Management: Consulting and Change

Course Director: Andreas Werr

Why Consulting and change management?

Change management is concerned with how organizations purposefully adapt to changing conditions. Consulting is about helping them to do so from a position where formal authority is limited, thus reflecting the responsibility and reality of contemporary managers. Change management and consulting is about understanding how individuals, teams and organizations change and why change is often difficult and contested. It is also about the tools and frameworks that help managers and consultants improve the rate of success of organizational change. While identifying the direction for change is often relatively easy, realizing the change requires leadership skills as well as knowledge and skills to analyze and deal with the human and political dimensions of organizations. Managing change involves three key dimensions:

1. The rational dimension – Determining the need for change and designing a desired future situation
2. The human dimension – Anticipating and managing individuals' reactions to change
3. The political dimension – Assessing and managing the informal organization and the power and politics involved in organizational change.

In essence, change management is about making sure that good ideas – created through thorough analysis and smart and creative management thinking – are transformed into value for the organization and its diverse stakeholders.

What will you learn in the course?

This course in consulting and change management is concerned with how change agents (internal or external) and managers bring about change in organizations. The main objective of the course is to improve your knowledge and skills in relation to this. More specifically, you will learn to:

• Identify internal and external drivers of change in an organization
• Design solutions to different organizational challenges
• Design a change process that turns ideas into value to stakeholders
• Choose and apply models and tools to assess and manage individuals’ and groups’ reactions to change
• Choose and apply models and tools to assess and manage the power and politics of organizational change
• Understand and enact the position and role of the consultant/change agent

Pedagogical idea – experience-based learning

The pedagogical philosophy behind course BE0153 is that of experience-based learning. Hence, simulations, case competitions and guest seminars held by expert practitioners (several of them experienced consultants) will be used throughout the course in order to provide opportunities to use models and frameworks in the context of a complex real world. The course is designed and delivered in collaboration with the consulting industry. Companies, representing different parts of the consulting industry (Arkwright, Capgemini Consulting and Implement) have served as a sounding board in course development and you will meet them in class, delivering and providing feedback on cases. This ensures that students receive concrete and state of the art insights into the practice of change management and management consulting.

Central to the course is a real-life change project

The course will be centered on real-life projects, which have been started in course BE0152 Management: Operations. During course BE0152, students have performed an analysis of the operations issues at hand, whereas in this course BE0153 you will design a solution and plan the implementation. Students only taking course BE0153 Management: Consulting and change will join an ongoing project. A number of organizations will be partnering with the course; organizations of various sizes, from various industries, with various ownership, both private and public. These organizations will bring an operations-related problem they want solved.

Project teams of 4-6 students are to work on these projects. The work with the projects is supported by both content and process coaching, apart from providing students with the actual models/tools and frameworks to do the analysis.

The focus of the projects will be a problem related to one or more operations processes in the organizations. Students will use the tools and frameworks learnt in the course to propose a solution and implementation plan adapted to the specific conditions of each organization. The pressure on delivery will be real, the organizations partnering with the course will expect results, but will in return grant access to their inner functioning and processes. The projects are chosen because they are of value to the participating organizations!

Supported by a structured project process…

The course supports the students working with the live projects through a structured learning process. This process is designed to help students deliver value to their client organizations. The work with the projects is supported by extensive expert coaching and peer-to-peer feedback sessions, in addition to providing students with the actual models/tools and frameworks to do the operations analysis and plan the change management process. The organizations partnering with the course will expect concrete and actionable results.

…Where skills training is integrated

As part of the specialization in management, the course will give students an opportunity to develop and practice important management skills. Students will get the opportunity and tools to train a number of skills with particular focus on analysis, presentation, teamwork and project management skills.

Special focus will be on team working and leadership skills. Throughout the entire specialization (courses BE0152 and BE0153) you will be working in a team. The unique “team skills module” integrated in the course aims to use this setting as a context for your skill development, thereby also improving the quality and efficiency of your teamwork. From research we know that teams that regularly revisit and discuss their collaboration are more efficient and effective. The team skills module applies a unique tool taking student teams through a set of virtual development sessions that will help you develop yourself and your teams and improve your teamwork and leadership efficacy.

Course administrator: Bernalee.Karlsson.Anthony@hhs.se

To successfully pass the course, the student needs to demonstrate:

• Knowledge and understanding of the core models, tools and frameworks of Change Management and Management Consulting
• Ability to select and apply appropriate models, tools and frameworks in real life contexts
• Ability to relate different models, tools and frameworks of the course to each other, to practice and to your own experience
• Ability to work effectively in project teams dedicated to solve real change management problems and deliver value to a client organization

SSE students: This course can only be taken by students admitted to the specialization in Management: Operations, Consulting and Change. To be admitted to the specialization, the student must fulfill the following criteria no later than after the examination period in December/January before the specialization starts.

• Have passed at least 45 ECTS credits out of the mandatory course requirements.
• Have passed the mandatory courses required for the specialization: BE0101 Management I and BE0701 Innovation

Exchange students should have knowledge equivalent to the SSE courses listed above.

Textbook:

• John Hayes (2025). The theory and practice of change management: Seventh edition. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN: 9781350413337

Selection of articles

• Abrahamson, E. (1996). Management fashion. Academy of Management Review, 21, 254-85.
• Minto, B. (1998a). Think your way to clear writing – part 1. Journal of Management Consulting, vol. 10(1), pp. 33-40
• Minto, B. (1998b). Think your way to clear writing- part 2. Journal of Management Consulting, vol. 10(2), pp. 45-53
• Miller, D. & Hartwick, J. (2002). Spotting Management Fads. Harvard Business Review, vol. 80(10), pp. 26-27
• Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R. (2006). Evidence-Based Management. Harvard Business Review, vol. 84(1), pp. 62-74

The articles can be accessed through the SSE Library

The examination consists of four main parts, which assess the four intended learning outcomes of the course:

1. Literature exam (individual)
2. Case hand-ins (group)
3. Project report (group)
4. Live project learning paper (individual)

Find the course schedule in TimeEdit

Continuous improvement of lectures and cases.

Have you been granted educational support because of a documented disability? If so, please contact the course director as soon as possible so that adequate accommodations can be made.

Contact specialneeds@hhs.se if you have questions about being granted educational support or need a copy of your educational support certificate.

For more information, visit the Specific Educational Needs page on the Student Hub (login required).