EAC 556 Organization Change in HRD: Theory and Practice As a military officer, the transition to civilian corporate thinking

g was one of the most intriguing and challenging aspects of the Training and Development program. This group project stood out in my mind because it exemplified that challenge as well as the learning and growth that can arise when such challenges are approached with an open mind and a desire to improve. The goal of this specific project was for the group to select a leader who had facilitated significant change in a particular field or area and to discuss the techniques, characteristics, and actions that the individual had taken in order to bring about that change. The leader didnt necessarily have to be American or from the corporate world some groups chose leaders such as Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and other peaceful reformers. Our group chose to center its project on Larry Page, one of the Google co-founders. I honestly had never heard the name Larry Page prior to one of my team members suggesting him as the focus of our project, but, like nearly everyone in modern society, I was familiar with the ubiquitous name Google. Google is world-renowned for its innovative approach to corporate culture and it is perennially considered one of the premiere companies in terms of both performance and employee quality-of-life. Through this project, I significantly increased my knowledge about the typical corporate culture in America and how Google was able to challenge and change this culture while still having the type of tremendous financial success that most companies only dream about. Understanding organizational change is the objective of EAC 556. This group assignment was the culmination of a semesters worth of instruction and Larry Page was a phenomenal subject to study in terms of a single individual who was had a significant impact on an entire culture in a short time. Importantly as well, was the understanding I gained that large-scale organizational change must start with one person or a small group of people and the change that occurs in them. For me, this class was part of the change process. I had to challenge the boundaries of my comfort zone and dive into civilian corporations, technical career fields, and financial terminology with which I was unfamiliar. Fortunately, my group provided strong support and we helped each other succeed. The biggest takeaway for me from this project was an understanding that change can occur in any regime and at any level. Organizational change in the civilian sector isnt greatly different from organizational change in the military sector or any other regime and recognizing how to change and grow as an individual is the first step towards affecting change on a larger scale.