Organization Development and Change - 10th ed - part 2

["742 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT through open innovation that leverages and nurtures cultural diversity and the ecology.48 It defines a vision, strategy, and future path for OD. OD will work to shape a global economy populated with flexible, innovative, networked, and ecologically responsible organizations that thrive on cultural diversity. As an important influence of this world vision, OD is more likely to develop interventions that drive effectiveness in a broader range of organizations, support technological and managerial innovation, and advocate for ecologically sustainable and socially diverse practices. OD Will Be More Involved in Driving Effectiveness in a Broader Range of Organizations Responsible progress affirms that all forms of organizations should pursue economic success. It suggests, however, that organizations should not achieve that success at the expense of cultural diversity and the ecology. When OD lacks the shared values and applied focus of responsible progress, success can lead to cultural assimilation and ecological damage. The changing context of OD, in particular the economic and organizational trends, suggest that planned change in the future should be as concerned with effectiveness as it is with traditional values of participation and workplace democracy. It will also be applied to a more diverse client base. Traditionally, OD focused on large business organizations, but three other types of organizations increasingly will become targets of planned change: small entrepreneurial start-ups, government organizations, and global social change organizations. Small, entrepreneurial start-ups are an important and underserved market for OD. Many of these organizations are at the forefront of the technology trends cited earlier. Because they are often funded by expensive and finite venture capital, time is their scarcest asset and the one most critical to their success. As a result, entrepreneurial firms generally have a clear action orientation, little perceived need to reflect and learn, and few struc- tures and systems to guide behaviors and decisions.49 This is a context that can be well- served by fast, flexible change processes orienting new people quickly to the business strategy, integrating them rapidly into new work roles, increasing the efficiency of work processes, and helping founders and key managers think about how the market, compe- titors, and technology are changing. Entrepreneurs are not inclined to think about nor are they trained to examine these issues. OD can help them gain the needed competence to address such matters. Chapter 22 described the differences between public- and private-sector organiza- tions and the implications of those differences for the practice of OD. The economic, workforce, technology, and organization trends are pushing government organizations to become more efficient, flexible, and networked. Consequently, government is increas- ingly applying OD interventions such as strategic planning, employee involvement, and performance management, and we expect that the demand for change-management expertise in the public sector will grow. Moreover, governments will become more proactive in managing the effects of global economic development. Public\u2013private part- nerships, a form of collaborative strategy, are also likely to flourish. They will require the assistance of OD practitioners who are sensitive to the differences between these two types of organizations and to the demands the partnerships will be under, such as environmental protection, corporate citizenship, and taxation. Similarly, Chapter 21 described the application of OD in global social change orga- nizations. The increasing concentration of wealth and globalization of the economy will create a plethora of opportunities for OD to assist developing countries, disadvantaged citizens, and the ecology. In China, for example, as the government breaks up the old \u201cwork unit\u201d structure and creates market-facing enterprises, the need for NGOs to take over delivery of social services is likely to increase. For example, the Global Village of","CHAPTER 23 FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT 743 Beijing has begun campaigns to involve the Chinese people in pro-environment prac- tices; the China Association for NGOs (CANGO) provides capacity-building services to develop leaders for other NGOs; and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is partnering with corporations to initiate environmentally friendly policies. OD can help these organiza- tions achieve their objectives, manage their resources, and improve their functioning through such interventions as team building, strategic planning, and alliance building. Not only will OD be applied to a broader range of organizations, it will also be more concerned with effectiveness than in the past. A large portion of the interventions described in this text were developed in the 1950s and 1960s with the primary aim of increasing participation in organizational processes. As the global economy and informa- tion technology enable and push for faster, more flexible organizations, the ability to manage change continuously will become a key source of competitive advantage in all types of organizations. This suggests that OD practices will become more embedded in the organization\u2019s normal operating routines. OD skills, knowledge, and competencies can and should become part of the daily work of managers and employees.50 This will diffuse change capabilities throughout the organization rather than limit them to a spe- cial function or role. It will permit faster and more flexible reactions to challenges faced by the organization. In addition to embedding OD skills in managerial roles, OD inter- ventions themselves will be integrated into core business processes, such as product development, strategic planning, and supply-chain management. This should provide a closer linkage between OD and business results. This does not mean that the role of the professional OD practitioner will go away. Professionals will be needed to help organization members gain change-management competencies. Small, entrepreneurial firms will need specialized assistance in bringing on new members rapidly and organizing their efforts. Organizations involved in strategic alliances, mergers, and acquisitions will need professional help managing interorganiza- tional interfaces, integrating diverse corporate cultures, and coordinating business practices. OD professionals will also be needed to assist in the implementation of new technologies, particularly knowledge management practices. As supported by the contin- gent workforce trends, the demand for skilled OD practitioners is likely to increase rather than decrease. For example, there is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that as line and senior managers learn more about the knowledge and skills associated with OD practice, their requests for assistance in formulating change processes increase. Managers will look more frequently for help in leading and facilitating organization change. OD\u2019s ability to influence responsible progress will grow as it becomes more concerned with effectiveness and more embedded in a broader range of organizations. As OD demonstrates its ability to solve problems or help the organization to be more agile and responsive to opportunities, it will become easier to suggest that leaders consider the ecological and cultural implications of their innovations. The promise and purpose of responsible progress encourages such a balanced view of success. Moreover, OD practi- tioners could begin influencing leaders to consider leveraging cultural and ecological resources to accelerate innovation and effectiveness. OD practitioners can help leaders make policy and implement actions that drive performance by leveraging cultural diversity and recognizing how the ecology can improve the long-term health of the organization, its people, and the planet. OD Processes Will Be More Involved in Supporting Technological and Managerial Innovation According to the responsible progress policy, innovation is the primary driver of economic success. Innovation helps to create new products and services, the processes to manufacture and distribute them (technological innovation),","744 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT and the methods and activities necessary to govern and organize systems toward some goal (managerial innovation). Although technological innovation gets most of the attention in the research and business press, Hamel has argued that managerial innovation may be more important.51 He argued that organizations are still managed and operated according to rules and principles laid down before World War I. If the future of organiza- tion effectiveness hinges more on managerial innovation than technological innovation, there is a clear opportunity for OD. The \u201copen innovation\u201d models of Chesbrough and the \u201cbuilt-to-change\u201d (B2C) principles from Lawler and Worley (described in Chapter 19) represent two such sets of new management principles.52 But there is much more that can be done. In the future, OD will be more involved in shaping technological and mana- gerial innovation according to the principles of responsible progress. There is little doubt about the pervasive influence of technological innovation on orga- nizations. Increases in the speed with which data and information can be manipulated will drive the rate of new product and service development and the organizational changes needed to support those developments. The extent to which technology allows information to be shared within and between organizations will increase the speed and complexity of innovation, coordination, and other decision-making processes. The amount of informa- tion that can be stored and accessed greatly enhances the potential quality of decisions and actions, and the sheer amount of information that research, practice, and experience generates threatens to overwhelm our ability to make sense of it. In general, these trends will shorten product, organization, and industry life cycles. Pressures to reduce the cycle time of innovation and the OD activities that support them are also likely to increase. OD practitioners must be mindful of opportunities to quicken the pace of innovation and to simultaneously remain aware of the practices and processes that cannot be hurried. For example, innovation is likely to be more synchronous (anytime, anywhere) as well as more virtual and less face-to-face. In global organizations, innovation occurs in a variety of locations, cultures, and time zones. OD interventions that support innova- tion, such as team building, employee involvement, and organization learning, will have to be planned and implemented in ways that encourage contributions from a vari- ety of stakeholders at times that are convenient or at times when creative ideas emerge. Social networking technology and knowledge management systems can enable organi- zation members to make these contributions at any time they are ready. In addition, groupware technologies allow members to discuss issues in chat rooms and portals, in Web and video conferences, and in the more traditional telephone conference. IBM\u2019s CEO Lou Gerstner used these technologies to lead a vigorous discussion of corporate values, a process they called Values Jam, that involved organization members from around the world. Using these technologies to exchange ideas, develop technologies, or discuss imple- mentation will produce different types of group dynamics from those found in face- to-face meetings. OD practitioners will need to be comfortable with this technology and to develop virtual facilitation skills that recognize these dynamics. In many cases, a more structured and assertive approach will be necessary to ensure that all members have an opportunity to share their ideas. The effect of these technically mediated exchanges on work satisfaction, productivity, and quality is only beginning to emerge. In addition, processes of visioning, diagnosis, data feedback, and action planning will have to be reengineered to leverage new information technologies. Innovation processes need to be adapted to ensure that members have more infor- mation at their fingertips. For example, organization intranets provide members with an information channel that is richer, more efficient, more interactive, and more dynamic","CHAPTER 23 FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT 745 than such traditional channels as newsletters and memos. Thus, intranets can provide a timely method to collect data on emerging technologies, to monitor progress on a development project or organization change, and to involve members in key deci- sions. Processes of \u201cExtreme Strategizing\u201d or \u201cfast HR\u201d can leverage internal commu- nication channels and external linkages.53 These same technologies can also support increased innovation speed by processing a wide variety of inputs in as little as a few hours. In coming years, technological advances in groupware and Web conferencing will increasingly be used to bring more people together faster than ever before. In short, there is real potential to reduce dramatically the time required to perform many OD practices. Despite the enablement of increased innovation speed, there are physical, psy- chological, cultural, and ecological limits to reductions in the innovation and change cycle. It is not realistic to expect new product development and other forms of inno- vation to be instantaneous.54 For example, managers often want product develop- ment to occur more rapidly or managerial innovations to be implemented more quickly. Announcing a technological breakthrough, drug formulation, or new method of operating is one thing, but its implementation often takes longer than expected because of cultural values, ecological concerns, or other unforeseen obstacles. A new organization chart or a new vision and values statement hung on members\u2019 office walls often gives the illusion that change has occurred, but the working relationships, process improvements, and other aspects of fully implementing new technologies or organizations often take longer than expected. Similarly, most organization members are not capable of dropping a well-known and understood set of behaviors one day and picking up a new set of behaviors the next with the same level of efficiency. Members can face a steep learning curve when they are asked to change their rou- tines, and thus there are likely minimums with respect to the speed of change in indi- vidual behavior. The impact that technical and managerial innovation can have on an organization\u2019s effectiveness is immense. They are key drivers in economic and social progress. Without the invisible hand of responsible progress to guide OD practitioners and the organiza- tions they serve, however, they also contain the possibility of great harm to cultures and the ecology. To fulfill the promise of responsible progress, innovation must not only support economic success, but must do so in ways that do not standardize or homogenize world cultures. Innovation must also unfold in ways that do not harm the ecology. OD practitioners can help organizations increase their innovative activity and raise the questions of diversity and ecology as the process unfolds. OD Will Become More Concerned with Social and Ecological Sustainability As described in Chapter 21, OD will become increasingly oriented to supporting social diversity and ecological health. Most sustainability models go beyond ecological con- cerns to promote a multidimensional view called the triple bottom line.55 In line with responsible progress, the triple bottom line proposes that organization change and globalization should be guided by the economic, social, and ecological value that is added or destroyed. These three values provide a framework for measuring and reporting corporate performance. They also guide how organizations should go about minimizing harm or maximizing benefits through their decisions and actions to achieve innovation and effectiveness. Organizations must be clear about their pur- pose in order to take into consideration the needs of all stakeholders\u2014shareholders, customers, employees, business partners, governments, the ecology, local communi- ties, and the public.","746 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT Responsible progress assumes that the practice of OD is capable of working effec- tively across cultures. However, we know relatively little about planned change processes in cross-cultural settings. Traditionally, OD has been practiced in organizations within specific cultures: British-trained OD practitioners helped British organizations in Great Britain; Mexican OD practitioners helped Latin American organizations; and so on. But the current trends clearly point to the need for OD practitioners and OD applications that can work well across cultures. Team-building interventions cannot assume open and direct communication is appropriate for a team composed of Americans, Indians, Chinese, Koreans, and Ukrainians who have never met face-to-face but are charged with developing a new product in a short period of time. Merger-and-acquisition pro- cesses need to be adapted to help a Japanese and a U.S. firm implement a new organiza- tion structure that honors both cultures. Because the number of organizations operating in multiple countries is growing rapidly, opportunities for OD in these situations seem endless: interorganizational and network relationships among subsidiaries, operating units, and headquarters organizations; team building across cultural boundaries; working out global logistic and supply-chain processes; and implementing diversity-centric values in ethnocentric cultures. Moreover, OD is likely to find increased opportunities in GSCO organizations that are often part of an international network. Alliance development pro- cesses and network structure interventions adapted for cross-cultural contexts have yet to be developed and will have important applications in the future. However, working across cultures or with multiple cultures is not the same as pur- suing progress and innovation that preserves the environment or leverages cultural diversity. Organizations today and in the future will operate in multiple countries, gov- ernments, and cultures but under one ecological system. The deep connection between economy and ecology was aptly demonstrated by Eyjafjallaj\u00f6kull\u2019s eruption and the transportation snarls it created in Europe, or the Japanese earthquake that sent a tsunami and the attendant debris throughout the Pacific. A single-minded pursuit of economic progress can\u2014consciously or unconsciously\u2014undermine local cultures and the ecology in service of greater efficiency, increased speed, or higher market shares. Developing and implementing business models and organization designs that operate globally but support local cultures and repair the environment will require significant managerial innovation. This is the promise and challenge of responsible progress. Responsible progress does not suggest that preserving cultural diversity and contrib- uting to ecological health are ends in themselves. If OD truly believes in diversity, then diversity must be a strategy that fuels innovation and economic progress. If OD truly believes in environmental sustainability, then it cannot only support recycling but must help organizations see sustainability as a source of competitive advantage. Biological diversity has always been the source of adaptation in nature, and the seeds of organiza- tional responsiveness and successful change are in the innovative possibilities that exist when multiple viewpoints, values, and beliefs are heard and nurtured over time. In the short run, ecological sustainability is likely to be a constraint on economic success and innovation. Most organization leaders and members hold assumptions about management and innovation that do not account for the ecology in decision mak- ing. Responsible progress challenges these beliefs and the largely uncontested value of organization and economic growth. This represents an important challenge for OD prac- titioners. As demonstrated by models of natural capitalism, the trick will be to see sus- tainability not as a cost or constraint, but as an ingredient and opportunity. OD practitioners in the future will become well versed in helping organization members see what Ikea, Unilever, and Nokia see\u2014the possibility that honoring the ecology can be a source of innovation and success.","CHAPTER 23 FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT 747 SUMMARY In this concluding chapter, we described three trends and relevance requires more than simple extensions of within OD and four trends driving change in OD\u2019s existing theory and practice. OD\u2019s ability to contribute context. OD\u2019s future is likely to be the result of the to an organization\u2019s success, to shape globalization, or interactions among the traditional, pragmatic, and unite the trends within OD will depend on its ability to scholarly trends as well as how the global economy generate new and more powerful interventions that evolves, technology develops, workforces engage, and draw on new models and integrated values in pursuit organizations structure themselves. To be relevant, of responsible progress. Our hope is that this text will OD practitioners and the field as a whole must act be able to inform and equip the reader with the skills, together to influence the future they prefer or adjust knowledge, and value awareness necessary to shape the to the future that is coming. Moving OD toward rigor future. NOTES Development, vol. 13, ed. R. Woodman and W. Pasmore (Oxford, England: JAI Press, 2001), 1\u201342. 