scheduled time for project work meetings. However the students are still expected and responsible for planning and scheduling time for their project work outside schedule.

Revised assignment topics.

Examples of previous student project reports is provided.

A final session is added with a summary lecture and room for an ending class activity before summer break.

Improved information in the beginning of the course regarding compulsory elements.

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

Study plan

Examination form

The examination is based on an oral exam, a research report written in small groups, participation in 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 17 May and you will be given an 1h time slot 3 weeks ahead of the exam when you have to attend.  

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. Final deadline for report is 2 June. 

2) Start-up workshop (22 March)

3) Peer group discussions (8 May).

4) Final presentation in group of 7-9 students (24 May)

5) Individual reflection on the project work.  

The research report shall be written in Word and be within the range of 4000-5000 words excl. references. Layout – free of choice. The report is checked for plagiarism. A completed report contains:

• Informative title
• Background description and literature overview leading to a well-motivated problem statement.
• Description of method and research approach showing how you conducted your study.
• Summary of the empirical data used to support the discussion and conclusions made.
• Discussion of the results supported by concepts, frameworks and/or theories brought up in the course.
• Conclusions proposing suggestions on needed change and/or change process to manage the problem in hand. 
• Literature references

Grades and assessment criteria

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 ·     Support 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 ·     Ability to critically discuss	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

Reading list

Lecture 1: Managing change in construction

Chapter 1 in the textbook.

Lines, B., Sullivan, K., Smithwick, J. Mischung, J. (2015). Overcoming resistance to change in engineering and construction: Change management factors for owner organizations. International Journal of Project Management, Volume 33, Issue 5, 2015, pp. 1170-1179

Lecture 2 and 3: Change management theories and models

Chapter 2 (excl p. 57-61) and 3 in the textbook.

Kotter J. P., (2007). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 85(1) 96-103.

Hughes, M. (2011). Do 70 Per Cent of All Organizational Change Initiatives Really Fail? Journal of Change Management, 11(4), 451-464.

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

Birkinshaw, J., Zimmermann, A. & Raisch, S. (2016). How Do Firms Adapt to Discontinuous Change? – Bridging the Dynamic Capabilities and Ambidexterity Perspectives. California Management Review, 58(4), 36-56.

Lecture 4: Analysing change - methods and tools

Alänge, S. (2009). The Affinity-Interrelationship Method AIM. A Problem Solving Tool for Analysing Qualitative Data. Inspired by the Shiba “Step by Step” Approach.

Lecture 5: Organizing for change (context, leadership and roles)

Chapter 4 in the textbook.

Battilana and Casciaro (2013). The network secrets of great change agents, Harvard Business Review, July-August 2013.

Bosch-Sijtsema, P., Gluch, P. (2019) Challenging construction project management institutions: the role and agency of BIM actors. International Journal of Construction Management.

Hornstein, H.A. (2015) The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International journal of project management, 33(2), pp.291-298.

Sturdy, A., Wright, C. (2011). The active client: The boundary-spanning roles of internal consultants as gatekeepers, brokers and partners of their external counterparts. Management Learning, 42(5), 485-503.

Lecture 6: Motivation and resistance to change

Chapter 6, p. 184-195 in the textbook.

Löwstedt, M. and Sandberg, R. (2020). Standardizing the free and independent professional: The case of construction site managers in Sweden, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 27(6), 1337-1355.

Thomas, R. & Hardy, C. (2011). Reframing resistance to organizational change. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 27, 322-331.

Ford, J.D. & Ford, L.W (2009). Stop blaming resistance to change and start using it. Organizational Dynamics, 1, 24-36.

Lecture 7: Planning for change (organizational culture and complexity)

Chapter 2, p. 57-61, in the textbook and Chapter 5, p. 129-147, in the textbook.

Holti R. (2011) Understanding institutional change in project-based organizing. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. 47(3), 360-94.

Kadefors, A., (1995). Institutions in building projects: implications for flexibility and change. Scandinavian Journal ofManagement. 11 (4), 395–408.

Lieftink, B., Smits, A. and Lauche, K. (2019) Dual dynamics: Project-based institutional work and subfield differences in the Dutch construction industry. International Journal of Project Management, 37(2), pp.269-282.

Lecture 8: Communication in change processes (creating awareness)

Chapter 5, p. 152-166 and Chapter 6, p. 169-184, in the textbook.

Ludvig et al. (2013) The Value of Communicative Skills when Developing a Strategy for Energy Efficiency. Building Research and Information. 41(6), 611-621.

Löwstedt, M. and Räisänen, C., (2012). ‘Playing back-spin balls’: Narrating organizational change in construction. Construction Management and Economics, 30(9), pp.795-806.

Rouleau and Balogun (2011). Middle managers, strategic sensemaking, and discursive competence. Journal of Management Studies, 48(5), 953-983.

Lecture 9: Continuous improvement

ISO (2015). ISO 9001:2015, Quality Management Systems- Requirements.

Document posted on Canvas to prepare for exercise 2.

Extra reading: Eriksson, H. (2020). Five Principles of Excellent Organizations. Förbättringsakademin, Göteborg, Sweden.

Lecture 10: Sustaining change (training, organizational learning and ethics)

Chapter 7 in the textbook.

Buchanan, B., Fitzgerald, L., Ketley, D., Gollop, R., Jones, J.L., Saint Lamont, S., Neath, A. and Whitby, E. (2005). No going back: a review of the literature on sustaining organizational change. International Journal of Management Reviews, 7 (3), 189–205.

Lecture 10: Course summary

Chapter 8 in the textbook.