| Course | BUSI 335 Leading Change (BUSI335) |
|---|---|
| Module/Week | 1 |
| Assignment | Discussion Board Forum 1 Thread |
| Paper type | Discussion thread |
| Length | about 412 words (thread and replies). Course guide: a thread of at least 400 words written in the third person, demonstrating course-related knowledge, with a citation from at least 1 peer-reviewed article and 1 citation from a course textbook, in current APA format |
| Format | APA 7 citations and reference list |
| Points | 50 |
| School | Liberty University Online |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Where it sits | Module/Week 1 in Liberty's published BUSI 335 course guide; current sections can differ |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUSI 335 Week 1
Discussion Board Forum 1 Thread: How Often Change Fails and Why the Number Matters
BUSI 335 Leading Change, Discussion Board Forum 1 Thread
Thread by [Student Name]
The forum prompt and the hospital example are composites; the textbook and research cited are real, and the thread is written in the third person as the guide requires.
Managers and consultants often repeat that about 70 percent of organizational change initiatives fail. The figure appears in books, articles and presentations, and it is usually offered as a warning: change is hard, and most attempts collapse. The question for a student of change management is whether the number is true, and what follows if it is not.
Hughes (2011) set out to answer that question by tracing the claim back through the published literature. The figure turned out to come from a handful of sources, several of them practitioner books and articles, and none provided valid and reliable empirical evidence of a consistent 70 percent failure rate across organizational change. Different studies defined change, success and failure in different ways, which makes a single figure meaningless. Hughes concluded that the claim had become accepted through repetition rather than research. A statistic repeated often enough begins to sound like evidence, even when no one can find the study behind it.
The finding fits the textbook's opening argument. Palmer et al. (2016) describe change management as a field full of stories and paradoxes, where managers must make sense of competing accounts of what works. A failure rate is one such story. It can be useful if it encourages careful planning, but it can also discourage managers from attempting needed changes or give them an excuse when a change goes poorly.
A composite example shows why definitions matter. A regional hospital introduced a new electronic records system on time and within budget, but nurses reported spending more time charting during the first year, and physicians complained about the interface. Measured by schedule and budget, the project succeeded. Measured by user satisfaction in the first year, it struggled. Measured by medication errors two years later, which fell, it succeeded again. Whether the change counts among the 70 percent depends entirely on which measure is chosen and when.
The practical lesson for managers is to define success at the start of a change, in terms that matter to the organization, and to decide when it will be judged. Rather than assuming that most changes fail, a leader can ask what this particular change must accomplish, for whom and by when.
Students who meet the 70 percent figure in later courses can apply the same habit. Before repeating any statistic about change, it is worth asking who measured it, how failure was defined and whether the result has been replicated in more than one kind of organization.
References
Hughes, M. (2011). Do 70 per cent of all organizational change initiatives really fail? Journal of Change Management, 11(4), 451-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2011.630506
Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Buchanan, D. A. (2016). Managing organizational change: A multiple perspectives approach (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
What the BUSI 335 Week 1 instructions ask
BUSI 335 begins with chapter 1 of Palmer, Dunford and Buchanan, on stories and paradoxes in managing change, a presentation, the syllabus checklist, introductions and Connect Quiz 1. For the opening forum, students post a thread of 400 words or more that answers the prompt from the first chapter, backed by a journal article that passed peer review and by Palmer or another assigned text, all referenced in current APA style. The guide also asks that writing be in the third person, though life examples are welcome, and it encourages longer threads that add to the discussion. Worth 50 points, the thread draws replies from classmates a module/week later.
How this BUSI 335 Week 1 example is built
The thread opens by stating the common claim and the question the forum raises about it. It then reports a review that followed the 70 percent figure back through the literature, explaining what the review found and what it concluded. A paragraph connects this to the textbook's view that managers should read change stories critically. A composite hospital example shows how the same project can be called a success or a failure depending on the measure. The thread ends with practical advice on defining success at the start of a change, written throughout in the third person. Two citations carry the argument: the Hughes review supplies the evidence and the textbook supplies the course's way of reading change stories.
BUSI 335 Week 1 grading rubric: where the points go
The thread is graded on whether it answers the prompt with knowledge from the opening chapter, reaches at least 400 words, cites at least one peer-reviewed article and one textbook in current APA format, and is written in the third person. Instructors value threads that examine a claim critically rather than repeating it, and that apply ideas to a realistic example. Slipping into the first person, citing popular business articles in place of peer-reviewed research or summarizing the chapter without answering the prompt reduces the score. A strong Forum 1 thread also distinguishes between what a source actually found and what later writers claimed it found.
BUSI 335 Week 1 help: mistakes that cost points
Read the prompt for its question and answer it directly. Use the textbook for the course's framing and at least one peer-reviewed article for evidence. Write in the third person throughout; describe personal experience as an example from a workplace rather than with I or me. When a statistic is widely repeated, check where it comes from before using it. End with a practical point for managers. Longer threads are welcome under the guide, but every paragraph should add to the argument. For this forum, a quick search of the article databases for the source behind a popular change statistic often turns up a review like the one used here, which makes a stronger thread than repeating the figure.
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- BUSI 335 Week 2: Forum 1 Replies
- BUSI 335 Week 3: Forum 2 Thread
- BUSI 335 Week 4: Forum 2 Replies
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- BUSI 335 Week 6: Forum 3 Replies
- BUSI 335 Week 7: Forum 4 Thread
- BUSI 335 Week 8: Faith and Leading Change Essay
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BUSI 335 Week 1 questions, answered
What is the BUSI 335 Forum 1 Thread?
The 50-point first thread of BUSI 335, due in Module/Week 1: at least 400 words in the third person citing a peer-reviewed article and a course textbook.
Where can I find a free BUSI 335 Week 1 sample paper?
This page has a full BUSI 335 Week 1 thread questioning the claim that 70 percent of organizational changes fail. It traces the figure to its sources.
Do 70 percent of change initiatives fail?
A review that traced the claim through the literature found no valid empirical evidence supporting a single failure rate of 70 percent for organizational change.
Why must BUSI 335 posts be in the third person?
The guide requires third-person writing for forum posts, a formal academic style, while still encouraging examples drawn from real workplaces. Classmates are named rather than addressed.
What else is due in BUSI 335 Module/Week 1?
Alongside the thread, students finish Connect Quiz 1, sign off on the syllabus checklist and post an introduction, after reading Palmer's opening chapter on change stories.
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