A Case Study of Chris Peterson at DSS Consulting PDF

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Running head: CASE STUDY OF CHRIS PETERSON AT DSS CONSULTING

Case Study of Chris Peterson at DSS Consulting Anita D. Payne ( Empress) ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOP CHANGE (HRMD 650 9041) June 10,2018

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Facts Surrounding the Case In 1997, three retired school administrators started DSS Consulting. The primary purpose of the organization was to provide administrative support to small school districts in the midwest and mountain-west. The schools they aided had limited staff, problems with negotiating labor agreements and setting up procurement systems. DSS consulting had to restructure their agency to deal with the changes that was occurring in the school districts. As a result, DSS split into four departments (1) Information Technology, (2)Facilities Planning, (3) Contract Negotiations and (4)Procurements and Systems. Although they were successful in their business by 2005 things started to change. Those changes included (1) the founders of DSS decreased their involvement in the organization, (2) managerial decisions was passed down to new leaders, (3) organization needed new marketing strategies because of the decrease involvement of the founders, and (4) revenue was stagnate. Consequently, for the organization to grow and be successful they had to strategize, the founders’ decided to (1) promoted Meg Cooke to COO, (2) to expand and offer services to not only the small districts, but the larger school districts as well, and (4) they developed cross-functional teams. Identification of Key Issues There were several key issues surrounding this case. Firstly, the founders limited involvement created the dysfunction of the organization. Their decision negatively impacted the organization in the following ways: (1) management decisions were being passed down to the new leaders and people that were hired from other consulting agencies and (2) since most of the business was generated through the contacts of the founders when their involvement decreased so did the ability to reach those clients. As a result, the new leaders had to come up with a new marketing strategy. Secondly, lack of support from upper level executives and the functional

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specialists to help facilitate the success of the program. Meg Cooke didn’t help Chris when she told her about the issues they were having with other members in the organization not answering Ms. Cooke was more concerned about the project getting completed than the issues Chris and her team were experiencing. In one situation, a Functional Specialist wouldn’t respond to Chris when she or her teammates needed their expertise in handling certain aspects of the project and in another incident a member of the Southwest team asked a functional specialist if they could join the team to help with knowledge and skills the team didn’t possess, and she said No, it wasn’t built in her calendar. Thirdly, poor management and disorganized organization. Meg is not a hands-on manager, she is more of The Laissez-Faire Leader. This type of leader lacks direct supervision of employees and fails to provide regular feedback to those under her supervision, she doesn’t provide adequate support to employees, she wastes company resources, and she waste the time of employees and the organization (Johnson, 2018). DSS Consulting also has issues ranging from time management to not having processes in place to get goals and projects completed efficiently and effectively both repeatedly and consistently. Consequently, these issues can lead to other problems in the business, such as difficulty retaining clients, getting referrals from the clients who are looking for more than you can offer, taking too long to produce and deliver proposals and set up meetings and missing opportunities, all of which DSS is experiencing. Finally, was the lack of communication within the organization. In any business effective communication is a necessity for it to be successful. For communication to be effective, people need to make sure they have clear and concise goals DSS there was a lack of communication from high level executives dwindling down to the different teams. The COO Meg Cooke wasn’t effectively communicating with Chris Peterson or any of the other teams within the

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organization. In addition to no communication between executive and teams there was no communication between the teams to ensure that the project was on scheduled, that each team had the same information, and everyone was meeting goals. Two examples of the lack of communication in the organization are: (1) different teams had no idea what the other team was doing which caused issues not only finishing the project but wasted resources because the project wasn’t used. (2) Management didn’t convey information that was needed for the project to be a success. The same goals and information must be conveyed to everyone, so everyone can be one accord. Alternative Courses of Action that Could be Taken DSS Consulting need to improve on communicating. They could invest in sending executives and managers to leadership communication courses. Communication should start at the high-level executives and work down to the lowest position in an organization. Effective communication can help with the following: (1) make goals and expectations clearly, (2) help manage diversity, (3) build a strong team, (4) elimination of problems that may occur and (5) surviving catastrophes (Sherman, 2018). Furthermore, by effectively communicating, DSS Consulting will succeed, meet deadlines and exceed goals, however a solid communication system must be in existence. When communication breaks down, so does the business. Poor communication can result in low morale in employees, disgruntled clients, family issues, health concerns and a smaller bottom line become chronic workplace issues. The next course of action that the organization should consider using the team approach as a viable way to addressing issues within the company. The team approach uses both internal and external OD Practitioners. Since it is obvious that DSS founders have distanced themselves from the company, however, they need to step back in or hire a qualified OD external practitioner

