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Module 6 Simulation and Reflection

Jason LaCelle

Strategic Leadership LDR660-OA

Siena Heights University

Dr. John Fick

Winter Semester, 2024

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I interviewed everyone in the company. My initial impression was that it was a workplace

like anywhere else, with some people who cared about the organization and enjoyed working

there, other people who had a negative outlook on the organization, and others who seemed

neutral about it and had no opinion.

What else I gathered from the interviews was that the departments were divided.

Marketing, research and development, and manufacturing all seem to be at odds with each other.

Marketing was upset at research and development and manufacturing was upset at marketing and

vice versa. My first reaction was that communication was the main issue at play, and this would

be the answer.

In my first attempt to achieve sixty percent, I thought that I would be able to implement

tactics at will with little thought of the impact that my decisions would have. I learned the

importance of employee buy-in or persuasion. The first tactic I implemented was to appoint a

core change team. It made sense at the time as I thought it was common knowledge among the

employees that a change needed to be made. That tactic gained a two percent buy-in and I

assumed I was on the right track. The next tact was benchmarking and, just like that, three

percent buy-in. I am a natural. The next three choices came up with no increase in buy-in and I

began to struggle. I had no clue what to choose next. Now, the game had my attention.

My first attempt was thirty percent, followed by eleven percent, and my next attempt,

then ten and eighteen. I read the instructions that were always available but I neglected to seek

out. It was here that I began to understand the nuance that is required to persuade employees to

buy into organizational change. Research on change leadership; “In general, leading change can

be characterized as an extensive communication effort to give sense to change through

anticipating and addressing conflicts arising from recipients' diverging needs and perceptions”
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( Sadari & Škerlavaj, 2023, para. 2 ). I was beginning to realize that this change effort was about

persuasion through transparency and education.

Common strategies used in change management are communication about the change,

involving stakeholders at all levels of the organization, focusing on organizational culture,

considering the organization’s mission and vision, and providing encouragement and incentives
Phillips & Klein, 2022
to change ( ). In the experience point simulation, I used the strategies of

communication and stakeholder involvement while focusing on changing the culture from

operating independently to operating in teams. Impressive how this correlates with prior research

on the topic of change.

As the buy-in increased, I started to realize that there were steps involved. First, identify

what the problem is. Then, build a team. Next was to set a course and share the vision with the

employees. Employee motivation came next, then transparency through the large group

intervention. After these steps, I realized it was time to focus on teams. Once I restricted the

company into teams, I reached sixty percent buy-in, and I must admit, I bought into the plan as

well. It was a great learning experience and completely changed my perspective on my approach

to organizational change.
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References

Phillips, J., & Klein, J. D. (2022). Change management: From theory to practice. TechTrends,

67(1), 189–197. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-022-00775-0

Sadarić, A., & Škerlavaj, M. (2023). Giving sense to change leadership: Towards a narrative-

based process model. Economic and Business Review, 25(1), 41–63.

https://doi.org/10.15458/2335-4216.1317