IOP3705 Assignment 2 (COMPLETE ANSWERS) Semester 1 2025 - DUE April 2025

IOP3705 Assignment 2 (COMPLETE ANSWERS) Semester 1 2025 - DUE April 2025; 100% TRUSTED Complete, trusted solutions and explanations. For assistance, Whats-App 0.6.7-1.7.1-1.7.3.9. Ensure your success with us. ...Case Study: Digital Solutions Group (DSG) Digital Solutions Group (DSG) is a technology consulting firm founded in 2010 that provides digital transformation services for businesses across various sectors. Over the years, DSG has built a reputation for delivering innovative solutions and driving digitalisation efforts for its clients. However, the company’s rapid expansion over the last five years has led to internal inefficiencies, employee dissatisfaction, and challenges in maintaining high-quality client service. DSG’s leadership initiated a comprehensive organisational development (OD) process to address these issues and engaged Dr Samuel Collins, an experienced OD consultant, to lead the change efforts. 1. Restructuring internal teams to break down silos and encourage greater collaboration across departments. 2. Implementing a mentorship program to provide employees with professional development opportunities and enhance retention rates. 3. Enhancing leadership capabilities through training programs to foster effective communication, team empowerment, and conflict resolution. Although Dr. Collins had extensive experience in OD, he lacked technical expertise in digital transformation technologies. As a result, his plan overlooked critical aspects of technology integration and client management. During the implementation phase, leadership restructuring and team-building exercises were carried out successfully, but these changes led to inefficiencies in client-facing operations. Developers and consultants struggled to adapt to the new collaborative structure, finding it challenging to manage multiple client projects simultaneously without the appropriate technological infrastructure to support them. The failure to address the necessary technological tools and systems resulted in delays in project timelines and increased client dissatisfaction. Additionally, while the mentorship program was beneficial in some areas, it lacked alignment with the rapidly changing digital landscape, making it difficult for employees to build the specific skills needed to thrive in their roles. Dr. Collins became increasingly isolated from the technical teams as the change initiative progressed. His lack of familiarity with digital transformation technologies made it challenging to provide relevant guidance or address the obstacles developers and consultants faced. Despite efforts to involve technical experts in the process, resistance from employees grew as they began to question the effectiveness of the changes and the leadership’s ability to support them. 3 Ultimately, the OD intervention at DSG did not achieve its intended outcomes. Although some positive cultural changes were made, the lack of technical expertise and insufficient focus on technological integration decreased employee morale, client satisfaction, and service quality. The leadership at DSG was disappointed with the outcomes and began questioning whether a consultant without the necessary technical knowledge could effectively lead a successful OD effort in a technology-driven company. QUESTION 1 Discuss the four activities involved in the general model of planned change and indicate whether you feel these steps were adhered to in the above case study. Substantiate your answer with relevant examples from the case study. (16) QUESTION 2 External consultants may have several advantages over internal consultants. However, they may also face some disadvantages. Describe any four (4) disadvantages of external OD consultants, specifically during the various stages of the planned change process. (4) QUESTION 3 Discuss the critical areas in the contracting phase and indicate whether the essential aspects were addressed. Would you have done it differently? Please motivate clearly. (10) QUESTION 4 Identify and critically discuss the 5 (five) ethical dilemmas this initiative might present and how to avoid them. Substantiate your answer with relevant examples from the case study. (10) TECHNICAL ASPECTS A further ten (10) marks are awarded for the technical presentation of your assignment, which includes the table of contents, introduction, headings and numbering, conclusion, in-text referencing and the reference list). (10)