1. D. Bradford and W. Burke, Reinventing Organization 5. L. 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Stiglitz, \u201cOf the 1%, By the 1%, for the 1%,\u201d Vanity Fair, May 2011, accessed from http:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/society","CHAPTER 23 FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT 749 33. B. Baden, \u201cLarger Temporary Workforce Could be 44. E. Lawler and C. Worley, Management Reset (San Fran- New Normal,\u201d November 17, 2011, accessed from http:\/\/ cisco: Jossey-Bass). money.usnews.com\/money\/careers\/articles\/2011\/11\/17 \/larger-temporary-workforce-could-be-new-normal on 45. A. Kleiner, The Age of Heretics, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: December 15, 2012; Y. Mui, \u201cSurge in Temp Workers Jossey-Bass, 2008). Reflects Fundamental Change in American Workplace,\u201d February 17, 2012, accessed from http:\/\/articles.washington 46. This section draws heavily from Worley and McCloskey, post.com\/2012-02-17\/news\/35444268_1_temporary-workers \u201cA Positive Vision,\u201d but we were also influenced by -unemployment-rate-carl-camden on December 15, 2012. J. Wirtenberg, L. 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Chee, \u201cStrategic and Organization Development Chal- eMarketer Predicts,\u201d March 17, 2011, accessed from http:\/\/ lenges Faced by High-Technology Startup Chief Execu- www.internetretailer.com\/2011\/03\/17\/e-commerce-will tive Officers\u201d (unpublished master\u2019s thesis, Pepperdine -grow-137-year-emarketer-predicts on December 16, 2012. University, 1999). 39. E. Sanders, \u201cTech-Driven Efficiency Spurs Economic 50. C. Worley and E. Lawler, \u201cBuilding a Change Capability Boom,\u201d Los Angeles Times, February 22, 2000, A-1; at Capital One Financial,\u201d Organizational Dynamics 38 T. Kretschmer, \u201cInformation and Communication Tech- (2009): 245\u2013251; N. Tichy, \u201cThe Death and Rebirth of nologies and Productivity Growth: A Survey of the Liter- Organizational Development,\u201d in Organization 21C, ed. ature,\u201d OECD Digital Economy Papers, No. 195, OECD S. Chowdhury (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times Publishing (2012), accessed from http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10 Prentice Hall, 2002), 155\u201374. .1787\/5k9bh3jllgs7-en on December 15, 2012. 51. G. Hamel, The Future of Management (Boston: Harvard 40. D. Pollitt, \\\"William Hill Backs a Winner with EPoS Business School Press, 2007). Training: Employees Embrace Culture Change and New Working Practices,\\\" Human Resource Management Inter- 52. Chesbrough, Open Innovation; E. Lawler and C. Worley, national Digest 17 (2009): 18\u201320. Built to Change (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006). 41. G. Colvin, \u201cManaging in the Info Era,\u201d Fortune, March 6, 53. T. Welbourne, \u201cExtreme Strategizing,\u201d Leader to Leader 2000, F6\u2013F9. (Spring 2009): 42\u201348; T. Welbourne, \u201cFast HR\u2013 Enhancing Service Excellence,\u201d Organizational Dynamics 42. R. Beckstrom and O. Brafman, The Starfish and the Spi- 40 (2011): 292\u2013301. der: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations: (New York: Portfolio, 2006); J. Child and D. Faulkner, 54. C. Worley and R. Patchett, \u201cMyth and Hope Meet Real- Strategies of Cooperation: Managing Alliances, Networks, ity: The Fallacy of and Opportunities for Reducing Cycle and Joint Ventures (New York: Oxford University Press, Time in Strategic Change,\u201d in Fast Cycle Organization 1998); J. Bamford, B. Gomes-Casseres, and M. Robinson, Development, ed. M. Anderson (Cincinnati, OH: South- Mastering Alliance Strategy (New York: John Wiley & Western College Publishing, 2000); C. Worley, T. Cummings, Sons, 2002). and P. Monge, \u201cA Critique, Test, and Refinement of the Punctuated Equilibrium Model of Strategic Change\u201d 43. M. Piore and C. Sabel, The Second Industrial Divide (working paper, Pepperdine University, 1999). (New York: Basic Books, 1984); D. Watts, Six Degrees (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2003); C. Huxham, 55. J. Elkington, \u201cTowards the Sustainable Corporation: Win- Managing to Collaborate (Oxford: Routledge, 2005). Win-Win Business Strategies for Sustainable Development,\u201d California Management Review 36, no. 2 (1994): 90\u2013100.","\u00a9 Pixmann\/Imagezoo\/Getty Images Integrative Cases B. R. Richardson Timber Products Corporation* Jack Lawler returned to his desk with a fresh cup of the gravity of the plant situation, Bowman wanted to coffee. In front of him was a file of his notes from his conduct the course within the next few months. two visits to the B. R. Richardson Timber Products Corporation. As Lawler took a sip and opened the Lawler asked if the plant manager was supportive file, he was acutely aware that he had two tasks. In a of the course idea. Bowman replied that he hadn\u2019t week, he was to meet with the company president, B. R. asked him but had gotten approval from B. R. Richardson, and the industrial relations officer, Richard Richardson, the founder and president of the firm. Bowman, to make a presentation on his findings with Lawler then stated that he really didn\u2019t have enough regard to the lamination plant and his recommenda- information on which to design such a course nor tions for what might be done. Lawler knew he had a enough information to determine whether such a lot of preparation to do, starting with a diagnosis of the course was appropriate. He suggested a meeting with situation. It wouldn\u2019t be easy. Taking another sip from Bowman and Richardson the next week; he would be his mug, he leaned back in his chair and recalled how able to stop by Papoose in the late afternoon on his this project had begun. way home from another engagement. Bowman imme- diately accepted his proposal and gave Lawler MAKING A PROPOSAL directions. It was about 2:30 P.M. when the office intercom buzzed. Taking another sip of coffee, Jack Lawler contin- Lawler\u2019s secretary said there was a Richard Bowman ued to reminisce, visualizing the road winding past two calling from Papoose, Oregon. Lawler knew that very large lumber and plywood plants and over a small Papoose was a small community about 150 miles hill, and recalling his first sight of the company. It was south, a town with three or four lumber mills lying in much smaller than its neighbors, consisting of a one- the mountain range of western Oregon. When Lawler story office building, a medium-size lumber mill, open picked up his telephone, Bowman introduced himself storage yards, an oblong, hangarlike structure, dirt con- as being in charge of industrial relations for the B. R. necting roads, lumber and log piles seemingly scattered Richardson Timber Products Corporation. He was call- around, and cars and pickup trucks parked at random. ing because a friend of his in a regional association for The office building entryway was paneled with photo- training and development persons had recommended graphs showing the company buildings as they had Lawler, and Bowman had heard of Lawler\u2019s manage- changed over many years. ment training and consulting reputation. Bowman said he was searching for someone to conduct a \u201cmoti- Bowman greeted Lawler, led him to a carpeted vation course\u201d for the blue-collar employees of the lam- and paneled conference room, and introduced him to ination plant. Morale in the plant was very low, there Ben Richardson. \u201cBR\u201d was a man in his late fifties, had been a fatality in the plant a few months before, dressed in western apparel. The subsequent conversa- and the plant manager was \u201ca bit authoritative.\u201d Given tion was one in which the company as a whole was outlined and information was presented about the *Printed by permission of Craig C. Lundberg, Cornell University. plant workers. Lawler described his preferred ways of Events described are not intended to illustrate either effective or inef- working (essentially, diagnosis before training or other fective managerial behavior. action). BR and Bowman shared their concerns that the plant manager, Joe Bamford, was getting out the work but wasn\u2019t sensitive to the workers. Bowman then took Lawler on a tour of the lamination plant. 750","INTEGRATIVE CASES 751 The meeting ended cordially, with Lawler promising to VISITING THE PLANT write a letter in a few days in which he would outline his thoughts on going forward. Lawler remembered that six weeks went by before Bow- man called. He had shown Lawler\u2019s letter to BR and they Lawler opened the file in front of him on his desk agreed that a more adequate diagnosis was probably a and smiled as he found the copy of the letter he had useful first step. Bowman was quite clear that BR did not sent: want to invest much money but also wanted Lawler\u2019s expertise. In the ensuing conversation, Bowman and Mr. Richard Bowman Lawler worked out an initial plan in which he would B. R. Richardson Timber Corporation utilize several of his graduate students in a one-day P.O. Box 66 visit to the company to gather information. Lawler Papoose, Oregon would then analyze it and make a presentation to BR Dear Mr. Bowman: and Bowman. The use of the graduate students would When I departed from your office about a week ago, substantially reduce his time as well as provide the stu- I promised a letter outlining my thoughts on some dents with some useful experience. They agreed that he next steps regarding the laminating plant. Let me would bill for three days of his time plus the expenses sketch some alternatives: incurred when he and the students visited. 1. One is for me to put you in touch with someone in The next week when Lawler went to campus to your immediate region who could design and\/or teach his evening seminar called \u201cThe Management of present the \u201cmotivation\u201d course for the laminating Change\u201d at the Graduate School of Business, he shared workers that you originally had in mind. with the class the opportunity for some relevant field- work experience. He and four students could do the 2. Second is for me to be engaged as a consultant. observing and interviewing in one day by leaving very Recall the experience I described with the ply- early in the morning to drive to Papoose and arriving wood plant in northern California in which I home by midevening. The information gained would be facilitated an approach called \u201caction research.\u201d the focus of a subsequent class in which all seminar You\u2019ll remember that it basically involved a pro- participants performed the diagnosis. When he asked cess wherein the concerned parties were helped to his seminar who was interested in the information- identify noncontrolled problems and plan to gathering day, six students volunteered. When particular overcome them. This would begin with a diagno- dates for the trip to Papoose were discussed, however, sis conducted by myself. most of the six had conflicting schedules. Only Mitch and Mike, two second-year MBA students, were avail- 3. Third, you\u2019ll also recall that I teach part-time at able on one of the days that Lawler\u2019s schedule permitted. State University. This relationship leads to two ways graduate students might become involved: Having constituted the field team, Lawler suggested I believe I could get a colleague in personnel that the seminar invest some time that evening in two management training to create a student team to ways. He wanted to share with the class some informa- design and conduct the motivation course. tion he had gained on his first visit to Richardson Timber I can have a student team in my change semi- and suggested that the class could help prepare Mitch nar do a diagnosis of the laminating plant and pro- and Mike for the experience in the field. He then drew vide you with their analyses and recommendations. an organization chart on the blackboard that showed the various segments of the corporation and the lamination I believe I was clear during my visit that I think a diag- business, including the personnel and main work groups. nosis is needed first, regardless of next steps. When you He further drew a layout of the laminating plant on and Mr. Richardson have thought about these alterna- the board. (Figures 1 and 2 show these sketches.) While tives, give me a call. I\u2019ll be prepared to outline what doing this, Lawler spoke of his understanding of the I see as the costs of alternatives 2 and 3. technology, work flow, and product of the laminating plant as follows: Thanks for the opportunity to visit. I enjoyed meet- ing you and beginning to learn about your company. It\u2019s a family-held corporation. It\u2019s composed of four small companies, divisions really, three in Sincerely, Papoose\u2014a logging operation, a lumber mill, and Jack Lawler Partner Oregon Consulting Associates","752 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT FIGURE 1 Organizational Chart \u00a9 Cengage Learning the laminating plant\u2014and a mill over in eastern the interstate highway. The lam plant looks like a Oregon. The head office, the mill, and the lam long airplane hangar, the type with a curved roof. plant are on the edge of Papoose, which is a very Rich Bowman took me on a tour, safety helmet on, small logging town about six or seven miles from and explained the activities as we went along.","INTEGRATIVE CASES 753 FIGURE 2 Laminating Plant \u00a9 Cengage Learning Now, the end products are long, laminated out of the jig by two small hoists and stacked up to wood roof trusses or beams like you sometimes cure (dry). The curing piles have cross sticks and see in supermarkets and arenas. These are built must be 15 to 18 feet high in some places. up out of many layers of two-by-fours, two- by-sixes, and two-by-eights glued together end to These beams cure and eventually are picked end and then side to side. So in one end of the out of the stack with the hoists and maneuvered plant come lift trucks of lumber, which is stacked so that they are fed into the planer, which is set to up to a height of 12 to 15 feet. According to plane the rough beam to exact thickness dimen- orders\u2014and all beams are made to customer sions. After planing, the beam is stored until the order\u2014the lumber is sorted and then hand- finishing crew gets to it. This crew cuts the beam placed on a machine that cuts deep notches in to length, patches minor surface blemishes, and the ends of the lumber. These go along one wall wraps plastic around it for shipping. These beams of the plant where the notched ends, called fingers, then sometimes go directly onto a truck for ship- are glued together to make really long pieces. ment or into the yard until a load is ready. These then go on along the roller conveyor, to The plant is noisy from saws, conveyors and the other end of the plant almost, where they are hoists, and especially the planer. There are glue cut to the correct length, and sets of these long drippings, sawdust, and ends everywhere. The pieces are grouped together\u2014the right number of aisles tend to disappear in tools and piles. Above the right length to make up a beam. This set then the plant offices of the manager, supervisor, and goes to a work station where there is a metal jig. secretary is a lunchroom and another office for The pieces are put in the jig one at a time, the glue the scheduler. The company\u2019s head office is about is applied, and they are tapped down by hand. fifty yards away in one direction and the mill When the beam is fully assembled, clamps are about the same distance in another. The yard is put on every little way. This rough, clamped graveled, with lumber of all kinds piled up and beam, running anywhere from 20 to, say, 78 feet cars parked around the edges. in length and from one to three-plus feet high, The class was encouraged to visualize the laminating obviously very, very heavy, is marked, then picked plant and its working conditions. Lawler then divided the","754 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT class into two groups around Mike and Mitch for the professional. Ben has a \u201cconservative philosophy.\u201d Will task of preparing for their visit to Richardson Timber. not have safety meetings on company time. Appreciates It was important to clarify what information might be and rewards loyalty and dedication. Example, December usefully sought and how informal interviewing on the 1978 Christmas party\u2014a couple of 20-year men were work floor might be accomplished. given $1,000 checks and plane tickets to Hawaii for themselves and families\u2014it surprised everybody. On the next Wednesday, the trio drove to Papoose, stopping for breakfast along the way. When they arrived Who\u2019s influential (Rich): Juanita Yates, office man- at the head office, they were met by Richard Bowman. ager and secretary, has been with Ben ten years. When Lawler initially interviewed Juanita Yates while Bowman Ben is away, he calls her once or twice a day. Second- took Mike and Mitch to the lamination plant and intro- most influential is Wayne Teeterman, also ten years duced them to Joe Bamford, the manager. At lunch with Richardson. Heads construction and truck shop. time, Lawler and his students drove into Papoose and Formerly ran the sawmill. Ben\u2019s ear to the mill. Rich is ate at a cafe. They summarized what they had learned in a distant third in influence. Mostly via Nita. \u201cBen sees the morning. Each of them had been jotting some notes, Joe, manager of lam plant, as an enigma\u2014almost and Lawler encouraged even more. He reminded Mike canned him a couple of times.\u201d However, Joe is seen and Mitch that they would dictate their information as dedicated, mostly because of the long hours put in. during the drive home but that notes were needed as cues. At 4:30 P.M., the three met at Bowman\u2019s office, Overall business pretty good (Rich): \u201cBen keeps think- turned in their safety helmets, thanked him, and left. ing the other shoe will drop one of these days.\u201d \u201cBen used The first hour of the drive was filled with the sharing to be able to predict the lumber market. This is getting of anecdotes from each other\u2019s day. After a dinner stop, more difficult.\u201d Right now the economy is stable enough they took turns in the back seat dictating their notes. regarding lumber and lumber products. Richardson mill sales of clear-cut high grade are pretty much cutting to REVIEWING THE NOTES order. Laminating plant growing ever since it was started. It\u2019s very profitable, busy, and active\u2014probably has the Jack Lawler\u2019s reverie was broken by the office intercom. largest margin of all Richardson companies. His secretary announced a long-distance telephone call from a potential client. After the call, Jack turned his Laminating plant (Rich): Laminating plant has six- attention to the Richardson file. He realized that his to seven-week delivery dates now. forthcoming meeting with Ben Richardson and Richard Bowman would take place before his graduate seminar Timber purchases (Rich): Timber purchases from met to diagnose the laminating plant situation, and so Forest Service and BLM. One to two year\u2019s cutting is he had best get to work himself. He decided to review now available. Last year needed to cut only half of the notes he and his students had created. year\u2019s sales because of fortunate other purchases. Last year, half of timber requirements were from private Jack\u2019s Notes ground. \u201cCosts of cutting, however, go up, and it makes Ben nervous.\u201d Current Lam schedule: Breakout crew 2:00 A.M. to 12:00 noon. Finish end 3:30 A.M. on. Joe typically works 7:00 Laminating plant lumber (Rich): \u201cApproximately A.M. to 6:00 P.M. 70% of laminating plant lumber purchased outside\u2014 30% from Richardson mill.\u201d This material is in the Ben Richardson (Juanita): \u201cIn the beginning he was middle of the quality range. Outside purchases are very authoritarian, still is somewhat. Seen as a primarily from Oregon companies\u2014Weyerhaeuser, perfectionist.\u201d \u201cNot quite a workaholic.\u201d \u201cHas been, for Bohemia, Georgia-Pacific, and smaller ones. Joe does several years, politically active\u2014that is to say, locally.\u201d the purchasing for lam plant. \u201cHe likes to do this.\u201d \u201cWhen there is a cause, he throws his energies and resources behind it.\u201d Example, workers\u2019 compensation Recent changes (Juanita): \u201cTurnover has consis- is currently a thorn in his side, and he has encouraged tently been high and continues. For the company as a Rich to fight. \u201cIn the last few years, Ben has listened whole it is around 72 to 76%. In the lam plant there was a little more and seems slightly more open.\u201d The last 100% turnover last year\u201d (among operators). \u201cRight now couple of years has had consultant Chuck Byron from this year it is down 50%.\u201d Eugene, who has pushed the idea of a management team. Rich is the first real outsider hired as a Rolf (Juanita): Rolf was formerly industrial relations manager. A year ago April, he was appointed supervisor in the lam plant. Rolf\u2019s predecessor in lam plant ineffec- tual; gone from company. Rolf did not do a good job with personnel. Fatality in lam plant happened two","INTEGRATIVE CASES 755 months before Rolf went down there. It was in the break- Ron Baker (Rich): Gluing supervisor. \u201cBusiness-like, down area\u2014several people quit at that time. There has could be sour. Likes to impress others.\u201d been a constant concern for the height of stacking in the lam plant. \u201cJoe has had a positive impact on morale\u2014 John McClough (Rich): \u201cFailing as a finishing super- started a softball team in a community league.\u201d visor. Originally from California. Worked in Roseburg area as carpenter; does excellent work by himself. He is Reward system (Juanita): \u201cNine paid holidays, a flop and probably won\u2019t last much longer.