| Course | BU 427 Change Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 5 |
| Paper type | Communication sequence plan |
| Length | About 950 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BS in Business Management |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for BU 427 Unit 5
The Readers Hear It First, the Customers Hear It From Their Reader: A Communication Sequence Plan for Five Audiences as a Composite City Utility Automates Its Meters
Student Name
Business, Herzing University
BU 427: Change Management
Instructor Name
March 11, 2026
The Readers Hear It First, the Customers Hear It From Their Reader: A Communication Sequence Plan for Five Audiences as a Composite City Utility Automates Its Meters
What the Plan Has to Do
The automated meter project at Cedar Prairie Municipal Utilities, the invented utility this course keeps returning to, has so far traveled mostly as rumor. The meter readers heard about the vendor deadline secondhand in November 2025, and the readiness record found low scores for management support, rooted in a 2019 system conversion when promised training arrived late. The force field analysis identified uncertainty about jobs as the heaviest restraining force. This plan schedules five messages over six months, each to a specific audience, delivered by someone that audience believes, and each with a return path so the utility hears back rather than only broadcasting.
Two principles set the order. Bridges and Bridges (2016) argue that people must be helped through what they are losing before they can hear about what is new, so the group losing the most hears first. Larkin and Larkin (1994) found that frontline employees trust information from their own supervisor, delivered face to face, far more than messages from senior executives or company publications, so messengers are chosen for credibility with each audience rather than for rank.
The Sequence at a Glance
The table shows the five messages in order. The sections that follow explain each one.
| No. | When | Audience | Messenger | Channel | Return path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | First week | The nine meter readers | Operations manager, with the general manager present | Meeting, then individual letters | One-to-one meetings within five days |
| 2 | Second week | All 71 staff | Operations manager and a senior meter reader | Monthly staff meeting | Written questions answered within ten days |
| 3 | Fourth week | Customer service and billing | Customer service supervisor | Working session | Shared log of customer questions, reviewed weekly |
| 4 | Month 3 | Customers in the first district | Their own meter reader | Door hanger, letter, library meeting | Dedicated phone line and meeting questions |
| 5 | Month 6 | Utility commission and council | General manager | Public commission session | Commissioners' questions in session |
Message 1: The Readers
The first message goes to the nine meter readers, in a meeting away from the rest of the staff, a week before anyone else hears the plan. The operations manager, who supervises the readers and has worked with most of them for years, leads it; the general manager attends to show the no-layoff commitment is real, and a union steward is invited. The content is what ends and what does not. Manual routes will end district by district over 18 months. No one will be laid off. Four readers will become meter service technicians with paid training, three will move to named roles, and two expect to retire on their own timelines. Each reader receives a letter stating their own expected role and dates.
The return path is a one-to-one meeting with the operations manager and human resources within five days, where each reader can question their letter. Questions from these meetings, with names removed, feed Message 2.
Message 2: All Staff
The second message goes to all staff at the monthly meeting. The operations manager presents the schedule, the reason for it and one specific commitment: training for every affected group will finish before that group's work changes. That commitment answers the 2019 memory directly, and it is stated with a named person accountable for it. A senior meter reader who has agreed to speak explains, in their own words, what the readers were told. Their presence matters because the rest of the staff will watch how the readers are treated to judge how they themselves would be treated. Written questions go in a box at the meeting and online, and answers are posted within ten days, including answers of "not decided yet" with a date for a decision.
Message 3: Customer Service and Billing
Customer service and billing staff hear the details that customers will ask about before customers hear anything. The customer service supervisor runs a working session covering installation dates, what hourly data will show, who can see it and how bills will change. Staff draft answers together rather than receiving a script, since they know which questions customers actually ask. The return path is a shared log in which staff record every customer question about the meters; the supervisor reviews it weekly and passes unanswered questions to operations. Lewis (2011) describes implementers who can answer questions as a critical channel in change communication, and this session prepares them to be one.
Message 4: Customers in the First District
Customers in the first district hear about installation about a month beforehand. The messenger is chosen with care: the reader who has read that route, carrying a door hanger with dates and a phone number and a letter from the utility. Customers know their reader by sight, and hearing about the change from that person, rather than from a mailing alone, answers the unspoken question of what happened to them. A notice in the city newsletter and a meeting at the public library follow. The letter states plainly that installation costs nothing, that hourly data belongs to the customer's account and will not be sold, and how to ask questions. The return path is a dedicated phone line staffed by customer service and the questions raised at the library meeting.
Message 5: The Commission
Six months in, the general manager reports to the commission in public session with evidence rather than intentions: results from the 60 test meters in east-side basements, the number of future technicians who have finished their first training module and a repeat of the readiness survey. The return path is the commission's own questioning, on the public record.
