You will need to rent or purchase a copy of the movie.
Your task is to create a PowerPoint presentation that you will post at the beginning of
Week 10 by noon on Monday to serve as the basis for our discussions. I will assign
groups in the beginning of Week 1.
Gung Ho is a comedy about a Japanese car company that buys an American plant.
However, it is really about change – diagnosing change, creating a new culture, and
leading change – and all the related issues and challenges.
Consider your small group a team of change consultants brought in to assess the
change process used and help the management team understand the process better for
the future. You will compile your findings in a 10-20 page PowerPoint presentation to
the leadership team at the plant; include speaker notes so that I understand your
direction and purpose.
Your presentation should draw on the models and processes we learned about this
semester.
It is up to the team to decide the contents of the presentation and how to organize it, but
it should touch on the following:
1. Who was leading the change? What was the leadership actually trying to
change? What was the nature of the change?
2. Was there a guiding coalition? Was the change communicated well to
employees?
3. What kind of culture (reference Cameron and Quinn) was the leadership trying to
create? What were the key values the leadership was trying to drive?
4. Using the Burke-Litwin model, were the factors aligned in support of the desired
culture?
5. Which of Kotter’s steps were followed successfully and why?
In the end, your presentation should tell a logical story about the change. The outcome,
from the leadership team’s perspective, is that they will be able to think about and see
what transpired at the plant through the lens of change management. They will have
learned what they did right, what they did wrong, what they were actually trying to
accomplish, and what they can do better next time.