\u201d hourly wage, liberal vacation plan, life insurance, no pension, no bonus except for those people who report Bob Bennis (Rich): Finishing supervisor. \u201cNot directly to Ben (Nita, Wayne, Joe, and Rich). Joe has really a pusher.\u201d \u201cTime has made him knowledgeable not had a bonus yet.\u201d about the work.\u201d \u201cWilling to be directed.\u201d He has had a number of family conflicts and has been in financial Incentives for safety: Joe and Rolf have introduced trouble. \u201cOverall, a nice guy.\u201d incentives for safety. Competition for groups about lost time. Joe gave a fishing outfit last month for the first Bob Griffith (Rich): Planer. Came to Richardson out time that a safety target was met. of the service. Started in gluing, then in breakdown, then gluing. Finally, planer\u2019s job opened up, and he took it. Hiring (Rich): Hiring was traditionally done by \u201cStill learning the job. Generally a good worker; some division managers. At present, Rich has taken over question about his leadership.\u201d that. He now goes into background more deeply. Supervisors summary (Rich): \u201cIn general, the Interaction with middle management (Rich): Nor- supervisors all kind of plod along.\u201d mally when Ben is in Papoose, he and Joe interact a couple times a week, which is about the same as Ben Jim Fuller (Juanita): Is lam plant safety committee interacts with other division or company managers. representative. Ben\u2019s style (Juanita): \u201cHe focuses on a problem. He General reputation in community (Rich): \u201cNot good will write a list and go over it with the manager item by from employees\u2019 point of view. Matter of turnover, acci- item. Pretty much forcing his way. Later, he will pull dents, and the fatality. Seems to be turning around some- out that list to check up with.\u201d He often wants Rich to what over the last year. The company, as a whole play intermediary between top management and the economically, has a successful image. It\u2019s made money, lam plant. Rich tries to resist. survived downturns, and so forth.\u201d Rolf (Rich): \u201cFairly introverted, basically a nice guy. Summer: During summer, fill-ins are hired for He finds it hard to be tough. Doesn\u2019t think he could do vacationers\u2014sometimes college or high school students. Joe\u2019s job.\u201d His folks were missionaries. The supervisor spots are filled in by key men on the crew. Dirk (Rich): \u201cHis goal is to get into sales. Ben has Communication: Bulletin board outside of lam given okay, and he is supposed to look into local sales. office has safety information, vacation schedule, and Joe has agreed but has not given Dirk time to do any of production information. Blackboard in lunchroom this. Dirk probably has no long-run commitment to the has jokes, congratulations, etc. company.\u201d He has a degree in forestry. Reports: Daily production is scheduled by Dirk. John Walton (Juanita): In charge of quality con- Daily report from lam plant to office is compared trol. \u201cVery loyal to the company. Very dedicated to against that. Production and lam\u2019s information quality. Member of national organization. Never gets reported daily. Joe keeps records on productivity by very distressed. Seems well liked by crews. Not afraid lam plant area. This duplicates Susan\u2019s records. Quality to pitch in when they are a man short or behind.\u201d control turns in three sheets a day: on finger-joint test- ing, glue spread and temperature, and finished-product Jim Fuller (Rich): \u201cBen doesn\u2019t like him.\u201d Had EMT tests. Also Walton keeps cumulative information on training recently sponsored by the companies. Ben ques- block shear (where a core is drilled and stressed) and tions Jim\u2019s commitment. Jim gets into lots of community delamination tests made (where product is soaked and activities, has been a disc jockey on Sunday mornings, and then stressed). is very active in community organizations with youth. \u201cNot perceived as a real strong leadership type, but Records: A few years ago, 18,000 board feet was the knowledgeable and pretty well liked in the lam plant.\u201d high for preglue. May 9, daily was 16,406 board feet. Swing shift is consistently higher than the day shift John Rondo (Rich): \u201cDedicated, works hard. Pushes preglue. Gluing, Ben expects 30,000 feet. On May 9, it the men, too. Ben sees him as having future management was 27,815 feet. promise.\u201d From an old logging family in the area. \u201cMuch more leadership oriented.\u201d Overtime (Juanita): \u201cIs approximately 6% over the year. Right now lam plant is higher than that.\u201d","756 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT April (Juanita): Bids for the month were $8,166,000. wasn\u2019t aware of the timing\u2014hadn\u2019t planned for it.\u201d Orders received for the month were $648,600. Shipped in Another example: \u201cSue runs out of invoice paper, April: $324,400. When $400,000 is shipped, that is an which means we have to scurry around.\u201d excellent month, according to Nita. Joe does all the bid- ding. Sue actually may do the calls, however. \u201cThe margin Sue\u2019s wages (Juanita): \u201cAt one time, Sue was all is significantly higher than the sawmill or planing mill.\u201d riled up about wages and upset the secretaries in the main office. She got no pay increase last year. Ben History of lam plant (Juanita): \u201cIn 1968 Wayne Lauder upset. Joe went to bat for her. Joe almost put his job started it. He had lots of prior experience.\u201d \u201cThe property on the line for her.\u201d that Richardson stands on had just been purchased. Wayne came to Joe with a proposition. Ended up with Wayne Sue\u2019s performance (Juanita): \u201cSue does sloppy having stock in the Papoose Laminators Company.\u201d work. Not very efficient. Poor letters; late; missing Original crew was eight to ten men. \u201cIn fact Wayne taught deadlines. Joe allows or accepts, or perhaps doesn\u2019t Ben all Ben knows about the laminating plant.\u201d \u201cGot into know.\u201d Nita is supposed to be responsible for Sue on lamination business at a very good time.\u201d \u201cIn the early quality matters. In general, to make sure that her days, there were no accidents and no turnover.\u201d \u201cWayne backup is there. \u201cSue now works 10 to 15 hours a week had hired old friends, largely married family types.\u201d overtime.\u201d Nita cannot see the reason for this. \u201cWalton is the only one left from those days.\u201d In the spring of 1973, Wayne went to South Africa on a missionary call. Rolf\u2019s attitude (Rich\/Juanita): Rolf\u2019s attitude changing. Between then and Joe, there have been four managers and Seems more cooperative to both Rich and Nita. Nita thinks four or five supervisors. Ben has an image of Wayne that Rolf is a very intelligent man. Neither are clear exactly on successive managers cannot live up to. Joe, in Ben\u2019s eyes, what Rolf does. Company policy is to send out invoices has done better than anyone since Wayne. The super- each workday and that invoices should be sent and dated visor\u2019s job was started under Wayne; since then it is not on the day shipped. Sue doesn\u2019t send them. clear what they do. At one time, there was an experiment to move the lam office up to the main office so that the After Wayne, a lot of lam workers were hippies, had supervisor was forced to see the manager up there. This long hair, etc. Part of that is the reason why Rich now did not work. With Joe, the office moved back to the plant. hires. Why is Ben down on Jim Fuller? Nita says because of time lost with accidents. \u201cBen knows his family and Sue (Juanita): Secretary in lam plant. Now hand- all about the radio station. Doesn\u2019t think he is commit- extending the data. Could use a computer. It is pro- ted to the lumber company. There have been financial grammed; she has computer skills. \u201cComputer never problems, too. There were garnishments in the past. used for lam bidding since Sue came two years ago.\u201d He\u2019s quit or been laid off, or was fired about three Phone coverage is awkward. To get copies of things years ago. Some things stick in Ben\u2019s throat. Now Jim means Sue has to come to the office. is out of debt; they sold the home and moved; his wife works; they do an awful lot of volunteer work at the Market conditions: Market conditions have been school. Ben sees this and wonders why he can\u2019t give good since Joe became manager. that energy to the company.\u201d Joe\u2019s ability (Juanita): Highly questioned around John Rondo (Juanita): From a local logging family. planning. Example: \u201cSue away; he knew it beforehand; it He is a nephew of Butch (someone from a logging was a day he wanted to be away. This left the head office company). \u201cNotorious redneck.\u201d Once called Ben trying to get someone to cover for the phone.\u201d \u201cClearly from a bar when he was drunk and swore to Ben sales is Joe\u2019s strong area. Get excellent reports back from about his paycheck. \u201cBen doesn\u2019t forget those things.\u201d customers. But Joe doesn\u2019t follow up, so payables are very weak. We still haven\u2019t got a 90-day payment and are Sue hired by Joe: Does all the paperwork in the lam likely to ship the next load to the customer anyway.\u201d plant. Doesn\u2019t really have to interact with any of the men except Joe. Takes care of the purchase orders, Lack of communication (Juanita): \u201cLack of com- invoices, and daily records. munication with us about cash flow is another weak spot of Joe\u2019s. Lack of supervision over key people like Glue used in lam plant: Twenty-two thousand pounds Sue and Rolf. Seems to just let them go. Certainly at 60 cents per pound; that\u2019s nearly $10,000 a month. doesn\u2019t supervise them. Sue gets to set her own hours.\u201d Example offered by Nita of misbidding because Maintenance man: Leon replacing rails and turn- Sue didn\u2019t get the bid back to the customer. \u201cJoe just ing chair at preglue. \u201cHad help until noon. Don\u2019t know where they took off to.\u201d It\u2019s really a two-person job. Also said that they\u2019re probably six to eight months overdue with this job.","INTEGRATIVE CASES 757 Hoists: Planer and helper talking at break that it is produce. It takes two preglue shifts to get that. A few awkward and sometimes have to wait either on the years ago, Jim reports, a production quota for the plant finish end or breakdown side of planing because of was 18,000\u201320,000 feet per day. \u201cJoe is really competition for hoists. Believe the roof could hold production-minded, a real pusher.\u201d more hoists. Can\u2019t understand why Ben won\u2019t spring for a couple of more hoists on each side. In the lunch- Asking about problems (Jim): He quickly responds room, the planer was coaching a breakdown\/finish with \u201cconfusion\u201d and elaborates that it has to do with helper on how to undo clamps efficiently. Says that the scheduling. \u201cSometimes Dirk has to work on the line \u201cwhole operation has to be speeded up.\u201d 1:05 P.M.\u2014 and get inaccurate figures, or we don\u2019t get them in lunchroom. The planer approaches Joe: \u201cCan we get time.\u201d Nonetheless, he thinks Dirk is a good man and off a little early? We\u2019ve been working lots of ten-hour tries hard. Another problem has to do with stacking. days.\u201d Joe responds, \u201cIf you get that 57 job done, maybe There is not enough room to handle items where we\u2019ll see.\u201d As Joe turns to leave, the other finish man, beams are curing, particularly in the finishing area. who helps the planer, says, \u201cHey, Joe, I want to talk to He makes a big point about the difference between you later.\u201d Joe says, \u201cOkay.\u201d The man turns to me and architectural and other grades. There are 15% of the says, \u201cHe thinks we should be working harder. I want to former in general, but it takes more layout space in tell him what\u2019s what.\u201d the finish end to handle it. Rolf put in lam plant by Ben: Probably consulted The most inexperienced crew, in Jim\u2019s opinion, is with Joe, but still he did it. in the breakdown area (unclamping beams for plan- ing). There seems to be a bottleneck around the planer. Goals for lam plant (Rich): Joe and Ben both have \u201cThe crew tries hard but is somewhat inexperienced. some goals in their heads, of course, and talk on occa- His helpers couldn\u2019t care a damn.\u201d Planing is to a tol- sion. \u201cProbably not very systematically written down.\u201d erance of plus or minus 1\/16-inch. He gives an example of large beams for Los Angeles that were overplaned, Jim Fuller, preglue supervisor: Swing shift now. and those beams now sit in the yard until they can be Three men work directly under him. First work posi- worked into some later order for someone. tion is a lumber grading cut-off saw. A 19- to 20- year-old tends to work here. \u201cYou need a big reach.\u201d Another problem, according to Fuller, has to do with Then there is a cut-off saw that feeds a finger-joiner Paul, an electrician who works under Wayne. Has strong cut. Then the ends are glued. \u201cYoung men tend to be sawmill preference. Can never find him. For example, the in this position, too. Need to have a lot of manual dex- RF machine is only half rebuilt. \u201cPeople who do this work terity and a sense of rhythm.\u201d Then there is the radio for Wayne will probably never get it done.\u201d frequency curing machine. It gives an eight- to ten- second jolt at 109; then the hardest job comes along. Age of workers (Jim): Mostly young\u2014\u201cmeans that The lumber is stopped, set to length, and cut three they don\u2019t really care about working, aren\u2019t very respon- inches longer than order and then put in stacks on sible. They take off when they feel like it; hence, there is rollers. \u201cYou need to visually check ahead, grade lum- a lot of personnel being shuffled around. Both Walton ber, and everything else.\u201d This position has to be com- and Dirk, and even Joe, pitch in sometimes, not that this municated back up to preglue line for amount. makes it really more efficient.\u201d \u201cPersonnel is shuffled too much.\u201d Fuller gives an example. He was hit by a beam Production scheduling (Rich\/Jim): \u201cRolf is so-called and was off for seven weeks. Jay replaced him. There production supervisor. However, if Joe has his druthers, was stacking in the breakdown area on the main two. he\u2019d do that, too.\u201d Supposed to have orders from Joe to Jay tried to move a ceiling air hose; it came back; two Dirk to Jim. Needs to be scheduling. This mostly hap- top beams fell and \u201csnuffed him out just like that.\u201d pens, but sometimes he gets a message from Joe him- Maintenance men have to fill in on lines, too. This self. Actually Jim says, \u201cBoth Rolf and Joe more or less cuts into maintenance being done on time. The whole equally give me orders.\u201d Jim confirms that the majority program is behind. It\u2019s sort of down to what Fuller calls of materials come from external sources and suppliers. \u201cband-aid work.\u201d Also, major replacements are done He thinks Joe is a \u201csharp bargainer.\u201d \u201cIf he can save poorly. Example: glue area where pipes come right $100 per thousand on eight- or ten-footers, he may down in the middle of the preglue line when they should buy them. Of course, this means they have to do a lot have been run down the wall. Bruce did this. more cutting and gluing.\u201d Somehow it\u2019s known that 30,000 feet a day per shift is what the lam plant is to Ben\u2019s approach (Jim): \u201cBen used to visit the lami- nating plant twice a week a few years ago. I haven\u2019t","758 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT seen Ben through here for more than a month now. In looking on the walls of his office, he had Ben likes to use a big-stick approach.\u201d He gives exam- approximately five awards or merits for leadership or ple of Ben looking at maintenance work in gluing shop worker participation. and insisting that the millwright come in on Saturday to get it done, \u201cor else.\u201d His assistant Rolf had a desk right next to his, which was in an office off the side of the secretarial Those who report to Ben: Rich, industrial relations; room serving as the entrance to his building. Wayne, construction; Juanita, who is secretary and office manager; and managers of three companies. Richardson Joe\u2019s background included working in many Lumber, which has 110 employees, was founded in 1951. plants, primarily in forestry\u2014that is my understanding. Papoose Laminators started in 1968, and Prairie Wood He said he preferred working at B. R. Richardson\u2019s Products started in about 1976, with 45 employees. mainly because it was a \u201csmall and nonpolitical There is a logging company, too, which is for buying. plant.\u201d He likes leadership, and he enjoys working there. He stated, as we were walking through the Mitch\u2019s Notes plant, that he felt a high degree of frustration about the plant because the size was too small at times and Jack, Mike, and I arrive at B. R. Richardson. We enter the seasonal rush (which is beginning right now as of through the main building into the office and are May) for summer building puts a crunch on things. He seated in a conference room located at the back of stated that production is up 10% from last year; that the main office, which is located up on a hill overlook- there have been scheduling problems\u2014they received ing the rest of the plant. some wood in February, and it wasn\u2019t until May that they could use it and laminate it and get it out the other Rich enters; after formal introductions, proceeds to side, so it\u2019s been stacked taking up space. He stated that talk about Joe, or I should say, describes Joe. if they fall behind, they have no chance to catch up and that they are working at full capacity right now. Describes Joe in the following way. Says that Joe is aware the training program was a possibility. Stated Later on that afternoon, I went back and talked to that Joe had had military experience, that he (Joe) Joe. I asked him what his specific duties were. He believes he knows about management, that there are replied in the following way: His duties were to take some possible resentful feelings toward our intrusion orders, to plan the shipping, to make bids on orders, upon the plant, that he is aware of us and the fact and to manage the plant. His typical day was to arrive that we are from State University. about 7:00 to 7:15 A.M., to look over the plant, to look at the new orders of the day, and to take care of any Rich, Mike, and I leave the main office and go emergencies. Lately, he stated that he was making engi- down to the plant to be introduced to Joe. neering drawings. When asked if this was common, he said it usually was done by the customers, but he felt it Rich introduces us to Joe by saying that we are was a service he could render them. He stated, \u201cIt\u2019s with Jack and that we are down looking around at the foolishness because it takes too much time.\u201d However, plant, etc.\u2014seemed awkward. Communication not he continued to work on that project. He stated that he straightforward. Not a lot of eye-to-eye contact. Rich liked the work, that he didn\u2019t mind long hours. When is leaning up against the wall; he looks uncomfortable asked about the scheduling, he said that after he makes and leaves rather abruptly. a bid and fills the order, it goes to Dirk, who schedules the work to be done, which goes to Ron, who is either Joe immediately questions us as to what we are in preglue or the gluing operation. I\u2019m not sure, but I doing, why we are here, and what we are looking for. felt he was talking about the gluing operation. And he My perception is that he is resentful. In talking to Joe, I stated that Ron\u2019s job was very specific, that he had to perceive that he felt the workers were good, that with the coordinate the people to get the wood clamped up, to proper knowledge of the task they could lead themselves. get the glue on, and to get it organized in a rather He also stated they were \u201cmulticapacity\u201d\u2014that \u201cthey had specified manner. (I think it is interesting to check many functions which they performed,\u201d and that it Ron\u2019s description that I include later on.) wasn\u2019t that specialized down on the floor. He mentioned that his functions were bidding, managing, and engi- My personal comment on Joe is that he seemed very neering. He made a comment toward work team func- friendly with the workers, that it was a buddy-buddy tions (\u201cwork team crap\u201d), and then he corrected himself. relationship. At one time, we were in the lunchroom He also remarked that \u201ctheories come and theories go.\u201d with Joe, and he was talking openly about the problems At one point, Joe stressed the use of communica- tion as a tool in management. He showed Mike and me a little exercise and seemed to be impressed with it.","INTEGRATIVE CASES 759 of the shop; it was kind of like \u201cwe all suffer through this The workers were very concerned. A group of about too, don\u2019t we?\u201d He seemed to enjoy his work, he likes to three of them asked Joe how Bob was doing. work hard, he was proud of the fact that production was up, he was supportive of the men down there, and he I had a chance to talk to Ron, the team leader in was also apprehensive of Mike\u2019s and my presence. gluing. His comment about his job was that there were I think it is interesting to note the roles that Mike and long hours, that these were typically ten or more per I took. Mike took the role of a person interested in day, and that he received overtime for the long hours design, more or less, and I took the role, as I stated to provided that in total they were over 40 hours per Joe, that I was interested in seeing what it was like to be a week. Each hour over the 40 minimum would be manager in this situation and to learn any knowledge he paid at 1.5 times the normal rate. For Ron, the normal might have to offer. Many times during our encounter, rate was about $8 an hour, $12 an hour overtime. His he asked me what my background was and also about comments about his job and his attitude toward the what I wanted to do when I got through school. He plant were \u201csweatshop,\u201d \u201cRichardson won\u2019t spend seemed very interested in my studies and my goals. money,\u201d and \u201ceveryone\u2019s worked at BR\u2019s at one time or another before.