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to come in and evaluate/restructure their T&D program by using the ATD Competency Model. This model focuses on the characteristics of employees who are successful performing the work. “Competencies are part of people, not the work they do” (ATD Competency Model, n.d.). Competencies do better in pinpointing the unique characteristics of people that lead to success(n.d.). By implementing leadership training programs, it can enhance leader knowledge, skills, abilities, and other components that can lead to not only employees being successful, but saving the organization money and eventually lead to profits by retaining and getting new clients. Finally, DSS should look at different organizational approaches to see which one will work for them. The ADDIE organizational approach should be considered which consist of five phases: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. This approach represents a dynamic, flexible guideline for building effective training and performance support tools. Once they have restructured they can then expand to the Rapid Instructional Design (RID). The RID model, unlike the ADDIE model has four phases which include preparation, presentation, practice and performance (Sözcü, & Ipek, 2014). This model focuses more on the learning environment with more emphasis on practice, feedback and experiences instead of presentations. Evaluation of Alternative Courses of Action Evaluating each of the alternatives it is crucial to explain how the solutions can help create a win-win solution. With an executive-education program on communication, DSS executives can learn to effectively convey their ideas throughout the organization. This can alleviate issues that DSS have concerning Meg such as not listening, teams not being cohesive, wasting time and resources and any future projects that require teamwork. Highly trained employee is an important aspect of business and it is mandatory that all employees have the

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skills and knowledge required to meet the business objectives. There are so many advantages to providing training such as staying ahead of competitors, improved productivity, up-to-date with latest technology, new skills are developed, increased employee morale, and increase profits all of which DSS can gain. However, this price comes with a cost, such as time consuming, employees may leave the organization for a new company with the newly acquired skills, use of valuable resources. Although training can be very costly in the long run, the cost will be justified. Using the ATD competency it can assist the organization in redefining employee skills and knowledge. It also captures changes driven by digital, mobile, and social technology; demographic shifts; globalization; and economic forces. All businesses have its issues, but sometimes it will take an OD external practitioner to come in and shine light to areas where the organization are experiencing issues. The advantages of hiring an external practitioner are (1). Greater freedom of operation, (2) ability to be objective and see things from a different point of view, (3) they are less influenced by the politics of the organization, (4) are more independent and risk takers and (4) more formal in their approach. In contrast, the disadvantages are that they are unfamiliar with the organizational culture and they may have trouble in obtaining the information due to lack of information on data repository and informal channels of communication (Organization Development, n.d.). By using the team approach the organization gets the best of both worlds thus creating a positive and productive work environment. Recommendation of the Best Course of Action Whether you're a manager within an already-successful company or want to propel a business to the forefront, a strong communication strategy and training program have an undeniable impact on the success of an organization. There are other factors involve that contribute to the overall

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success, such as: consistency, providing great service/products, keep up with the trends, have great executives and talented employees. The best course of action for DSS Consulting is to hire an OD external practitioner to work together with someone from DSS and form a team to determine underlying issues and come up with some viable solutions that will create a win-win situation for all parties involved. During this time, they can discover the essentials for effectively engaging the teams, leadership and clients. Also, programs can be created to include lessons on influential speaking to groups, one-on-one communication, strengthening the persuasive capabilities, getting messages across in the most confident and direct way, create standards of productivity so that you can determine how long something should take versus how long it takes. This will help with scheduling, resource management and encourage and welcome the open discussion of opinions and ideas. Creating a win- win situation means that conflicts exists, acknowledge it, finding a common ground between all parties involved, understands all sides of the issue(s), don’t attack each other instead attack the issues, and develop a plan of action. Projects will be successful, increase productivity, goals being met, less stress and resources used efficiently.

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References ATD Competency Model. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.td.org/certification/atd-competency-model Lacerenza, C. N., Reyes, D. L., Marlow, S. L., Joseph, D. L., & Salas, E. (2017). Leadership training design, delivery, and implementation: A meta-analysis. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 102(12), 1686-1718. doi:10.1037/apl0000241 Johnson, R. (2018, March 05). 5 Different Types of Leadership Styles. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/5-different-types-leadership-styles-17584.html Organization Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.zeepedia.com/read.php? the_organization_development_practitioner_external_and_internal_practitioners_organization_d evelopment&b=52&c=10 Sherman, F. (2018, March 15). What Are the Benefits of Effective Communication in the Workplace? Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-effective-communication-workplace20198.html Sözcü, Ö. F., & Ipek, I. (2014). Rapid E-learning Development Strategies and a Multimedia Project Design Model. European Journal Of Contemporary Education, 7(1), 46-53....