Second Annual Change Management Competition Winners Announced

PROVO, Utah — Jan 16, 2007 — A Marriott School student majoring in finance won first place for his analysis and recommendations in the second annual In Any Case, Change competition presented by BYU’s Dyer Institute for Leading Organizational Change.

The competition invited students taking organizational behavior classes to submit solutions for individually selected business cases that dealt with organizational change. Students were asked to emphasize the specific steps required to implement their solutions in a written brief. Six finalists were chosen from a field of 25 entries and asked to present their reports in an oral presentation on Dec. 15, 2006.

“This competition challenges students to apply themselves in the real world of organizational change,” says Tenneson Woolf, managing director of the Dyer Institute. “We challenged students to go beyond listing ideas and to dive more deeply into how they would implement their change plans. Today’s leaders and managers must develop this ability if they are to be successful.”

Jacob Zornes, from Renton, Wash., took first place and a $500 cash award for his report “Where Will Tomorrow’s Leaders be Found?” Zornes’ report involved a Utah company whose customer and employee issues were mishandled by supervisors. He made recommendations to fix the situation and outlined a possible training course for supervisors. Second place went to Dan Thomas, a business management major from Park City, Utah, while Derrick Davis, an accounting student from Roseville, Calif., took third.

“I think people often ask what needs to be changed without asking how it can be accomplished,” Thomas says. “This opportunity gave us a chance to apply the principles we learned throughout the semester. I am sure that next time I apply an organizational change I will be able to look at it with some background experience and a more critical eye.”

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, organizational behavior and entrepreneurship. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.