\u201d \u201cThey have plans for expansion of Joe\u2019s secretary, while I did not talk to her, seemed the plant, but they don\u2019t want to spend the money on to play an important role in the organization. At one it.\u201d At one point, he said he didn\u2019t really know what point, I was talking to Joe when the secretary answered he was doing in terms of how to be a supervisor, how the phone and interrupted our conversation to tell Joe to be a leader. When I questioned him some more, he about a possible bid. Joe then made the bid based on really didn\u2019t know what the supervisor did, in this case the board footage, and the secretary questioned him on Rolf. He had just finished his first year, as far as expe- this bid, at which point Joe thought a minute and said, rience on the job. \u201cYeah, I want to keep the bid the way it is.\u201d The secre- tary then asked him, \u201cAre you sure?\u201d and Joe said, Ron had a major complaint about his job in that \u201cYes,\u201d at which point the secretary completed the pre- the glue person also had to prepare the glue and was liminary parts of the bid over the phone. responsible for getting all the boards and clamps in the right direction. He seemed to think maybe an extra At one point when we were walking through the glue prepare person would help. It seems to be a plant with Joe, I made mental notes on safety aspects of major job for him. There seemed to be quite a bit of the plant\u2014this was something in question. Some of the dissatisfaction about Rolf in his mind. He stated that things I noted are as follows. when overtime or a certain amount of board footage was needed to meet a quota, this created work unrest, There seemed to be many metal spacers or clamps which led to accidents. He said that Rolf was always the by the glue section. This section wasn\u2019t in use, so I one who initiated or told the workers that they had to don\u2019t know if this was normal or not. It was very work overtime. When asked about the death that had crowded and difficult to walk around. As we walked occurred, he stated that everybody was pretty upset through the plant, I saw at least two different types of about it, that it was bound to happen. I asked him band saws with no guarding whatsoever\u2014a very dan- what happened that day. He said that a guy got hurt, gerous situation in my opinion. There were no safety and yet management still wanted them to work even signs around the plant\u2014at least not outside the lunch- after the guy died. This seemed to upset Ron. room. One worker did not have a safety helmet on. I also noticed that the safety helmets that they gave us Ron mentioned that they (the workers) had a soft- were of very low quality. I base this on past experience ball team; that he felt frustrated about it because he in wearing them; they were the cheapest I have seen. I couldn\u2019t always play because the games were at six or did see a safety insignia on one gentleman\u2019s lunch box. seven o\u2019clock and many times they were working until (I wonder how they meet OSHA standards.) Also late in the evening trying to make a quota. He also because of the crowdedness of the facility, it was very stated that accidents were very high around here, that difficult to move around, and with things going on, I it was not uncommon to get a finger smashed or some- could see how it would be difficult not to get hurt. The thing, and that management didn\u2019t seem to care too workers at one point asked Joe about another worker (I much. He stated that he liked Joe, the manager, that think his name was Bob). It seems that Bob was going he was okay but that he was maybe more production- down the highway and was reaching for a speaker wire oriented than necessary. He stated that the work is very and hit the center rail on Highway I-5 and totaled his hard and the need for better methods is evident. He truck. He seemed to be okay with a mild concussion. stated that most men had bad backs, hernias, and","760 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT broken fingers or toes, and he seemed to be kind of suggestions would make any waves around there, that embarrassed. He did state that they had medical \u201cI would not be listened to.\u201d He was enjoyable to talk insurance. to, and he was more than willing to help me obtain the information I needed. Ron stated that one of the biggest causes of unrest, he felt, was due to overtime, and his own personal frus- Marty, who like Ron has been there for over a year, tration was that in a year he had obtained probably the was \u201ckey person\u201d of the glue team. However, Ron acted highest vertical level on the management structure, that as the leader. They seemed to be good friends and went of supervisor. He stated that the next job would proba- home together that afternoon. Marty had been there bly be to take Joe\u2019s job. He said that wouldn\u2019t happen, the longest. He had stated that the work is hard, that so there seems to be a lack of job mobility in his eyes. there are long hours, and that he had been right next He stated that workers do almost anything, any task at to the man who was killed. He stated that he was no any time; that what needs to be done, needs to be done, more than three to six feet from his friend (I guess he and they do it. He also stated that in the summertime, was his friend) when it happened. He was the one to fill when it is warmer, the metal building that they work in out the accident report for the police and insurance gets really hot, and it\u2019s not uncommon for men to lose people. He stated that they wanted to stop work and five or more pounds in one shift, which would be in an that the plant, and he didn\u2019t say specifically who, didn\u2019t eight-hour period. When asked if it was possible to want to shut down but wanted to complete the work ventilate the building a little bit more, he said it that was started. It seemed that most of the workers would be hard, that even if they could, management there did not want to work that day. That was the wouldn\u2019t spend the money to do it. extent of my talking to Marty. Ron said he didn\u2019t have enough time for his home When the workers were leaving, it seems they had set life. He also stated that Rolf and Joe, who were the up a bet for a keg of beer if the planer Griffith could plane supervisor and manager, would come out and help all the beams that were set out in front of him, which when they had the time. He said they would actually from the comments of the men, was quite a chore. But end up losing a half-hour of production time that way Griffith seemed pretty confident that he could get the and would be better off if they would just stay in their work out. He did say that he was looking to go to phar- offices. Ron seemed to express a great amount of dis- macy school as soon as he got his hernia fixed, and when pleasure with Rolf, and he said most of the workers asked about the hernia, he said he got it some time ago. agreed that Rolf was a \u201cthorn.\u201d When Rolf would give He said he got it working while picking up some stuff in orders, men would get upset and throw things around, the plant. Again, this seemed to be common. and this would cause accidents. When asked about new members, he said they don\u2019t last more than a couple of I had a chance to talk to a couple of the preglue days, and very rarely do they last over a year. Ron persons; there is a total of three. I believe Jack had talked stated that one of the jobs they gave new workers was to the leader, and I talked to the two workers. They pretty to bang beams in the gluing job with a weight that was much agreed that a union would be nice; however, BR, on a pole that is picked up and bounced up and down the owner, would not allow one to come in. He said, off the wood. It weighed anywhere from forty-five to \u201cWork long hours, or you get fired.\u201d There seemed to one hundred pounds; very grueling work. He laughed a be a lot of stress as far as meeting their quota, and they little bit and said that they usually hurt their back the could not go home until they met the quota for the day. first day, and it takes them a couple of weeks to learn They stated that the job was okay, but that they didn\u2019t how to do it, to learn the right technique, but he said have much time for their families. One said, \u201cI go home, I \u201cthere is no other way to learn the job, other than just sleep, I get up, I go to work, and I go back home and go jumping up there and doing it.\u201d to sleep again.\u201d When asked about their salary, he stated that they\u2019re paying, in his opinion, 60 cents per hour My own personal opinion of Ron was that while lower than the unions around here, and he said further, somewhat upset at the conditions down there, he was \u201cThe unions will get a 65-cent-per-hour raise, and we\u2019ll dedicated, he did enjoy his role as a leader, and he was get a 45-cent-per-hour raise.\u201d looked up to by the fellow workers. He mentioned at one time that the record of total board footage was I also had a chance to talk to some of the guys in broken by his crew, and he seemed very proud of the finish area. This seemed to be a typical eight-hour that fact. He did not seem to think that any of our shift that consisted primarily of watching the beams run through the planer. They go back and clean it up","INTEGRATIVE CASES 761 so that it can be packaged and shipped out. One man\u2019s impression of the plant\u2014there were no safety glasses biggest complaint was that he was upset about the on the workers. One worker had no helmet; there lunch-break change, which he stated was initiated by were no band-saw safety devices. Seemed pretty lacka- Rolf. It consisted of taking their one-hour lunch break daisical. During our initial interview with Joe, Darrell, a and cutting it down to a half-hour. He stated that Rolf truck driver, was in the office. He talked good- felt production would be increased by cutting down the naturedly with Joe, and he seemed to like Joe in gen- lunch break. He seemed upset about this. I don\u2019t know eral. Later on in the day I had an interview alone with his name. He lived five blocks away from the plant and Dirk. Dirk is the scheduler. Dirk has a master\u2019s in for- didn\u2019t have time to go home to eat and then come back estry from the University of Washington. Dirk men- (on a half-hour break). He seemed to have a high tioned that he spends half his time filling in various degree of resentment toward Rolf, and he had no positions. He says one of the major problems is the knowledge of what Rolf does. transition between shifts. This is in regard to mistakes. One of Dirk\u2019s quotes: \u201cThere is no communication I had an opportunity to meet with John, the between shifts. Mainly people don\u2019t want to take the quality-control man. He seemed like a very nice man. blame for mistakes.\u201d During the course of the inter- No real quotes. He was just there for a few minutes. He view, Dirk\u2019s manner was fidgety; he moved around a had had an eye operated on: I guess a new lens was put bit, but he seemed fairly open. A quote from Dirk: \u201cThe in. He seemed to talk with Joe very well. When I asked men change jobs so much that it is hard to train them. Joe about John, Joe stated John was officially to report Everyone has to know what is needed in beams.\u201d This to him; however, John reported to Rich, and that implies that workers weren\u2019t really trained well enough worked out for the best because quality control should to know what was needed in beams. \u201cProduction peo- really be removed from production somewhat. Joe ple go home after the quota.\u201d That was his perception seemed to see no conflict in that. of the amount of overtime worked. \u201cRepairs after glu- ing are costly and difficult. Double checking is needed Mike\u2019s Notes before they are glued together. Average beam is 6,000 board feet, or approximately $840. I currently have 75 Mitch and I had a morning interview with Joe. Some of bastard beams I have to find a home for.\u201d Then Dirk the quotes on management style were: \u201cI don\u2019t know went on to an example of mistakes made. A tapecloth about this work team crap, oops, stuff,\u201d \u201cTheories shrunk two inches. They used this tape for quite some come and theories go,\u201d \u201cI believe in giving my workers time before they finally found the mistake. He also explicit instructions; perceptions differ, and you have to mentioned there were frequent mixups between the 1 be sure they understand,\u201d and \u201cI didn\u2019t like the politics 3\/16-inch and 1 1\/4-inch strips for laminated beams. of larger plants I\u2019ve worked in.\u201d Also, Joe mentioned Dirk\u2019s quote on the workers: \u201cA few are incompetent; frustration over the lack of plant space. To a worker they just get soft warnings. Management should be he mentioned, \u201cYou are frustrated, aren\u2019t you, Bill?\u201d harder on them.\u201d During our tour, Joe set a brisk pace. He seemed to Item on bidding or posting for jobs: seniority or have quite a competent manner. ability (whoever they think will do best) decides who gets the job. On the workers: Morale is low. Safety and When Rich approached Joe about taking Mitch overtime are the main causes. On Rich, industrial rela- and me under his wing for a tour, I think Rich was tions: \u201cThe only contact I\u2019ve had with him is when he intimidated by Joe. Rich had his back against the wall came down and asked about people.\u201d I asked, \u201cWho, sideways to Joe, and he shifted his eyes from Joe to what people?\u201d and Dirk said, \u201cI\u2019d rather not say.\u201d On Mitch and me during the conversation. safety, he mentioned there are no physicals required. Later on in the interview, I asked why he didn\u2019t try to Joe was more than a bit curious in regard to our change things, seeing as he has a master\u2019s and seems to plant visit objective. I said it was for a class project. Joe have his head together. Dirk mentioned, \u201cGo up the replied, \u201cOh, then it\u2019s theory.\u201d I explained we covered line. Joe would listen.\u201d I said, \u201cListen?\u201d and Dirk said, all the theories equally. Another quote from Joe: \u201cA \u201cYeah, Joe would listen.\u201d At this point, Bruce, a bub- day\u2019s production lost is a day lost,\u201d delivered with a bling and brassy guy who is a millwright in charge of hint of frustration and impatience. special-projects maintenance, came in. The interview Joe\u2019s office contained numerous good-worker awards. One prominent sign contained a message roughly to the effect that \u201cI am right in the end.\u201d My","762 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT with Dirk was about thirty minutes under way; the next hours, and he\u2019s just trying to keep his job.\u201d Bruce con- twenty minutes I spent with Dirk, he mentioned Ben curred on the above points. Richardson, the president. I asked, \u201cDo men like to see BR?\u201d Dirk responded, \u201cNo, BR is bad news in the lam- Bruce: \u201cStacks of beams are too high. Two of them inating plant.\u201d He also mentioned that in the year he fell last week. Damned near got me and another guy.\u201d I has been there, BR had been down to the laminating noted that the accidental death last year and its details plant only five times. were repeated to me three times during the day. Item from Bruce: \u201cI\u2019ve had 30 projects in the year Bruce mentioned that he recently organized a soft- I\u2019ve been here; I only finished one. Joe keeps jerking me ball team. \u201cThe first thing this plant has ever had. It\u2019s around. As I get something operating but not all the hard practicing and playing games with all the overtime. kinks out, I\u2019m on to something else.\u201d Bruce also men- We went to BR to ask him for $700 to start it up. He tioned that he is on emergency call every other week. gave us $250. There\u2019s fourteen teams in our league, and He splits it with the other maintenance person. the minimum anyone else has gotten is $700.\u201d The beam stacks before and after planing were Dirk mentioned that the workers peak out at $8 an mentioned as being in terrible disarray. Bruce men- hour after one year. He seemed to think that money tioned that the Roseburg plants had a computer and a was a big motivating factor. big yard with designated areas to organize their stacks. He said that this company should take a bulldozer and In response to my query why there was no union, knock out the field to expand the outside stack area. Bruce and Dirk mentioned that hearsay has it that when union representatives came, BR said, \u201cFine, if Item from Bruce: \u201cAntiquated machinery. Mainte- you want a union, I\u2019ll just close the place down.\u201d nance is costly and time-consuming.\u201d Bruce commented on BR: \u201cJoe thinks labor is cheap; we don\u2019t have that Dirk: \u201cCommunication is the main problem. Joe many benefits. An example of BR\u2019s attitude: one of his schedules some changes, and I never hear about them.\u201d right-hand men got in a flap over the 3:30 A.M. shift parking down here instead of in the muddy, rutted park- Bruce, on the foremen meetings with BR: \u201cHell, ing lot an eighth of a mile up the road. Christ, they had a the foremen will have their say, and in the end BR caterpillar running up there, and they didn\u2019t even will stand up and say, \u2018This is the way it\u2019s going to be smooth it out. Anyway, this guy tells Rolf, the super, if because I pay the checks.\u2019\u201d these guys are too lazy to walk down from the workers\u2019 parking lot, they can go work somewhere else.\u201d This was About five minutes before the session ended, Joe mentioned right in front of some of the men. Bruce came in and with a friendly greeting said, \u201cThere you went on to say, \u201cIt really makes us feel wanted.\u201d I then are,\u201d to Bruce and indirectly to Dirk. Dirk got up as if asked who was this guy, BR\u2019s right-hand man, and getting ready to go back to work. Bruce stalled. Bruce Bruce said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to say\u2026. What the hell, I\u2019m then said that he didn\u2019t know how BR made any money quitting this heap in a while anyway. It was Wayne on the operation. Dirk giggled lightly and nodded his Teeterman, BR\u2019s special-projects director.\u201d During head. most of Bruce\u2019s spiel, Dirk appeared to be quite happy with what Bruce was saying; I\u2019m sure he was In the afternoon, I spent an hour and a half to two glad he didn\u2019t have to say it himself. hours with Rolf, the superintendent. About an hour of this talking was Rolf trying to prove his competence by It was mentioned that the sawmill didn\u2019t have a divulging intricate, technical, and totally useless details lunchroom, so the laminated plant felt favored. Also, of the plant. I got some tasty stuff anyway, and here it is: Rolf mentioned that the bathroom was one of the best in BR\u2019s operations. Me: \u201cWhat does Joe do?\u201d Rolf: \u201cSo doggone many things, I don\u2019t know.\u201d Bruce on Rolf: \u201cHe, Rolf, is a nice guy. Nobody Then he went on to mention he is a general manager respects him, though.\u201d in charge of scheduling and raw materials procurement and to rattle off two or three more. I said, \u201cWhat\u2019s your Dirk and Bruce mentioned that there are only six working relationship with Joe?\u201d Rolf said, \u201cI implement or seven men who have made it ten years in all of BR\u2019s his schedules. Dirk, the head of the finishing and plan- five companies. ing department, and I get Joe\u2019s schedules. Joe will skip me whenever he wants to make changes\u2014goes right to Dirk on Joe: \u201cJoe does too much. He keeps it all in planing and finishing. Then I have to go see what\u2019s his head. He is efficient. It would take two people to going on.\u201d I asked him if he thought it would be replace him. He\u2019s overworked, he doesn\u2019t like the more efficient if Joe went through him. Rolf said, \u201cNo, we get along well. Joe saves time by going directly to the workers. We spend a lot of time after the shift","INTEGRATIVE CASES 763 going over and discussing what happened and planning Rolf often has to juggle men around on their tasks for the next day and weeks ahead.\u201d and catches a lot of flack for this. I asked his criteria for deciding which men would go on which jobs. They Rolf mentioned that there are often schedule changes were (1) how well the man will do the job and (2) when customers\u2019 trucks pick up their orders. I wondered if how easy it is to replace him at his original task. maybe they could get tougher with the customers, and Rolf said, \u201cNo, we\u2019d lose them.\u201d Rolf said overtime is a big problem. It\u2019s necessary to go through the jobs in order. Men never know how long Rolf mentioned that the company deals with bro- they\u2019ll have to work. Lock-ups have to be finished. He kers, not contractors. He said that customers some- mentioned that a good lock-up will take an hour, a bad times cancel their orders. one, one and a half to two hours. (A lock-up is essen- tially gluing and clamping the beam into a form.) On Bruce\u2019s idea of bulldozing a pasture to expand finish-beam storage, Rolf said that in the winter it was Rolf said he used to spend three hours a day on the tough enough to keep the field clear with the current area. glue crew. He doesn\u2019t do this anymore; he has a good crew. Eighty percent of the glue crew are good workers, Rolf on equipment: \u201cBR gives us the junkiest stuff in Rolf\u2019s opinion. He mentioned that two of the bad to work with.