Program structure and content
Change Management
In 6 weeks, move from isolated change initiatives to a context-aware, people-oriented approach to change in your organization.
In this master's module, you will explore how organizations actually change in a rapidly changing and uncertain environment. You will explore how strategy, structure, processes, and digital capabilities interact with behavior, emotions, culture, and power, and why change processes so often turn out differently than planned in practice. You will be introduced to different types of change—from restructuring to digital and AI-related transformations—and learn to look more closely at patterns and forces at work in your own organization.
The human aspect is a recurring theme throughout the module. You will delve into motivation, resistance, group dynamics, and psychological safety, and examine how these processes change when work, roles, and decision-making are influenced by new systems, data, and AI applications. You will be given tools to identify feelings of uncertainty, loss of autonomy, or distrust of technology and to make them discussable.
Finally, you will focus on leadership and intervention design. You will explore how to choose appropriate change strategies based on a sound diagnosis, how to leverage technology without letting figures and dashboards take the lead, and how to work on sustainable change capacity: organizations that can learn, experiment, and adapt. You will bring all your insights together in the first outlines of a realistic, context-aware change plan based on your own case study.
In six weeks, you will complete an online kick-off, three intensive on-campus days, and an in-depth phase. You will conclude with an assignment based on your own organization or client case. By combining theory, frameworks, practical cases, and reflection on your own context, you will develop the insight and skills to better analyze, guide, and embed change in a structural manner.
Online kick-off
During the online kick-off, you will meet the lecturers and fellow participants and introduce your own change assignment. You will receive an overview of the structure of the module and the most important concepts, and explore initial questions about the context of your change: what is going on, who is involved, what tensions or uncertainties are already at play?
Day 1 – Fundamentals of organizing and changing in a digital environment
The first day lays the foundation for effective change management. You will explore the most important approaches within change management and examine how organizations, teams, and individuals respond to course changes, restructuring, and digital transformations. You will learn to distinguish between different types of change and look at how upper stream (strategy, structure, processes, data, digital capabilities) and under stream (culture, relationships, emotions, power, routines) influence each other.
Day 2 – The human factor in change: resistance, dynamics, and psychological safety
The second day focuses on the psychological and social processes that make or break change. You will delve into resistance, motivation, emotions, group dynamics, and psychological safety, and examine how these dynamics change when work processes are digitized and when data and algorithms start to influence decision-making.
Day 3 – Leadership and interventions in a constantly changing organization
The third day focuses on leadership, intervention design, and sustainable change capacity. You will explore how to choose appropriate change strategies based on your diagnosis and how to design interventions that fit the dynamics of your organization—from targeted actions in teams to more systemic interventions on structure, culture, and digital capabilities.
Deepening after the lecture days
After the lecture days, you will delve deeper into the subject matter with literature, (short) online content, and practical assignments. You will apply models and frameworks to your own organizational context, refine your diagnosis, and continue to work on your change strategy step by step. This will increase your insight into patterns, forces, and intervention options, and you will develop an approach that suits the dynamics of your organization.
Assessment of your own practice
You will complete the master's module with an assignment that is directly linked to your work environment and role. In this assignment, you will demonstrate that you can translate the most important insights from the module into a well-founded proposal for a context-aware change strategy or a next step in your change assignment. This means that you will leave the module not only with new knowledge, but also with a concrete plan that can be further implemented in your organization.