When There Is Nothing to Announce
Long projects create silences that rumor fills. Between the five messages, the operations manager posts a short update on the first working day of every month, even when it says only what happened, what did not and when the next decision is due. A month with no news still gets an update saying so. Those who hear nothing tend to assume the worst, and in a utility where the 2019 conversion is remembered, the regular update is a way of keeping the one promise staff most doubt. The utility, its people and every message here are composites for this course.
References
Bridges, W., & Bridges, S. (2016). Managing transitions: Making the most of change (4th ed.). Da Capo Lifelong Books.
Larkin, T. J., & Larkin, S. (1994). Communicating change: Winning employee support for new business goals. McGraw-Hill.
Lewis, L. K. (2011). Organizational change: Creating change through strategic communication. Wiley-Blackwell.
Reading the BU 427 Unit 5 instructions
BU 427 Unit 5 turns to communicating a change. Instructions commonly require identifying audiences, deciding the order in which they hear, choosing messengers and channels, describing the content of each message and building ways for the organization to hear back. Many prompts ask students to justify messenger choices with research on credibility and to explain how the plan addresses resistance or readiness issues found earlier. A timeline or table is usually expected. Plans often cover four to six messages. A finished plan is often three to five pages, APA 7 throughout. Strong plans also say what happens between announcements, since long changes create silences that rumor fills.
How this BU 427 Unit 5 example is built
The plan opens by linking back to the readiness and force field findings, then states two principles for sequencing: the group losing most hears first, and messengers are chosen for credibility, not rank. A table sets out all five messages with timing, audience, messenger, channel and return path. Each message then has its own section describing content and the reasoning behind it, from the readers' meeting with personal letters to the door hangers carried by each route's reader. Customer service is prepared before customers hear anything. The commission receives test results and a repeat survey. A final section commits to a monthly update, including months with no news, as a way of keeping the promise staff most doubt.
Where the points sit in the BU 427 Unit 5 rubric
Communication plan rubrics at Herzing tend to score audience analysis, sequencing, messenger and channel choice, feedback mechanisms and overall coherence with the change, plus writing and APA. Audience analysis earns credit when each group's stake is described. Sequencing is judged on whether the order has a stated rationale. Messenger choice scores highest when supported by research on credibility and matched to each audience. Feedback criteria reward return paths that are scheduled and specific, such as one-to-one meetings or a question log, rather than an open door. Coherence earns top marks when the plan answers problems found in earlier units, such as distrust from a past project, showing the course's work connected.
BU 427 Unit 5 help before you submit
Communication plans often lose points by sending the same message to everyone at once, ignoring that groups have different stakes. Another common mistake is choosing senior leaders as messengers for every audience, when frontline staff often trust their own supervisors more. Students frequently list channels, such as email, intranet and town hall, without saying what each message contains. Feedback is often a single line inviting questions, with no mechanism or timeline. Some plans tell customers before preparing the staff who will answer their calls. Others ignore readiness or resistance findings from earlier units. Finally, plans that stop communicating between milestones leave room for rumor, which the sample addresses with a standing monthly update.
Get a BU 427 Unit 5 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 5 instructions and rubric from your BU 427 classroom, along with the change and audiences the assignment names. We write a custom example that groups audiences by consequence, sets the order before the content, argues each messenger and designs the path replies come back along. First custom sample free, back in 24 to 48 hours.
More BU 427 papers and business management samples
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- BU 427 Unit 7: Rollout phasing plan
- BU 427 Unit 8: Change case file
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BU 427 Unit 5 questions, answered
How many messages should the sequence hold?
Enough to cover the announcement, the detail, the stretch of doing the work and the point where it becomes normal, which is usually four to six. A single announcement is not a sequence. What earns marks is the ordering argument rather than the count, so if you have five messages, five reasons for their positions should appear alongside them.
Should senior leadership deliver everything?
Rarely, and assuming so is the commonest weakness in these plans. Research your course supplies usually finds people want the organizational case from a senior voice and the personal consequences from their own supervisor. Splitting the plan that way, and saying why, shows the messenger question was actually considered rather than answered by seniority alone.
What do I write when there is nothing to announce?
Something short and honest saying where the work has reached and when the next update comes. A holding message costs little and prevents the vacuum that rumor fills. What it must not do is promise an outcome nobody has decided, because a reassurance issued in a quiet period is the sentence people remember when the decision goes the other way.
Where can I find a free BU 427 Unit 5 sample paper?
The complete BU 427 Unit 5 communication sequence plan is free on this page, with the five-message table, the reasoning for each messenger and margin notes. If your audiences or timeline differ, forward the instructions and a custom plan is written free, usually within two days.
Who should deliver messages in BU 427 Unit 5?
Whoever each audience trusts most. The sample uses the readers' own supervisor for the readers and each route's reader for customers, citing research that frontline staff believe their direct supervisors more than senior executives.