\u201d He went on to mention one particular ones quit because they didn\u2019t want overtime. Also, Rolf piece of machinery that has four wheels and five feet of noted that it was possible to avoid overtime by schedul- clearance (I don\u2019t know what it is called): \u201cIt has no ing good or easy lock-ups. This was done when the glue brakes and no shut-off; you have to idle it to kill it.\u201d crew had been putting in too much overtime. On Joe: \u201cJoe\u2019s good; he and I go to bat for the guys.\u201d Rolf stated that the overall problem with the oper- Me: \u201cYou must have a pretty little bat; I hear BR is ation was that everyone knows that \u201cBR doesn\u2019t give a a tough guy to get through to.\u201d shit about them.\u201d I asked him if there was anything he Rolf: \u201cYeah, he picks his battles.\u201d liked about working for the company, and he said, On Dirk: \u201cEffective, will improve with time; he \u201cI like working for Joe.\u201d We ended the interview with doesn\u2019t always see the opportunities for utilizing stock Rolf saying, \u201cOverall, it\u2019s not a bad place to work; the beams. He has his master\u2019s degree in glue technology.\u201d checks don\u2019t bounce.\u201d On John: \u201cQuality control marginal.\u201d That\u2019s all he said. On Nita, BR\u2019s secretary: \u201cShe doesn\u2019t always use PREPARING THE DIAGNOSIS her power right.\u201d On Sue, Joe\u2019s secretary: \u201cShe does the work of two Jack Lawler leaned back in his chair and stretched. It had people. Has lots of customer respect; they often com- all come back. Now he needed a plan for working. It ment on her.\u201d seemed that the first step was to determine what ideas, On Joe: \u201cHe\u2019s too intelligent for the job. I don\u2019t models, or theories would be useful in ordering and know why he does not get something better. I guess understanding the information he had. Then he would he likes to work.\u201d have to do a diagnosis and, finally, think about what to On Rich: \u201cRich does his job well.\u201d say to Ben Richardson and Richard Bowman. After buzz- On the workforce: \u201cThere are three types of guys. ing his secretary to say that he didn\u2019t want to be inter- One is eight to five and a paycheck\u2014never volunteers or rupted, Lawler rolled up his sleeves and began to work. does anything extra\u201450% of the workforce. Second are the ones who use workers\u2019 compensation to get time off Questions all the time; this is 20%. Workers\u2019 compensation is the 1. How would you assess Jack Lawler\u2019s entry and biggest deterrent to an effective workforce,\u201d he went on contracting process at B. R. Richardson? Would to comment. \u201cAnd third, the ones who try, 30%.\u201d you have done anything differently? Rolf mentioned that 15 to 20% of the work hours 2. What theories or models would you use to make were spent trying to unsort the beam piles, pre- and sense out of the diagnostic data? How would you postplaner. organize the information for feedback to Ben Rolf mentioned that architectural beams, 7 to 12% Richardson and Richard Bowman? How would of the output, took three times as long to process as the you carry out the feedback process? plain beams. 3. What additional information would you have liked On Joe again: \u201cJoe does a good job of scheduling Jack Lawler and his team to collect? Discuss. and customer relations.\u201d On BR: \u201cBR is secretive; he should keep the guys informed.\u201d","\u00a9 Pixmann\/Imagezoo\/Getty Images Integrative Cases Building the Cuyahoga River Valley Organization* Sally Parker was heady with excitement. As the presi- THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY dent and founder of the OD consulting firm, Currere, many of the ideas she had worked for over the past three To understand the CVI, one must first understand the years, in fact, many of the ideals she was passionate place\u2014northeast Ohio and the Cuyahoga River Valley. about, were coming to fruition. The Cuyahoga River As the transition point between the Allegheny Plateau Valley Organization (CRVO), an organization to be and the Great Plains, the Cuyahoga Valley was the west- charged with carrying out the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative ern frontier for the emerging American nation. The area (CVI) through projects to restore the health and vitality of the valley is extensive, following the river as it flows of the region, was still not off the ground. There were south through Akron and Cleveland into Lake Erie, the lots of thinking to do and actions to take, but momen- 12th largest body of fresh water on the planet. The valley tum was building for the transorganizational system that is home to the historic Ohio & Erie Canal and towpath held the promise of not only rejuvenating the economic system, once a prime contributor to Northeast Ohio\u2019s basis of the Cuyahoga River Valley but perhaps even preeminence as an economic leader and now an integral restoring what was once a beautiful example of nature. part of the region\u2019s recreation system. As Sally pondered her next moves, she reflected on the history of the project, her involvement, and how the Deriving its name from the Iroquois word mean- CRVO might be organized. ing \u201ccrooked,\u201d the Cuyahoga (or \u201cCrooked\u201d) River Val- ley is the setting for one of the most significant It had all started in November of 2000 with a series examples of industrialization, urbanization, degrada- of articles in the Cleveland Plain Dealer entitled \u201cThe tion, and preservation in America. Located midway Forgotten Valley.\u201d Authored by Steven Litt, art and archi- between extensive deposits of natural resources and tecture critic for the local newspaper, the articles traced with access to land and water transportation networks, the history of the Cuyahoga River Valley and highlighted the Cuyahoga River Valley positioned northeast Ohio its \u201cnatural beauty and full-throated industry.\u201d As Litt as an early center of industry. Cleveland and Akron concluded the series, he issued a challenge to the commu- gained reputations as trade centers thanks to a super- nity to recognize and embrace the Valley as a place for highway of canals and railroads that transported every- \u201cenjoyment, exploration, reinvestment, and renewal.\u201d In thing from cotton and coal, to coffee and window glass. December, Cuyahoga County commissioner Timothy Made possible by the technological advances of the McCormick took up the challenge and the CVI was Industrial Revolution, Cleveland, already a port on born. Lake Erie, became a center for steel mills because of its proximity both to the high quality iron ore from *This case was developed and written by Sally Parker, with the assis- the upper Great Lakes region and to Ohio\u2019s bituminous tance of Chris Worley. The case draws on several written documents coal. Shortly afterwards, John D. Rockefeller brought and materials, including the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative website, the the oil industry to Cleveland in the form of refineries. information on the Cuyahoga Valley in the Wikipedia site, the Cuya- Akron became home to the Quaker Oats Company and hoga Valley National Park site, and numerous documents prepared emerged as the \u201cRubber Capital of the World\u201d when by the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission. The case was pre- Benjamin F. Goodrich opened his factory to manufac- pared for the purposes of class discussion and is not intended to ture carriage and bicycle tires. Miller, Seiberling, Good- illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative year, and Firestone companies soon followed suit and situation. thrived as the popularity of the automobile grew. 764","INTEGRATIVE CASES 765 Industrial progress, however, also was associated fallen into decline. Individual communities often find with increases in industrial waste, and the lower Cuya- themselves in a \u201cshell game,\u201d competing with neighbor- hoga River became a \u201cflowing dump.\u201d In fact, the ing communities and municipalities for the businesses, Cuyahoga River has caught fire at least three times development, and residents that they hope will jump- since 1936. The third and final fire in 1969 gained start their economies. Meanwhile, there are a growing worldwide attention and initiated the passage of the number of initiatives and organizations advocating Clean Water Act in 1972. regional approaches to address shared economic chal- lenges, leverage regional assets, and market northeast The Clean Water Act greatly reduced the waste that Ohio as a great place for new businesses, leisure trave- went into the river, and the Cuyahoga River slowly lers, conventions, and meetings. began to heal itself. By 1998, the Environmental Protec- tion Agency designated the Cuyahoga one of 14 Ameri- The Cuyahoga River Valley is home to many of can Heritage Rivers. However, and despite great strides these physical, economic, and regional assets. Over its forward, the Cuyahoga River is far from healthy. Envi- course, the river offers numerous experiences connect- ronmental issues continue to plague the health of the ing nature, recreation, entertainment, history, neigh- river valley driven by urban sprawl, poor land use, and borhoods, and industry. In one week, without a car, unsustainable development practices. Storm water run- an adventuresome explorer could sail on Lake Erie, off, flooding, and erosion continue to degrade the Valley. hike or bike on the towpath trail for hours through In fact, in addition to its designation as an American great scenery, visit a zoo, ride a scenic train, tour a Heritage River, the Environmental Protection Agency steel mill, shop at a farmer\u2019s market, experience the has also classified portions of the Cuyahoga River Rock \u201cn\u201d Roll Hall of Fame, hike in a National Park, Watershed as one of 43 Great Lakes Areas of Concerns. and sleep in luxury accommodations. Thus, remediation of the Cuyahoga River continues. The Cuyahoga River Valley is an invaluable Similar to the environmental plight of the river, regional asset, which happens to encapsulate a micro- northeast Ohio struggles economically as jobs, popula- cosm of the world\u2019s environmental, economic, and tion, and personal income decline at a rate above that of social challenges. If approached with thoughtful action, the rest of the country (Figure 1). Middle-class house- these challenges could catalyze creative, innovative holds have fled older urban areas for outlying suburbs, solutions for the region. The CVI provided a frame- and once thriving, working-class neighborhoods have work for leveraging this asset. FIGURE 1 Greater Cleveland\u2019s Economic Growth (Compared to the U.S. Baseline) SOURCE: Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.","766 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY Residents and visitors alike will enjoy the Valley\u2019s INITIATIVE cultural, historical, and ecological amenities. Art and Design: The Valley will be a place of The CVI began in 2001 as a Cuyahoga County\u2013funded experimentation and creativity where new design project under the direction of the Cuyahoga County paradigms that join artistic expression with pur- Planning Commission and at the request of the county pose are tested. commissioners. Since 2001, the slate of elected com- Business Innovation: The Cuyahoga River Valley missioners has changed, yet the county has continued will become known for industry and thought mod- to budget funding for the CVI so that work on the els in economic development through environmen- Valley can continue. tally friendly development and business practices. Community Capacity: Every community will The initial objective of the project was to create combine its diverse assets and talents with global codes, guidelines, and other tools that municipalities best practices in a way that increases individual in Cuyahoga County would use to direct redevelop- and community wealth, encourages the develop- ment. Driven by the vision of the County Planning ment of existing and new businesses, and brings Commission Director Paul Alsenas, the project soon about environmental health. became known as the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative, a As work on the Initiative advanced, it quickly regional initiative for sustainable transformation and became evident to Paul and the team that the Valley\u2019s regeneration. Under Paul\u2019s leadership and the commit- transformation, as envisioned by the Cuyahoga Valley ment and vision of a small team of county planners, the Initiative, would require more capacity than the CVI expanded to a multicounty effort to create a cul- County Planning Commission could commit. Collab- ture of sustainability, using the Valley as a laboratory. oration and cooperation amongst many different indi- During this time, local and national consultants, viduals and organizations with many different including Sally Parker\u2019s firm, Currere, joined Paul\u2019s agendas over a long time period was required to team to engage hundreds of individuals and organiza- accomplish the CVI mission. County and municipal tions that were part of the Valley. governments; a wide variety of governmental agencies and authorities; environmental, social service, and Through Paul and the CVI team\u2019s efforts, the CVI economic development non-profits; for-profit busi- developed a framework to guide action grounded upon nesses (large and small, local and global); and Valley the social, ecological, and financial principles of sus- residents were among the stake-holders to be involved tainability. Four principles and six organizing ideas in meaningful action. The team realized that the CVI formed the basic structure. The four principles were needed to move beyond the walls of County Planning, Build Connections, Renew the Economy, Create a Sus- and in 2005, they engaged Sally\u2019s company to explore tainable Urban Ecology, and Appreciate Our Shared the type of organization required to take on the work Heritage. The six organizing ideas, or goals, helped to of the initiative. sort out the complexity of the place and provide a unique perspective on the Valley. These included: THE DESIGN PROCESS Working River: Through innovative watershed Sally\u2019s exploration began by engaging the community management, the Cuyahoga River will be main- in a variety of one-on-one dialogues. Her team talked tained as a state-of-the-art working river that with more than 80 representatives from local and serves industry and recreation, while being sup- regional organizations, including Valley municipali- ported by healthy natural systems. ties, community and economic development organiza- Healthy Valley: Through ecological restoration, the tions, county government, regional authorities, local Cuyahoga River Valley community will transform universities, Valley-related nonprofit organizations, the urban watershed to become an environmental real estate developers, and Valley businesses and treasure for the region, flourishing with life- sustaining, healthy natural systems. Destination: The Cuyahoga River Valley will be- come a popular recreation and tourist destination.","INTEGRATIVE CASES 767 landowners. Through these conversations, the team governmental entities already competing for an insuffi- learned that: cient and shrinking pool of resources\u2014and where fun- ders are looking at consolidations and collaborations to \u2022 The Cuyahoga Valley is seen as an asset for the reduce redundancies. northeast Ohio region. Although many did not expe- rience the Valley as a cohesive place, they felt that As Sally\u2019s team considered all of this, they drew the area could sustain a rich range of experiences for three primary conclusions: businesses, leisure travelers, conventions, and meet- ings that could brand the region. \u2022 The Cuyahoga Valley is an asset worth leveraging and the CVI appears to be an adequate, if not \u2022 In a region that tends to be fragmented and divided, inspiring, framework for its regeneration. the Cuyahoga Valley was universally perceived as a place of \u201cconnection and joining.\u201d In fact, many saw \u2022 To accomplish its objectives, the Cuyahoga Valley the Valley as a natural and nonthreatening \u201cvenue for Initiative needs organizational capacity beyond that regionalism\u201d\u2014as a way to leverage the region\u2019s sus- currently present in the community. It needs an tainability efforts and other agendas, such as improv- organization able to work with a wide variety of ing racial inclusion and income equity, attracting and organizations and agendas and able to provide con- growing businesses, reducing government fragmenta- text and a course and model for collaborative action. tion and inefficiency, and reducing sprawl and improving regional connectivity. \u2022 The formation of any new organization will be scrutinized by the community regardless of how \u2022 The Cuyahoga Valley Initiative was not widely \u201cneeded\u201d it might be. From the get-go, its existence understood and in fact was a source of confusion will have to be \u201cjustified\u201d in the eyes of the com- and suspicion for some members of the commu- munity as an organization that is essential, non nity. Those with knowledge of the CVI were gen- redundant, and legitimate. erally optimistic and intrigued with its approach and were eager to see results. Developing the Design \u2022 If the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative was to have any Armed with these conclusions, Currere worked with chance of realizing its vision, it had to expand the County Planning Commission to secure supple- beyond the borders of Cuyahoga County and mental funding through a grant from The Gund include Summit County to the south (Figure 2). Foundation. With this funding, they decided that the This meant taking on a significantly larger area, next step was to think about the required design to including 25 local governments, three special gov- deliver this additional capacity. Their design process ernment districts, numerous State of Ohio depart- was grounded on four key principles: ments, over 40 nonprofit organizations, and 1. Place Based: The people of the community should thousands of private businesses and residents whose work and property management practices design the organization to serve the needs of the influence the Cuyahoga Valley\u2014each entity having place as a physical ecology, human community, its own priorities and ways of operating. and economy. 2. Experiential, Participatory, Collaborative: The \u2022 Any organization charged with the mission of the organization design experience should expand CVI would need to provide overall coordination thinking and perception and demonstrate how neu- and a cohesive context\u2014or vision\u2014for the many tral space is created to support cross-organizational organizations working in the Valley. It would need and cross-sectoral work. to facilitate new kinds of collaborations whose 3. Task and Capacity Focused: The process should work would benefit both the Valley and the mem- accomplish specific results, while expanding indi- bers of the collaboration. vidual and group capacity to accomplish additional Participants in these conversations also shared a results. 4. Transparent: Participants need to represent the sense of reluctance about forming any kind of new orga- mission and capabilities of their organizations, nization. They warned Sally\u2019s team to \u201cthink long and remaining transparent about their organization\u2019s hard\u201d before recommending the creation of a new orga- interests or agendas. nization in a region that is saturated with nonprofits and","768 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT FIGURE 2 The Cuyahoga River Valley \u00a9 Cengage Learning","INTEGRATIVE CASES 769 Following the above principles, Currere and the allowed the design team to think about how projects, CVI team formed an ad hoc group of \u201cusual and sponsors, governments, and organizations might fit unusual suspects\u201d\u201414 individuals representing differ- together into an organization model. ent organizations and initiatives throughout Cuya- hoga and Summit County. Pulling this ad hoc group These meetings resulted in the design team grasp- together was a critical part of the process. The team ing the complexity of a place that was the size and created a matrix of the characteristics, expertise, expe- scale of the Valley and that hosted such a diversity rience, and perspectives they felt were important of ecological, economic, and social issues. They real- within this ad hoc group and brainstormed a list of ized how many organizations\u2014large and small from prospects. They sought broad and systemic thinkers, different sectors\u2014were already working to advance civic champions, innovators, and leaders. They looked their agendas and affect the Valley. They also wrestled for individuals not afraid to speak the truth yet willing with questions about the essential \u201cDNA\u201d of an orga- to listen to others. They wanted vision and passion nization whose function was the transformation of about northeast Ohio and the Cuyahoga River such a place. They talked about the Valley as a Valley; they needed commitments of time and whole system and wondered where attention and energy. energy should be focused to catalyze and accelerate transformation and regeneration\u2014to achieve results Paul and Sally began to meet with each of the and create value. The design team had an epiphany prospects. Armed with information about the value as they struggled to define the physical boundaries and importance of the CVI, they prepared for a chal- of the Valley and to prioritize the places where work lenging \u201csell,\u201d expecting to be delegated to less power- should be focused. The primary point of leverage for ful people in the chain of command. They were effecting change in the Valley was not a project or a wrong. In fact, they were met with a great deal of physical place\u2014the primary point of leverage for trans- interest. Whether they were meeting with the general formation was people and the human network they manager of one of the world\u2019s largest steel companies, formed. busy and successful entrepreneurs, the leader of the County library system, a mayor, a city councilman, With this insight, the group\u2019s focus shifted to look- or the head of strategy for a national developer, the ing at the Valley as a networked system of people and most common response they got was, \u201cHow can I not organizations. do this? How can I not take this on?