| Course | EDO 816 Leading in Highly Uncertain and Rapidly Changing Environments |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 8 |
| Paper type | Doctoral change leadership plan |
| Length | About 1,079 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Doctor of Education |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for EDO 816 Module 8
Frame, Build Capacity, Then Step Back: A Change Leadership Plan for a Small College Facing an Uncertain Decade
Student Name
Doctor of Education Program, Aspen University
EDO 816: Leading in Highly Uncertain and Rapidly Changing Environments
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Frame, Build Capacity, Then Step Back: A Change Leadership Plan for a Small College Facing an Uncertain Decade
Over seven modules, this course has followed Halden College, a fictional campus facing a decade it cannot forecast. Each module produced a finding. This final paper, written from my role as associate provost for planning, turns those findings into a plan for leading change over the next three years. The college, my role and every figure are fictional.
What the Course Found
| Module | Finding | Implication for leading change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pressures differ in kind; one is ambiguous, one not uncertain at all | Match responses to kinds of uncertainty |
| 2 | An episodic plan failed in an organization already changing continuously | Map change already under way before planning |
| 3 | Delay in sensegiving let rumor define a crisis | Offer provisional frames within forty-eight hours |
| 4 | Learning stays with individuals and leaks away | Build shared memory and comparison groups |
| 5 | Two strategic options are robust across scenarios | Act on robust options; prepare contingent ones |
| 6 | A key decision took eleven months | Use a time-limited protocol for discrete decisions |
| 7 | Ambivalence, partly caused by leaders, was called resistance | Repair trust, involve people, treat objections as information |
Choosing an Approach
Higgs and Rowland (2005) studied change initiatives in several organizations through interviews and stories told by those involved. They classified approaches to change by whether they assumed change was linear and predictable or complex and emergent, and by whether they were driven from the center or distributed. Emergent approaches were associated with more successful change. They also examined leader behaviors and found that shaping behavior, in which leaders made change about themselves and controlled its details, was associated with less success, while framing change, establishing starting points and a clear rationale, and creating capacity, building the skills and connections others needed, were associated with more.
The approach fits what Halden's history shows. The restructuring in Module 2 was a directive, leader-centric effort that failed. The retention pilots in Module 4 showed capacity scattered among individuals without structures to connect it. An emergent approach in which senior leaders frame direction and build capacity, while letting faculty and staff shape the details, matches both the evidence and Halden's character.
Matching Leaders to Activities
Battilana et al. (2010) studied clinical managers in the British National Health Service who were implementing planned change. They examined three change activities, communicating the need for change, mobilizing others to support it and evaluating its implementation, and found that managers' competencies predicted which activities they emphasized. Managers stronger in task-oriented competencies were more likely to emphasize communicating the need for change and evaluating implementation, while those stronger in person-oriented competencies were more likely to emphasize mobilizing others.
Halden can apply this directly. The chief financial officer and institutional research director, strong in task-oriented skills, will lead the analysis behind each decision and the evaluation of each change. The dean of students and two widely trusted faculty members, strong in person-oriented skills, will lead mobilizing work, from the design teams in Module 7 to the learning group in Module 4.
Attending to Those Most Affected
Herold et al. (2008) studied employees in many organizations undergoing change and examined how two kinds of leadership related to their commitment to the change: general transformational leadership and change-specific leadership, the leader's behavior in planning and implementing the particular change. Transformational leadership was more strongly related to followers' commitment than change-specific practices, and the difference was greatest when the change had significant personal consequences for followers. Change-specific practices mattered more where transformational leadership was weak. For staff whose jobs move to the shared center, then, commitment will depend most on whether the people leading them are leaders they already trust and admire. The plan therefore asks the long-serving finance manager who stayed, respected across both offices, to co-lead the center's first year, and it pairs the vice president for finance, whose standing with staff was damaged in Module 7, with careful change-specific practices: clear plans, kept agreements and regular updates.
The Plan on Two Tracks
| Track | Change | Approach | Owner | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discrete decisions | Tuition reset, residence hall phase one, partnership contract | Ninety-day protocol from Module 6 | Cabinet, with CFO leading analysis | As each decision arises |
| Continuous change | Academic restructuring, adult degree program, retention practice | Frame, build capacity, redirect; design teams and learning group | Provost, with person-oriented leaders mobilizing | Year 1 framing, years 2 and 3 redirection |
| Sensegiving | Responses to surprises | Forty-eight-hour provisional frame, interpretation team | President and associate provost | Ongoing |
| Monitoring | Scenario signposts and learning record | Annual review each fall | Associate provost | Each October |
Measures
Progress will be judged by four groups of measures from earlier modules: the signposts from Module 5, reviewed each fall; first-year retention, with comparison groups for every pilot, from Module 4; the time taken to make discrete decisions against the ninety-day standard; and staff commitment, surveyed in the affected offices each spring using items on affective commitment drawn from Module 7. If commitment in the shared center falls or decisions again exceed six months, the plan will be revised.
