Changing a marketing quantitative unit's perception of quality: a reflection on the search for short-term wins

This paper critically reflects on a change intervention being run in an Australian university, for an undergraduate quantitative marketing metrics unit which has experienced low quality unit student evaluations, and uses Kotter's (2007; 2008) eight stage framework as a means for identifying missing key steps in the change intervention process. This paper uses this analysis to examine what makes a quantitative marketing subject change intervention successful and sustainable. It could be suggested that on the basis of the short-term wins identified the change intervention could be interpreted as successful. However when quantitative end of semester evaluations were published there was no statistical improvement in unit quality satisfaction. Practical implications are also discussed.