\u201d The Essential Components of the Network So, having met with an overwhelmingly positive With Sally\u2019s help, the design team pieced together the response from this group of prospects, the task was to essential elements of the system that required coordi- narrow the group down to 14. Together, this final ad nation. Rather than a singular organizational form, the hoc group, Currere, and the Planning Commission Valley\u2019s transformation called for four different net- comprised the design team. works of organizational capacity working together in partnership to effect change (Figure 3). Central to the Under Currere\u2019s leadership, the design team partnership was the Cuyahoga River Valley Organiza- immersed themselves into the Valley as place\u2014a phys- tion (CRVO), acting as an orchestrator for the other ical ecology, human community, and economy. Over a three: the triad, network partners, and projects. period of five months, the design team met about every three weeks for half-day sessions that were held in dif- \u2022 The Triad refers to a group of individuals repre- ferent locations throughout the Valley. In addition, senting three key stakeholders\u2014government, busi- three full-day sessions were conducted to provide the ness, and foundations within the two counties\u2014 design team an opportunity to \u201ctry on\u201d organization that can collectively legitimatize and support the design criteria and principles with real Valley projects system of activity. This means legitimizing the and the people and organizations working on them. Valley and the CVI as a top regional priority and For example, several Valley-related projects, such as the CRVO as the organization charged with the the East Bank Flats Redevelopment and the City of CVI mission. For the CRVO to be able to work Cleveland\u2019s industrial brownfield land-bank initiatives, through a network of other organizations, it must were already underway, and the day-long sessions","770 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT FIGURE 3 The Cuyahoga River Valley Partnership \u00a9 Cengage Learning be seen by those organizations and the community The challenge is that these networks tend to be as the legitimate entity to carry out this work. This fragmented and focused on projects that advance legitimacy can be afforded through an articulated specific objectives. The Valley transformation will agreement between the governments, foundations, require the emergence of a more robust and inte- and business communities to: grated \u201caction\u201d network of people and organiza- \u2022 Legitimize and fund the transformation of the tions working on the kinds of projects that will achieve positive impact at scale in the Valley. A Valley as a top regional priority network partner, like one of the park districts, \u2022 Authorize and fund the CRVO as leader and would be motivated to be a part of this network because they would see it as a way to facilitate the orchestrator of the Valley\u2019s transformation accomplishment of their own objectives and also \u2022 Ensure the CRVO\u2019s autonomy to operate as a the larger regional objectives. The network would represent a means to accomplish more with less\u2014 neutral body that can develop the multiple provided each player is able to satisfy their own agendas essential for regional transformation organizational interests. It is through the Triad that the CRVO can be posi- \u2022 Valley Projects are where the rubber meets the tioned in the community with the authority, road\u2014where the Valley transformation will take autonomy, and resources necessary to accomplish shape. Many Valley projects and initiatives are its mission. already underway, engaging numerous organiza- \u2022 Network Partners are organizations and indivi- tions. For the CRVO, the priority would be initiat- duals committed to doing and enabling the work ing and supporting projects that address the most of transformation in the Valley. There are a num- pressing needs of the Valley, can have an impact at ber of these organizations and individuals, some of scale, and will help build the Valley network. them networks in their own right, who are cur- rently working on a wide variety of interests in the Valley and the number seems to grow daily.","INTEGRATIVE CASES 771 \u2022 The CVRO, as the fourth element, is the orchestra- Currere and the CVI knew that this would be a tor of the larger network and serves as a champion core challenge for the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative in of the Valley\u2019s transformation and regeneration as a general and the CRVO in particular. The CRVO, the whole place. Working with a clear and compelling Triad, and the Network Partners would need to live identity and vision, it would provide thought and with the reality that individuals and organizations action leadership, inspiration, context, direction, working in the Valley would be under constant pres- and coordination. As a hub or orchestrator, it sure to default to traditional, known ways of working\u2014 would assemble resources and projects with legiti- particularly when tensions and stakes are high. macy to maintain a robust network of individuals and organizations willing and able to advance the Implementing the Design Valley\u2019s overall health and effect change at scale. Since there was no single entity whose scope and As Sally and the CVI team thought about the tasks ahead, focus was the transformation of the Valley as a their biggest challenge was how to operationalize the net- whole, the CRVO is the only organizational form work system and in particular, how to design and imple- in the partnership that may in fact require the incor- ment the CRVO. They knew that the reason for the poration of a new entity. CRVO\u2019s existence had to be clear and compelling and the design easily understood. Sally emphasized that the A Process to Operate the System CRVO could be fully grasped only in the context of the Valley partnership as a collaborative system, even though In addition to the different forms of organizational the partnership concept was complex and might be con- capacity, the design team realized that the Valley\u2019s trans- fusing. She knew that the role of each of the four elements formation would require a new \u201cprotocol\u201d or process for of the partnership needed to be articulated\u2014keeping in working together within an expanded set of values that mind the need for a protocol or system-wide decision- integrates economic, environmental, and social benefit. making process. Sally and the CVI team needed to think The protocol would support a process of exploration about (a) the detail of the design and operating practices and discovery through trial and error and would have of the CRVO and (b) how the CRVO would develop the to be created from scratch. There were no time-tested protocol. She began to consider the following. models to draw on. In essence, the CRVO would be ask- Purpose, Value Proposition, and Strategy From ing individuals and organizations to step into action, the beginning, the team heeded the community\u2019s caution trust an exploratory process, and collaborate with others about creating \u201cyet another organization.\u201d They knew for mutual value in a region historically characterized as that for CRVO to have value in the Valley, it would risk averse, fragmented, and distrustful. Even though need to provide tangible benefit to individual stakeholders northeast Ohioans were expressing a growing interest and the broader regional community. It could not appear in regionalism, there were very few examples of collabo- to create redundancies or compete with the organizations rative regional initiatives and fewer, if any, at the CVI\u2019s and initiatives already at work in the Valley. It had to scale and level of complexity. provide a unique capacity that did not exist elsewhere and was essential and desired by the community. The protocol would require working in ways that probably felt counter to conventional wisdom and They realized that at its core, the purpose of a CRVO often seem paradoxical. For instance, teams would would be to promote and leverage the Cuyahoga River need to be encouraged to \u201cslow down to speed up\u201d\u2014 Valley for the benefit of the region and to do that it to spend time building a foundation for intelligent and would need to: more aligned action. The protocol would help to iden- tify how the Triad, network partners, and the CVRO \u2022 Provide strategic thought leadership and direction; contributed to such a process. In addition, participants \u2022 Establish a sense of identity and coherence for the of divergent groups would be asked to put their indi- vidual and corporate agendas on the back burner and Valley; be curious about the agendas of others\u2014all in the inter- \u2022 Set and coordinate a course for aligned and collab- est of mutual benefit. The protocol would provide a decision process that would encourage the integration orative action; of divergent views without paralyzing action. \u2022 Invite and engage the Cuyahoga River Valley com- munity (organizations and individuals within the network partners) to work together in the Valley;","772 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT \u2022 Identify, facilitate, and launch projects responsible representation in the decisions of governments, for revitalizing the Valley. the community, businesses, and nonprofits. It would need to take on the following most press- \u2022 The Triad\u2014The shared agreement of Summit and Cuyahoga County governments, business commu- ing needs of the Valley: nity chambers, and foundations should support, \u2022 Healthy ecology, particularly of the water and air legitimize, and authorize the CRVO as the leader sheds; and orchestrator of the Valley\u2019s transformation. As \u2022 Industrial regeneration to leverage the assets in the a collective, these organizations want to see that industrial valley; the Valley is leveraged for the good of the \u2022 A robust infrastructure system to link places, peo- region\u2014economically, socially, and environmen- ple, and experiences; tally. Individually, each organization wants to \u2022 Healthy place-making to create and re-create great build goodwill amongst its constituents and stake- neighborhoods and economies. holders, demonstrating collaboration and sound It would need to demonstrate its value proposition investment in the Valley. \u2022 The Network Partners\u2014These are the core organi- to its stakeholders by: zations of an emerging Valley action network \u2022 Acting on behalf of county and municipal govern- whose support and collaborative efforts will trans- ments, the business community, and foundations, form the Valley. These organizations want to dem- helping them to accomplish their objectives for onstrate an ability to work with others for the good sustainability within the Valley, while mitigating of the region while advancing their own objectives. the risk associated with their direct leadership They want their work in the Valley to demonstrate and\/or involvement; their value as an individual organization and as an \u2022 Assembling and organizing regional and global essential component of the Valley network. Finally, expertise essential for transformation toward they want to be able to strengthen their own place-based sustainability and organize capacity capacity and expand their reach and visibility. for impact at scale; \u2022 The Regional Community\u2014The broader commu- \u2022 Promoting the Cuyahoga River Valley experience as nity served by the Valley\u2019s transformation wants to a core component of the region\u2019s branded identity; enjoy the Valley and be able to benefit from it. \u2022 Maintaining focus on the Cuyahoga River Valley as a top regional priority and be a constant force Core Work Ultimately, the design team saw the for focused and effective action; work of the CRVO in five primary categories\u2014 \u2022 Leveraging the capacity of the Valley network for leadership, network development and management, maximum effectiveness; nurturing\/ managing rela- marketing\/branding, knowledge creation and manage- tionships throughout the network; and gaining ment, and funding\u2014all in service to the Valley. In the community support. early stages, however, the focus of the organization Assembling\u2014or aggregating\u2014people, places, and would need to be narrowed to include securing and coordinating financial and human resources experiences to create mutual value would be CRVO\u2019s for initiating, leading, and\/or managing projects and core strategy. By integrating and organizing the many activities that: resources and experiences of the Valley, the CRVO 1. Restore air, water, and land quality in the Cuya- increases the value of the Valley to visitors, residents, developers, business, etc. hoga Valley; 2. Improve the performance of businesses already Stakeholders and Customers In very general terms, CRVO\u2019s stakeholders and their related interests sited in the Valley with respect to sustainable eco- include the following: logical practices, and create an attractive market for new sustainable businesses in the Valley; \u2022 The Place\u2014The Cuyahoga River Valley is an eco- 3. Promote and advocate for investments in high- logical, economic, and human community and the performance infrastructure throughout the Valley CRVO is its representative. The Place demands watershed;","INTEGRATIVE CASES 773 4. Advocate for a regulatory and legislative environ- perhaps the next greatest challenge. The organization ment that supports \u201chealthy place-making\u201d in the needs to be able to start small, and stay small, honing Valley; its skills as an initiator and orchestrator. It cannot represent redundant capacity. The CRVO can accom- 5. Build a robust Valley network. plish its vision only by working with and through the Getting the CRVO Off the Ground For Sally and expertise and capacity of a Valley network. From the the team, this was perhaps the biggest concern. The inception, it will need to inspire other organizations to Valley has so many players, is large and complex, and follow its lead\u2014and trust its process. It will need to is not perceived as a cohesive place\u2014like the Napa keep its eye on the prize\u2014which is the Valley in ser- Valley or Silicon Valley. Although there are networks vice to the region\u2014and continually evolve to best meet of individuals and organizations interested in the Val- the Valley\u2019s needs, remain adaptive, inventive, ley, they tend to be localized and project focused, often resourceful, and stealth-like. burdened with competing agendas. Questions From the beginning, the CRVO needs to be legit- 1. Assuming you are Sally Parker, describe the pro- imized as the \u201cface of the Valley,\u201d yet it will need to cess you will initiate to form the CVRO and the launch before the Triad is fully formed. In fact, its protocol for decision making in the network. existence will help the Triad develop, and while it 2. Describe the organization design features\u2014structure, needs the Triad to legitimize it, the CRVO will also human resource processes, leadership\u2014that you need to maintain its autonomy because it needs to be think should characterize the CVRO. able to work in ways that are nontraditional and may 3. What do you think are the obstacles and appear \u201crisky.\u201d facilitators to your process? What are your per- sonal hopes and fears in conducting this task? What gave life to the CVI was the vision and tenacious focus of Paul Alsenas. Finding that kind of champion to continue to drive the CRVO forward is","\u00a9 Pixmann\/Imagezoo\/Getty Images Integrative Cases The Transformation of MECK Insurance* The internal Organization Development (OD) team at THE CULTURAL MECK Insurance had just completed a full-day session TRANSFORMATION with the Customer Service Organization (CSO) leader- METHODOLOGY ship team. Together, they were leading the journey to shift the culture and drive performance in one of The CSO was the third business area to engage in large- MECK\u2019s largest business areas\u2014and the hard part scale transformation at MECK Insurance, a large, broad was just beginning. Customer, client relationship, and line provider of property, casualty, and life insurance employee engagement measures had improved in the sold through a multichannel business model that first 18 months of the transformation. However, the included call centers, the web and an agency force. OD team knew from experience that the project was Together with Customer & Enterprise Services and at an exciting and daunting moment in the journey. Technology, these three areas represented approximately Their interventions could either accelerate the change 70% of the company\u2019s workforce. or allow the customer service organization to slide back towards the status quo. While the three business areas served very differ- ent functions for the company, the motivation for This was not the first time the OD team had col- change was similar: to improve business performance laborated with a MECK business area to create cultural and to respond to feedback from the business areas\u2019 transformation. Two other business areas, Customer & internal clients and external customers. A differentiated Enterprise Services and Technology, had been on simi- client and customer experience was critical to being lar journeys beginning in 2008. Through the highs, competitive in the future. In addition, these business lows, and lessons learned, the OD team has adapted areas recognized that the desired impact on financial methods based on the business area\u2019s structure, the performance and customer experience could not be leader\u2019s objectives, and the unit\u2019s particular culture. achieved through a single-solution approach, such as Additionally, the OD team shared a continued belief restructuring the organization, reducing expenses, or that bringing the employees and their culture into hiring a few new leaders. Instead, the leader of each alignment with the business strategy was a critical business area knew change needed to be holistic to lever for performance. achieve better and sustainable levels of performance. There has been visible success along the way, but In each case, the OD team worked with the leaders this time it felt different. Given the size of the CSO, of the business areas and their leadership teams to define success could represent the tipping point for the clear and supported strategies as the first phase of work. whole company. The task ahead of the OD team was With this foundation, the OD team leveraged several to partner with the clients to determine the next steps design and change tools, including Galbraith\u2019s Star in the change process, accelerate the change, and Model, Sullivan\u2019s Whole System Transformation pro- ensure the shifts were sustainable. cess, and Beckhard\u2019s change formula, to frame the change process across all three business areas. For exam- *Anonymous members of the MECK Insurance OD team. ple, Beckhard\u2019s change formula, C R D*V*F, sug- gests that change occurs when resistance is less than the product of dissatisfaction with the current state, a vision 774","INTEGRATIVE CASES 775 TABLE 1 \u00a9 Cengage Learning 2015 Core Transformation Principles Create real strategic business results Ensure shared ownership by leaders Think holistically about how to create and sustain change with a common purpose that drives everything Engage diverse groups to leverage different perspectives, understand their needs, and create change\u2014the wisdom is in the system Build shared aspiration, understanding, and meaning that leads to committed and aligned action\u2014combine head and heart Measure and reward what you want and take action on what you don\u2019t want Leverage the organization\u2019s strengths\u2014honor what is already working Build an organization that creates its own solutions to ensure sustainability of the future, and clear first steps. These tools resulted in units. Unfortunately, in 2008, CES customer loyalty core \u201cTransformation Principles\u201d (Table 1). and satisfaction scores had been stagnant at best, and feedback suggested significant improvements were These transformation principles focused on needed in sales, service quality, and product support. engaging the head and heart of organization members In addition, internal business clients were demanding to create real, sustainable change. The deep transfor- significant cost reductions and more support to help mation of an individual\u2019s experience was necessary to them meet their business goals. create space for new and different levels of engage- ment. Deep individual change at all levels of the orga- CES\u2019s challenges stemmed largely from an inter- nization was core to how organization change was nally focused, shared-service structure and culture created. The principles also recognized that design that had been in place for two decades. Locations and changes drove culture change. It was important to functions were isolated from each other and tolerated redesign structures, systems, and processes to support the creation of \u201ckingdoms.