Case Study.

Please see separate case study from The Case Centre
EBay: Designing Culture Change – The Innovation Playbook
(This will be released on the VLE for students to have electronic access and a printable version)

Questions

Question 1. Use Lewin’s Force Field Analysis to critically analyse the internal and external factors driving or resisting change at eBay at the beginning of the Case Study. (20 marks)

Question 2. Referring to relevant models and theory of change, analyse the type(s) of change that exist in the case study, explaining the reasons for your choice(s). (10 marks)
Question 3. Critically evaluate how organisational practices that result from large scale change, such as those outlined for eBay, can impact on culture and behaviour. (20 marks)
Question 4. Demonstrate, using appropriate scholarship, theories and models how Donahoe’s leadership skills and abilities can support eBay employees in this time of change. (20 marks)
Question 5. Explain and justify two recommendations that will promote effective change, resulting in the desired culture and behaviours within the organisation. (20 marks)
Plus, Use of relevant structure, introduction, contents tables and Harvard referencing (10 marks)

The assignment is marked out of 100. The following table shows the mark allocation and the approach required.

Assignment Part Mark Approach
Question 1. Use Lewin’s Force Field Analysis to critically analyse the internal and external factors driving or resisting change at eBay at the beginning of the Case Study 20 Use Lewin’s Force Field Analysis to critically analyse the internal and external factors driving or resisting change at eBay in the Case Study.
A pictorial representation of the model, is expected in your answer.
You can discuss global circumstances from the case study, the nature of change and any other pertinent module theory.
For an excellent mark, you should be critical in your content and ensure that issues are not just listed but analysed in reasonable detail. Lower marks are awarded when there is poor analysis of key issues; bulleted lists or one or two issues briefly analysed for each area is not enough to be awarded a pass for this section.
Question 2. Referring to relevant models and theory of change, analyse the type(s) of change that exist in the case study, explaining the reasons for your choice(s). 10 Review the range of models and theories that explore the nature of change and types of change.
Then review the case study and the journey of change the organisation faced. Apply some of these models/theories to explain the nature of the change journey.
You may want to consider issues around:
·        The speed and nature of change
·        The different stages of the change journey
Question 3. Critically evaluate how organisational practices that result from large scale change, such as those outlined for eBay, can impact on culture and behaviour. 20 Critically evaluate organisational practices commonly found when organisations, such as eBay announce significant changes to strategy. and link them to cultural and behavioural change issues.
Higher marks are awarded when students also support their answers with a range of well referenced, authoritative models and theories around the nature, type and pace of change as well as those around culture and behaviour.
There is a lot of opportunity to refer to wide range of pertinent module theories.
Question 4. Demonstrate, using appropriate scholarship, theories and models how Donahoe’s leadership skills and abilities can support on eBay employees in this time of change. 20 Apply a range of relevant change, management and leadership theories, models and frameworks to demonstrate and justify how the right leadership skills and abilities at CEO level can contribute to successful change management and use wider reading and research to support your findings.
Higher marks are awarded when for direct links between Donahoe as a leader and how this has impacted on the business.
Question 5. Explain and justify two recommendations that will promote effective change, resulting in the desired culture and behaviours within the organisation. 20 You need to develop a comprehensive and coherent pair of recommendations (10 marks each) that are fully explained and justified, with theory, in the business context at eBay.
For a higher mark, you should consider current or future tensions and apply Change Management theories to support your two recommendations (e.g. Beer, Kotter, Lewin etc.).
Recommendations should not be ‘tagged on’ to the end of the report as an after-thought but be well thought out and linked to the analysis in the previous sections.
Plus, Use of relevant structure, introduction, contents tables and Harvard referencing (10 marks) 10 You need to use correct Harvard referencing and clearly structure their paper, with appropriate titles, subtitles and a reference page.
Short introductions and conclusions should be present.
The language used should be appropriate to the academic context and business communication as outlined, avoiding colloquialisms informal terms and jargon.
For a higher mark, great academic practice, presentation and attention to detail is required.
Total 100