Take a look at the following scenario, determine which of the three models of change would be most appropriate, and answer the questions below.

Scenario

Acme corporation has had recent problems with increased turnover of employees and decreased profitability. However, leadership is not sure exactly what the problem is or what to do about it. Senior managers have been arguing for many months about what to do, but it is clear that leadership does not have a strategy to get the company back on track. The company (prior to organizational changes) had 24 sales associates that averaged $423,000 in combined sales each month with a profit margin of 32%. This breaks down to a monthly sales average of $17, 625 per sales associate.

Since the changeover, the employees are stretched thin and have become demoralized as management has been slow to respond to the turnover and has increased pressure to exceed monthly goals. The average monthly sales have steadily decreased for six months after the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) replaced the vice president of sales, two sales directors, and six sales managers with employees from another organization. The Vice President, directors, and managers have yet to establish relationships, are not very engaging or motivating, have more of a transactional style of leadership, and micro-manage every detail of the sales associates performance. The following table shows company sales performance since January of this year and includes month, number of staff, average sales, profit percentage and total profit.

Month	SalesStaff	Sales	Profit%	Profit$
January	20	$322,800	32%	$103,296
February	19	$321,100	32%	$102,752
March	18	$318,500	32%	$101,920
April	18	$267,900	32%	$85,728
May	15	$260,500	32%	$83,360
June	12	$247,700	32%	$79,264

Please use the scenario and the table above to answer the following questions (support each section with sources from the required and optional readings list):

1. your thoughts on the scenario and why it happened.
2. Explain which organizational change model (Kotter's Eight-Step, Lewin's Three-Step, or the Stages of an Action Research Project) would be most suited for this scenario supporting your decision and response with a source from the required or optional readings list.
3. Provide a solution to the scenario and build a plan of action for this organization using the individual steps of your chosen change model.
4. Use and fill in the table below with your expected forecast potential to show growth in sales staff, sales, and total profit from July through December. Use the formula below the table (New Month Sales x 32% = ______), to calculate expected sales and profit percent for an increase in profit dollars for Acme Corporation.
5. Provide a discussion on how your proposed change model associates with your completed monthly table below.

Table 1: Expected Sales and Profit Forecast

Month	SalesStaff	Sales	Profit%	Total Profit$
July			32%
August			32%
September			32%
October			32%
November			32%
December			32%

• New Monthly Sales X Profit Percentage = Total profit
• Conclusion

Hartzell, S. (2014, April 27). Lewin, stage model of change unfreezing changing refreezing animatedpart5 [Video]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kerDFvln7hU

Hartzell, S. (2014, December 15). Explaining Kotter's 8 step change model [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ3EGdZ3_pU

Next, read the following as it relates to the five phases of Action Research:

Center for Education Innovation. (n.d.). Stages of an action research project. Retrieved from http://cei.ust.hk/files/public/ar_intro_stages_of_an_action_research_project.pdf

Read the following on Lewin's change model in this short reading which also includes a supplementary video:

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2009). Chapter 3: Organizational Change. In Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools & techniques of organizational change (2nd ed.). [Books24x7 version]. Available from the Trident Online Library. Look under Additional Library Resources > Skillsoft Books (BusinessPro and ITPro) and search for31025.

Finally, read up on Kotter's model from the classic original article by Kotter himself:

Kotter, J. P. (2007). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 85(1), 96-103. Available from the Trident Online Library. Look under Additional Library Resources > Business Source Complete (EBSCO) and search the author and title.

Anson, J. H. (2011). Leaders are the critical element in the network: Applying the Kotter Change model in shaping future information systems. Army Communicator, 36(4), 20-27. Retrieved from https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a559842.pdf

Haneberg, L. (2005). Chapter 3: The action research approach to change. In Organization Development Basics. [Books24x7 version]. Available from the Trident Online Library. Look under Additional Library Resources > Skillsoft Books (BusinessPro and ITPro) and search for 12180 haneberg.

Schein, E. H. (2010). Chapter 17: A conceptual model for managed cultural change. In Organizational culture and leadership (4th ed.). [Books24x7 version]. Available from the Trident Online Library. Look under Additional Library Resources > Skillsoft Books (BusinessPro and ITPro) and search for 36500.