\u201d The result was little to no the new behaviors. collaboration across locations, functions, or top leader- ship as well as lost efficiencies, lack of shared purpose, Although the transformation principles were inconsistent practices to serve customer needs, and leveraged in all three business areas, the way they subcultures that varied widely across CES. CES also were applied looked different based on the specific faced additional complexities: their recent merger business area\u2019s context, leaders, culture, and business with the Technology area formed a larger Technology challenges. & Operations organization under a single leader, and the appointment of a new CES leader resulted in a lack WHERE IT ALL STARTED\u2014 of clarity and focus on what was most important and CUSTOMER AND how to best drive business performance. ENTERPRISES SERVICES The CES Transformation Process\u2014 The Customer and Enterprise Services (CES) organiza- Launches and Waves tion operated most of the company\u2019s call centers and back office functions. CES\u2019s employees engaged in hun- The new CES leader initiated the change process. dreds of millions of customer interactions each year, Leveraging both internal and external OD resources, were spread across the country, and delivered crucial the transformation process consisted of four phases or services to policy holders as well as internal business \u201claunches.\u201d Within two years, CES saw most every","776 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT business metric move in a positive direction, including As part of the transformation, the leadership enhanced cost effectiveness and increased customer team agreed to engage people from across CES service. together in large-group events and formed a design team to plan and execute the Launch 2 phase. The \u2022 Launch 1: Ensuring Clear Sponsorship and Lead- design team was a microcosm of the organization ership Alignment. Launch 1 began with ensuring and ensured that the large-group event agendas that the CES leadership team was ready to support would meet the needs, concerns, and reality of transformation and was willing to make the the people who would attend them. The design changes needed to impact business performance. team\u2019s responsibilities included: The leadership team needed to be aligned and \u2022 Building relationships with each other as a way committed to the CES strategy, the need for change, and their role and accountability for the to learn about the experiences that people were change before the OD team engaged others in having in different parts of CES; the effort. The modeling of transformation by the \u2022 Understanding the current state of the business; leadership team was paramount in inspiring the \u2022 Completing a scan of the internal environment; remainder of the CES organization. \u2022 Reviewing the organizational vision and all the This was no small task as the CES leadership work that was underway to help achieve it; team had a long history of competition and distrust, \u2022 Identifying and aligning on a clear purpose and and lacked any shared commitment to a collective the outcomes for the large-group sessions; vision. The conversations and dialogue over multiple \u2022 Designing all the activities and conversations sessions shaped the direction of the team and the that would occur in the large-group sessions. organization. The tipping point in the team\u2019s trans- \u2022 Launch 2: Engaging the Organization. Launch 2 formation came at one of those sessions. Following a activities engaged CES members in a series of four period of continued questioning by the CES leader two-and-a-half-day, large-group events or \u201cwaves\u201d about how best to operate the function, the whole of about 200 people to understand the case for team\u2014without the leader\u2014stood up, walked over change, create the vision for the future, identify to the easel pad, and designed their ideal service how to make the change happen at an organization delivery model. The team took full ownership of and individual level, and consider ways to sustain that future vision and operated collaboratively to the change. Wave I focused on understanding the design it. They left that session with a common pur- current state and the sources of dissatisfaction (the pose, guiding principles, operating norms, and a new \u201cD\u201d in Beckhard\u2019s change formula). Wave II paradigm about their value to the company. Based focused on identifying a future vision (the \u201cV\u201d in on the new delivery model, the leadership team was Beckhard\u2019s formula). Wave III developed action able to articulate a business goal to become more plans or \u201cfirst steps,\u201d and Wave IV focused on sus- innovative, cost effective, and value added as per- tainability and system-wide transformation issues. ceived by customers. They eventually shortened everything into two key sentiments: Thrill the Although the focus of each wave was different, Customer and Get Different. there were a significant number of similarities in Following these sessions, the leadership team the way in which the waves were designed to spoke openly and publicly of their fears and per- ensure that the transformation principles were ceptions, took ownership of the barriers and chal- reflected. For example: lenges they had created through their past \u2022 The first day of a session involved context set- leadership decisions and behaviors, listened to the organization, and accepted critical feedback. Later, ting, group connections, and a sharing of dissa- when qualitative data was gathered about the role tisfactions with the current state. of leaders in the CES transformation effort, \u2022 The second day connected people to aspirations employees noted that it was the first time in and visions of what was possible. For CES, this years that everyone, at all levels, felt heard. meant that the leadership team\u2019s common Employees had a renewed sense of trust in and purpose\u2014Thrill Our Customer\u2014was embed- commitment to the leadership and the company. ded in every activity so that employees began to make a meaningful connection to what was possible given their customer facing roles.","INTEGRATIVE CASES 777 \u2022 The third day generated confidence and enthu- design. The Six Bold Steps were to introduce a 360- siasm as they developed actions to take at the degree feedback process for all employees, create a individual, group, and organization levels as new online recognition program, design a business they walked out of the wave and returned to results dashboard, develop business acumen train- their day-to-day jobs. ing, host a one-day wave event at every geographic office location, and document best practice process \u2022 Small-group discussions always took place flows. These \u201cbold steps\u201d served as the basis of a among a \u201cmax mix\u201d of CES members\u2014every sustainability plan to monitor and measure progress table had a mixture of people representing dif- across CES. While CES made progress in achieving ferent levels, geographies, and functions so that the \u201cbold steps,\u201d sustainability efforts monitored there was a microcosm of the organization\u2014 overall progress and action to ensure that change much like the make-up of the design team. was systemic and purposeful in bringing the CES common purpose and vision to life. \u2022 The design of each day addressed both organi- zation transformation and personal transforma- The CES senior leadership team worked with tion. To change the organization, each the design team and the OD team to hold review individual also needed to make the commit- sessions at 6 and 14 month intervals after the com- ment to change. pletion of the four waves. These sessions assessed Together, the four waves engaged about 20% the leadership team\u2019s development, created an organizational strategy for the next two years, of the CES workforce, and generated visible align- and established an elaborate ongoing measurement ment and excitement around the common pur- process, structure, and planning system to ensure pose. The waves also formed relationships across long term sustainability. locations, business functions and people, and brought collaboration and innovation to life. The CES\u2014Results and Impact of experience shifted individual beliefs about the the Transformation organization, their role, and how they could work differently to truly thrill the customer. The inclusiveness and depth of the CES transformation generated near-immediate business improvements. For Participants took the shared sense of excitement example, after years of no movement, the satisfaction and unity back to their work locations and became survey that customers take following a call center trans- catalysts for the change. Individuals brought new action began improved for seven months in a row, ideas and business solutions to their leaders and from 77% to 84%, and has been maintained by the people began to work differently across boundaries. organization. A variety of other expense and operations This collective excitement and action from the par- improvements were made as well. For example, half ticipants after the sessions, combined with the way through the fiscal year, there was concern about broader sustainability efforts across CES (described whether the CES organization would meet their sales below), shifted the organization and began to trans- goals, but after the four waves, the numbers rose and late into business results. Importantly, the invest- CES eventually exceeded their sales objectives. ment in leadership\u2019s transformation as a part of Launch 1 paid off when, about midway through BUILDING MOMENTUM\u2014 the effort, it became clear that not all CES leaders TRANSFORMATION IN were supporting the change or were taking steps to TECHNOLOGY create an environment where employees could be heard and empowered. The CES leader held those CES\u2019s success convinced MECK\u2019s Chief Information leaders accountable for their actions\u2014and eventually Officer (CIO) to expand the work to the Technology moved some out of their positions if they did not organization\u2014the remaining part of the overall Tech- change. This action was a critical sign to the rest of nology & Operations function. Services provided by the organization of the CES leader\u2019s commitment to the Technology organization play a critical role in move the organization into its vision. \u2022 Launch 3: Evaluation and Sustainability. The output of Wave IV was a CES-wide action plan with \u201cSix Bold Steps\u201d to address the organization\u2019s","778 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT supporting agencies and serving customers. They build success metrics were internally focused. The leader- and deliver applications and infrastructure that enable a ship team realized they had strayed from a focus on wide range of business transactions. For example, tech- the needs of their core stakeholder\u2014the bill-paying nology allows the agencies to sell and service customers, customer. supports the claims process in catastrophe situations, and provides customers with the ability to quote and A clear and common purpose had been a key buy policies on the Web. At the time the transformation success factor for the CES transformation. As a result, effort began in 2009, the availability and stability of these the Technology leadership team also spent time services had room for improvement and the pressure defining a common purpose. Because of the insight from internal clients, agencies, and customers to make around their lost focus on the customer, the leader- a change was growing. ship team believed that they should share the same common purpose as CES, which was to Thrill Our Prior to 2009, the technology organization had Customer. The leadership team knew that, going for- restructured and changed leaders several times. The ward, it was important to refocus themselves and the most significant of these was a merger between the appli- organization on this stakeholder. They also recog- cation development and infrastructure development nized that they needed to lead differently to bring areas. It brought two leadership teams under one CIO the common purpose to life. and aligned the organization to the different enterprise \u2022 Launch 2: Engaging Employees. Like CES, Launch 2 functions. Unfortunately, people were unclear about activities were to engage the organization beyond the whether Technology\u2019s true objective was to be a world leadership team. However, a \u201cmini-wave\u201d of only 40 class center of excellence or a low-cost service provider. individuals was designed and delivered by the OD Additionally, increasing amounts of work were being team to help gauge the pulse of the Technology orga- outsourced to both domestic and foreign locations and nization and to confirm the need for the larger group contributed to confusion about individual and organiza- events or \u201cwaves. The participants in the mini-wave tion purpose, value, and future direction. were unanimous: similar conversations needed to occur in the entire Technology organization. The The Technology Transformation Process executive sponsor and leadership team agreed. Building on the experience from CES, the Technology With this direction, the OD team used the leadership team was similarly engaged in working ses- case for change and the common purpose as the sions to ensure strategic clarity, an articulated case for basis for designing the wave events. The Technol- change, and a commitment to how they led and sup- ogy waves used similar design assumptions: ported the transformation. Similar to CES, improved \u2022 Each wave was two and a half days to allow customer service, affordability, and innovation were cornerstones for business performance. Additionally, the time for organizational and personal trans- the leadership team wanted increased employee formation. engagement across the Technology organization. \u2022 Small groups applied the \u201cmax mix\u201d concept to bring together leaders and employees from all \u2022 Launch 1: Building an Aligned Senior Leadership levels on the design teams and at the tables in Team. During the Launch 1 sessions, the leadership the events. team reviewed diagnostic data about the current \u2022 The first large-group event focused on unleash- state of the organization\u2014its challenges, concerns, ing individuals and getting a clear understand- strengths, and opportunities. They noticed that the ing of the current state, while Waves II and III word \u201ccustomer\u201d was completely missing from their focused on the future state and specific actions, discussions. This was not surprising because, unlike in addition to continuing to provide feedback CES, most of Technology employees did not have on organization initiatives and centering on daily interactions with policy-holding customers. personal transformation. Without this direct connection, the line of sight \u2022 Eventually, approximately 30% of the Technol- between their work and how it directly impacted ogy organization attended one of these large- customers was more difficult to see. The data also group sessions. highlighted another gap\u2014most of Technology\u2019s While the OD team was leading the wave events, the leadership team was simultaneously defining objectives and priorities related to the","INTEGRATIVE CASES 779 organization\u2019s structure and work processes. believe, in pockets, that there was little commitment These priorities were brought into the wave to change. events for input and feedback from people across the Technology organization. Shortly after the completion of the waves and one- \u2022 Launch 3: Broadening the Involvement of the day engagement sessions in 2010, the CIO moved to Organization and Sustainability. The final wave another position. A new leader took over the Technol- event produced four bold actions to support sus- ogy and Operations organization, made several leader- tainability and engagement across the technology ship changes and articulated clear priorities and focus organization. One of these actions, similar to CES, areas. At the same time, the internal OD team that had was to create one-day large-group sessions for all been dedicated to the Technology and Operations Technology employees who had not attended a organization was centralized into the Human wave. These one-day sessions engaged employees Resources function to support the enterprise. in the common purpose of \u201cThrill Our Customer,\u201d connected their work to the purpose, and asked While there was a substantial increase in Technol- them to reflect on what they needed to do differ- ogy employees\u2019 evaluation of their line of sight to the ently to bring the common purpose to life. A customer as measured by an organization-wide survey design team created and facilitated the one-day (which was one of the success measures for the effort), sessions. The other three bold actions focused on there was no clear measurable business impact, and no organizational design, including changes to additional formal interventions were conducted during rewards and performance management systems, the transition period of the new leadership and the OD continued capability building of inclusive beha- team. The progress that had been made up to that viors, and leadership development. point in Technology became the backdrop for the new leader as he refocused the organization to address The OD team took similar approaches to sus- the mounting business demands and lead them into the tain the change, including: next chapter of transformation. \u2022 Continuing work with the leadership team to CREATING SUSTAINABLE support their development in leading the trans- CHANGE IN THE CUSTOMER formation efforts; SERVICE ORGANIZATION \u2022 Building their own capabilities in whole system transformation and inclusive diversity by work- The Customer Service Organization (CSO) represents ing with external partners; more than half of the company\u2019s total population. It is \u2022 Forming an Operating Team\u2014a \u201cmax mix\u201d of spread across the country as a primary customer con- employees and leaders from across Technology\u2014 tact point, is critical to satisfying and retaining custo- to lead the sustainability work and provide input mers, and holds the line on the company\u2019s operating to the leadership team on the overall strategy. expenses. Technology\u2014Results and Impact of Historically, field offices across CSO had authorita- the Transformation tive cultures that were created and dominated by leaders telling employees what to do and supported by processes Following the wave events, the Technology organiza- and structures that left little room for deviation. Accord- tion faced increasing business pressure on overall ing to this operating model, technological and work sys- performance, availability, and \u201cup time.\u201d Despite ini- tem changes were implemented to increase automation, tial momentum for the four bold actions, these pres- maximize efficiency, and minimize error. This operating sures and several large-scale, corporate-sponsored model and change process had served the company well. organizational initiatives influenced Technology to Process efficiency and cost reduction, two business mea- re-define priorities. As a result, limited to no progress sures for which the leadership team was held account- was made on three of the four bold actions. Only the able, were consistently high. one-day engagement sessions were fully executed. In addition, evidence emerged that some leaders were At the same time that the OD team was transition- not shifting the way they led. This cast a shadow ing to its new role, the CSO leadership team was dis- over parts of the organization; people began to cussing what they needed to do to compete in the future, including how to stay on top of emerging","780 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT technology trends, changing demographics, and understand the current state, develop a vision for the increasing customer experience expectations as part of future, and identify the change initiatives. Launch 3 their annual strategic planning process. The leadership would be about sustaining the change through imple- team knew they were operating from a position of mentation, tracking progress, and measuring success. strength. However, they also acknowledged that the Sustaining the change also had to include efforts to highly authoritative style of leadership would no longer build leadership and employee capability for change. work and that they did not have much insight or visi- bility into the geographically dispersed field offices \u2022 Launch 1: Set Direction and Align Leadership. given their location in the corporate office. They recog- Based on the CSO leadership team\u2019s progress to nized the need to change not only how they operated date, the OD team\u2019s initial conversation focused but also how their culture would support the changing on the question: if nothing changes, what will hap- competitive landscape. The leadership team conducted pen? What emerged from the discussion was an an organization-wide survey, employee focus groups, affirmation that a focus only on process efficiency and executive partner interviews to better understand and expense management and without a focus on the current state. The OD team began work with the employee engagement and ownership would not be CSO in 2011, after the current state data was collected competitive in the future. The conversation con- and a series of conversations with the CSO leader were firmed the current state data; now the leadership held, in which he made his commitment to leading the team was aligned and committed to the change. It change clear. was one thing to see the data, but it was another thing for the leadership team to believe the data. The leaders used the diagnostic data to validate their The CSO leadership team then focused on assumptions. The data not only highlighted the leader- articulating its vision for the future. This resulted ship issue but brought into focus the barriers they faced in a document called The Compass, and included: if they wanted to shift the CSO culture. To be competi- 1. Purpose and mission. We restore customers\u2019 tive in the future, they needed to maintain their efficiency lives after the unexpected happens. and expense management strengths but build capabilities 2. Balanced objectives. Two traditional perfor- in customer service, innovation, and collaboration. mance measures, including customer satisfac- This became the platform for the transformation effort. tion, and two objectives focused on leadership The leadership team also understood that engaging and employee engagement. The two people- everyone in the organization was necessary if they were oriented objectives made a strong statement to believe that making this change was not a \u201cnice to do,\u201d that this was a departure from the past. but a business need and a competitive differentiator. 