A Different Role for Trustees
The plan also changes what the board sees and decides. Instead of a single enrollment forecast, the board will receive the scenario signposts each fall and decide whether any threshold has been crossed. Instead of approving finished plans, it will approve direction and guardrails for continuous changes and receive progress reports from the design teams. And for discrete decisions, it will commit to the ninety-day protocol, which means accepting that some decisions will be made with less certainty than members would like. Board members who served through the failed restructuring have said they want to be consulted earlier; the plan gives them that role in exchange for less control over details.
My Role
As associate provost I can frame, convene and monitor, but I do not control the budget or the board. My own tendency, visible in Module 6, is to ask for one more study. The plan's time limits apply to me as much as to anyone.
Conclusion
Halden's leaders have tended to direct change from the top and then encounter what they called resistance. Higgs and Rowland support an emergent approach in which leaders frame change and build capacity, Battilana and colleagues show how to match leaders to activities and Herold and colleagues show where change-specific leadership matters most. A two-track plan, with measures drawn from the whole course, gives Halden a way to lead through a decade it cannot predict.
References
Battilana, J., Gilmartin, M., Sengul, M., Pache, A.-C., & Alexander, J. A. (2010). Leadership competencies for implementing planned organizational change. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(3), 422-438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.03.007
Herold, D. M., Fedor, D. B., Caldwell, S., & Liu, Y. (2008). The effects of transformational and change leadership on employees' commitment to a change: A multilevel study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2), 346-357. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.2.346
Higgs, M., & Rowland, D. (2005). All changes great and small: Exploring approaches to change and its leadership. Journal of Change Management, 5(2), 121-151. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697010500082902
What the EDO 816 Module 8 instructions ask for
EDO 816 ends with a change leadership plan, and the final paper typically asks students to integrate the course into a plan for leading change in a real organization. Your Aspen classroom's Module 8 prompt governs; the college and the writer's role are invented. Summarize what earlier analyses found. Choose a change approach and leadership behaviors, justified by research. Match leadership competencies to the activities the change requires. Lay out actions, owners and timing. Define measures of progress and how the plan will adapt, citing peer-reviewed research in APA 7 form.
How the EDO 816 Module 8 example is put together
Every module feeds the plan: Halden's pressures sorted by kind of uncertainty, the failed restructuring, the closure week, the lost retention lessons, four scenarios, an eleven-month decision and the shared services reaction. Higgs and Rowland (Journal of Change Management) support an emergent approach in which leaders frame change and build capacity instead of directing every step. Battilana and colleagues (The Leadership Quarterly) guide assigning task-oriented leaders to planning and evaluation and person-oriented leaders to mobilizing people. Herold and colleagues (Journal of Applied Psychology) explain why the people leading the shared center must be leaders staff already trust, since for those personally affected, a leader's broader relationship counts for more than change-specific practices. The plan runs on two tracks: discrete decisions, such as the tuition reset, handled with the ninety-day protocol from Module 6, and continuous change, such as academic restructuring and the adult degree program, handled by framing, learning and redirection. Measures and signposts come from Modules 4, 5 and 7.
Where the marks sit in the EDO 816 Module 8 rubric
Final change plans are graded on integration, on grounding choices in research and on practicality. This example assembles seven modules of findings into one table, then uses Higgs and Rowland to choose an approach that fits what those findings revealed, notably the failure of top-down shaping in Module 2. Battilana and colleagues add a practical step often missing, assigning leaders to activities by competency. Herold and colleagues shape who should lead the change for staff affected by the partnership. The two-track design reflects Weick and Quinn's distinction from Module 2, showing integration across the course. Measures, owners and dates make the plan accountable, and the closing section names the writer's own habit that the plan must guard against.
EDO 816 Module 8 help: mistakes that cost marks
Final change plans often restate each module's conclusions and add a timeline without a unifying approach. Choose an approach to change based on research and on what your earlier analyses revealed, and let it shape every action. Another common weakness is assigning every task to the top leader; research suggests matching leaders' competencies to activities and building capacity in others. Distinguish discrete decisions from continuous change, since they need different methods. Attach measures to the plan and say how it will adapt. Finally, reflect on your own position, authority and habits as a leader of change.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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EDO 816 Module 8 questions, answered
What does EDO 816 Module 8 usually ask for?
Aspen's EDO 816 ends with a change leadership plan, so integrating the course into a research-based plan for leading change in a real organization is typical. Your Module 8 prompt sets the scope.
Which approach to change works best?
Higgs and Rowland found emergent approaches, with leaders framing change and building capacity, associated with more success than leader-centric shaping.
Do different change activities need different leaders?
Battilana and colleagues found task-oriented competencies supported planning and evaluation, while person-oriented competencies supported mobilizing people.
Where can I find a free EDO 816 Module 8 sample paper?
This page holds a free, complete change leadership plan for an invented small college, built from seven earlier analyses.
Does leadership affect commitment to change?
Herold and colleagues found transformational leadership related more strongly to commitment than change-specific practices, especially when the change affected followers personally.