3. Cultural focus areas. The cultural focus areas represented the tenets or values that needed to The CSO Transformation Process be strengthened to achieve The Compass. The cultural focus areas were: The OD team believed that changing the CSO operat- \u2022 People First: This focus area included guid- ing model and culture required modifying the transfor- ing statements such as \u201cwe trust employees to mation process. If each of the field offices had its own use good judgment\u201d and \u201cwe hire and develop culture and leadership style, the OD team and leader- people with a passion for restoring lives.\u201d ship team believed that the transformation\u2019s initial \u2022 Customer Centricity: This focus area focus should be on all leaders of the organization included statements such as \u201cwe value ser- before employees were engaged. They believed this vice behaviors\u201d and \u201cwe are known as a ser- would best leverage the transformation principles and vice company.\u201d would ensure leadership support and commitment to \u2022 Collaboration and Innovation: This area the desired culture. included statements such as \u201cemployees who are comfortable and inspired to share As a result, the CSO transformation process pro- their thoughts and ideas are more engaged ceeded as follows. Launch 1 involved setting direction and productive\u201d and \u201ctrial and error is a and aligning leadership at all levels in the organization measure of success.\u201d rather than just the senior leadership team. Launch 2 would broaden the engagement to help employees","INTEGRATIVE CASES 781 The final leadership team conversation linked organizational survey and focus groups, the The Compass to required leader behaviors. For leaders engaged in conversations about the orga- this conversation, the OD team introduced a nization\u2019s purpose and future vision. \u201cbeliefs-behavior-results\u201d framework. The frame- 2. Illustrate the concepts by asking leaders to iden- work suggests that shifting personal beliefs drives tify the most important organizational barriers different behaviors and those different behaviors to The Compass (aligned with each area of can lead to achieving the desired results. Said Galbraith\u2019s Star Model). To make the conversa- another way, to achieve the results described in tion more personal, the discussion also focused The Compass, the senior leadership team needed on what the vision meant for them and the to behave in a way that enabled those results. possibilities for the organization if this vision Those behaviors were a reflection of the beliefs was a reality. (or mindsets) they hold true. 3. Focus on what needed to change in the orga- nization but also on what needed to change in The OD team gathered input on how leader- the participants as leaders and as individuals. ship team members \u201cshowed up\u201d as leaders and Using the Beliefs-Behaviors-Results frame- collected input from other CSO leaders about work, the leaders focused on increasing their their perceptions of the leadership team. Based self-awareness. They also built capability on on that data, leaders were asked to identify three their feedback skills and used real time exam- new behaviors that would enable the achievement ples to help them experience and apply what of the Compass, show their commitment to the they were learning. transformation effort, and reflect the type of lead- 4. Identify two to three new behaviors to adopt. ership team for which they wanted to be known. The intent was to focus their efforts on a few The leadership team took the extra step to explore things to help support The Compass and the more specifically the beliefs that would drive those cultural focus areas. In turn, they identified three key behaviors. beliefs or mindsets they needed to change or replace to embody the behaviors they identified At this time, the CSO leader made two in the session. The intent of all of this capability changes in the leadership team. An external hire building was to focus their efforts on the critical and an internal promotion visibly symbolized a few and to help sustain real, personal change culture shift and emphasized the commitment to after the sessions. achieving The Compass\u2014from the balanced objec- tives to the cultural focus areas. The leadership team stayed engaged and involved with the design team through the design With The Compass and leadership team in and implementation of the sessions. This level of place, the Launch 1 process extended to the field involvement was a significant symbol of the transfor- office leaders across the United States. Working mation; the leadership team had traditionally made with the CSO leadership team and a \u201cmax mix\u201d the decisions about meeting design and then design team from the leadership population, a lead- assigned roles and parts. ership engagement session was designed to prepare the field leaders to support the transformation. The leadership engagement sessions brought together all leaders, from front line to top manage- The design team shaped the agenda and facil- ment, in 15 sessions across the country. They itated the leadership engagement sessions. The debated the case for change, the business impera- leadership engagement sessions were to be a day tive, the organization\u2019s vision for the future, and and a half in length, based on the assumption that what it meant for them as leaders. Just like the lead- front-line leaders could not be away from their ership team, the rest of the leaders spent time iden- offices any longer. The design challenge became tifying the two to three new behaviors they would how to reflect fully the transformation principles commit to in support of the Compass vision. These while being flexible in the structure and flow of the sessions also focused on building their capability as leadership engagement sessions. The design team leaders in areas such as giving feedback. ended up with the following overall flow for the \u2022 Launch 2: Identify Actions and Engage the leadership engagement sessions: Organization in the Change. As Launch 1 began 1. Begin with discussions about The Compass and the case for change. Using data from the","782 PART 7 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT to merge into Launch 2, the CSO leaders through- drive work that would continue the progress towards out the organization had identified specific actions achieving the vision of The Compass. Although the to align with The Compass. They began to initiate transformation effort was only 18 months old, early efforts to address the top barriers to achieving The business results indicated that a positive shift was Compass and to sustain the momentum that occurring in the organization. There were measur- had started in the leadership engagement sessions. able improvements in customer satisfaction, agency Specifically, work was launched to create more cus- satisfaction, and employee engagement at the end of tomer centric processes, to shift metric-only individual one full year of the effort. performance documents to become more outcome- focused, and to more fully integrate behaviors into But a large number of people\u2014the ones who performance evaluation. These changes, along with were actually delivering customer service on the the increased engagement of leaders in driving and frontlines\u2014had not yet been engaged in the change supporting the change, began to symbolize that the process in a formal way. The OD team had to organization was going to work differently. define how to engage the frontline employees in the progress and journey to date and to allow them In addition, and following the leadership to experience and take ownership of the transforma- engagement sessions, the leadership team and the tion that was occurring in the organization. As the OD team began partnerships with talent manage- OD team contemplated future guidance for the CSO ment, leadership development, and workforce mea- leadership team, it reflected on the lessons learned to surement groups within the human resources date. How might these lessons (see Table 2) inform function. Specific CSO resources were assigned full- and illuminate the design of Launch 2 and Launch 3 time to the transformation effort to focus on and in Customer Service? TABLE 2 Lessons Learned from Three Transformation Efforts Lessons and Explanation Methodologies are effective only if they are adopted by and transferred to the organization\u2014 methods, models and tools must fit with the client\u2019s reality and be owned by them. All three busi- ness areas used many of the same methodologies, with differences in application. For example, the transformation principles have been the foundation for all of the efforts to date. However, each process was adjusted to meet the needs of a particular business area. The OD team transferred change compe- tencies to the organization through design teams, executive working sessions, and the creation of change agent groups. Not fully achieving the Technology outcomes was partly the result of the OD team owning more of the transformation\u2019s design and delivery. A clear and straightforward mission sets direction and drives effective and sustainable change. The transformation efforts in all three business areas were strategy driven. For CES and Technology, Thrill Our Customers represented their strategy to become a more innovative, cost-effective, value- added service provider. However, the Technology organization did not have a history of customer focus and so the strategy was seen as unclear and broad. It was difficult for many employees to see their line of sight to the company\u2019s customers and how their day-to-day work impacted the overall mission. The Customer Service organization\u2019s language in The Compass included a level of specificity that enabled individuals to better understand what it meant in practice. How can the OD team ensure that people understand the key initiatives to advance the achievement of The Compass? Also, how can the OD team engage frontline employees in understanding The Compass and the impact on their day-to-day work?","INTEGRATIVE CASES 783 TABLE 2 \u00a9 Cengage Learning 2015 Lessons Learned from Three Transformation Efforts (continued ) Lessons and Explanation Leaders must understand the required behavior changes, commit to and model them, and be held accountable to them. An aligned and committed senior leadership team is at the core of any transforma- tive change. Each leader must identify the mindset and behavior changes, and then model them for others. They must be held accountable was well. Leaders who did not attend a CES or Technology wave event often did not understand their role and the reason their employees were behaving differently. At best, they did nothing to encourage and support change; at worst, they acted as a strong opposing force, holding on to the status quo, and actively preventing change from occurring. The CES senior leader made it clear that not supporting the desired culture was unacceptable. This did not happen in Technology in the same way and probably contributed to slower and less impactful progress. Without accountability in this change, organiza- tion members will be hesitant to trust in the change and make their own transformative leap. Sustainable transformation requires a whole systems approach; it\u2019s not just a people process. All of the cases used organization design elements to drive the purpose and desired culture. While the CES transformation involved all levels of the organization to identify and implement necessary changes, the Technology organization\u2019s senior leaders identified design changes concurrently with the large-group events. The integration of design changes and behavior changes after the fact was difficult. Some signifi- cant design changes appeared to be unrelated to, or even in conflict with, culture and behavior changes. The OD team knew that, in order to produce sustained change within CSO, design changes to reinforce the new culture would be required. Measurement, using concrete data, is an intervention; not just a data-gathering process. In both the CES and Technology cases, the dual focus on business results and culture change, and the specific mea- surements attached to them, sent the message that both were equally important to the overall transfor- mation effort. Until a tangible shift is experienced in terms of day-to-day work, the change is not perceived to be real. While transformation begins with leaders and their behaviors, it is not enough to drive an effective change. Organization members need to feel and see changes in their day-to-day work. In CES, it was not until barriers at the local level were removed that people experienced the change. In the Technology case, members did not always see structure and process changes as cohesive and integrated with the overall transformation effort. As the OD team considered the CSO Launch 2 design phase, they wondered about how to make changes in the field offices real. The OD team had data from frontline employees that leadership behavior changes had been effective. However, employees also noted a sense of waiting for processes and structures to shift to prove that the change was real and to see more tangibly the connection between the cultural changes and business results. Questions timing, agendas, and other aspects) for Launch 2. The OD team must design the CSO Launch 2 phase Be sure to include or consider the following: activities with an eye toward Launch 3 of the transfor- mation process. \u2022 Continued work with leadership team 1. What is your analysis of the MECK transformation \u2022 Building capability of leaders \u2022 Starting to engage rest of organization using to date? What has worked, what has not worked, and do the OD team\u2019s learnings seem complete? core principles 2. Keeping in mind the lessons learned to date, propose \u2022 Continuing to leverage organization design fea- a design (interventions, roles and responsibilities, tures, such as systems, structures, and rewards, to align behavior to The Compass","\u00a9 Pixmann\/Imagezoo\/Getty Images Glossary This glossary was prepared to help the reader to understand Appreciative inquiry A contemporary approach to planned some of the more frequently used terms in OD. Not all the change. Contrary to typical approaches that assume terms in the glossary appear in the text, but they are fre- organizations are like problems to be solved, appreciative quently used in the field. Conversely, the glossary does not inquiry works under the assumption that organizations attempt to define every term used in the text. Nevertheless, are like mysteries to be understood. A focus on the \u201cbest knowledge of the terms in the glossary can be useful in of what is\u201d in an organization provides the necessary vision understanding what at times appears to be an overly special- for change. ized language. Authenticity A term synonymous with the colloquial Accountability Responsibility to produce a promised phrase \u201cto be straight with another person.\u201d It refers to result within a specific time. one\u2019s openness and honesty. Achievement needs A phrase applied to an individual, Balanced scorecard A control and information system referring to the desire to perform work successfully and to that balances traditional financial measures with operational advance in one\u2019s career. measures relating to an organization\u2019s critical success factors. Achievement orientation In cross-cultural analysis, the Behavioral science A phrase for the various disciplines extent to which a culture favors the acquisition of power and that study human behavior. As such, all of the traditional resources. social sciences are included. Acquisition The purchase of one organization by another. Benchmarking A process where companies find out how (See Merger.) other companies do something better than they do and then Action learning A form of action research in which the try to imitate or improve on the activity. focus is helping organizations to learn from their actions Body language An important part of nonverbal commu- how to create entirely new structures, processes, and behaviors. nications that involves the transmittal of thoughts, actions, Also called action science, self-design, or appreciative inquiry, and feelings through bodily movements and how other this process involves considerable trial-and-error learning as people interpret them. participants try out new ways of operating, assess progress, Boundary A term used to describe systems or fields of and make necessary adjustments. (See Action research.) interacting forces. Boundaries can be physical, such as a Action research A cyclical process of diagnosis- wall between two departments in an organization. More sub- change-research-diagnosis-change-research. The results of tly, boundaries can be social processes, such as the bound- diagnosis produce ideas for changes, the changes are intro- aries between ethnic groups. Boundaries can be temporal: duced into the same system, and their effects noted through Things done at different times are said to be bounded from further research and diagnosis. The number of cycles may be each other. Any set of forces or factors that tend to differen- infinite. tiate parts of the system can be said to have a boundary Active listening Reflecting back to the other person not effect. only what the person has said but also the perceived emo- Breakthrough A sudden and significant advance, espe- tional tone of the message. cially in knowledge, technique, or results. Adaptive A term used to describe the behavior of many Career The sequence of behaviors and attitudes associated kinds of systems. Originally used mainly to describe indivi- with past, present, and anticipated future work-related duals (for example, adaptive behavior), it is now applied to experiences and role activities. A career is work related and groups and organizations vis-\u00e0-vis their environment. lifelong. Alliance A partnership between two organizations where Career development Activities directed at helping people their resources and capabilities are combined to pursue to attain career objectives. These may include skill training, mutual goals in developing, manufacturing, or distributing performance feedback and coaching, job rotation, mentoring goods and services. roles, and challenging and visible job assignments. 784","GLOSSARY 785 Career planning Activities aimed at helping people to Confrontation meeting A structured intervention that choose occupations, organizations, and jobs. It involves set- helps two (or more) groups resolve interdepartmental misun- ting individual career goals. derstandings or conflict. Change management The tools, techniques, and pro- Consultant An individual (change agent) who is assisting cesses that scope, resource, and direct activities to implement an organization (client system) to become more effective. An a change. Change management is less concerned about the external consultant is not a member of the system. An inter- transfer of knowledge, skill, and capacity to manage change nal consultant is a member of the organization being assisted in the future than organization development. but may or may not have a job title that identifies the indi- Client system The person, group, or organization that is vidual as such. the object of diagnosis or change efforts. Often shortened to Content analysis A data analysis technique that derives the client. The client may be in the same organization as the themes from qualitative data such as interview responses. consultant, as in the case of a line manager who is the client Contingency approach This approach suggests that there of a staff group, or the client and consultant may be in dif- is no universal best way to design an organization, that the ferent organizations. design instead depends upon the situation. Closed system The tendency to disregard relations Continuous improvement A philosophy of designing between a system and its environment. This is often an and managing all aspects of an organization in a never- unwitting simplification and, as such, can lead to error. ending quest for quality. The notion is that no matter how Closure, need for A commonly felt need to see something well things are going, there are always opportunities to make finished or brought to a logical end point. Sometimes it is them better, and hundreds of small improvements can make used to describe a person who is uncomfortable with ambi- a big difference in overall functioning. Also known as kaizen. guity and uncertainty. Contract A formal or informal agreement between the Coaching An intervention designed to improve the compe- change agent and the client system to perform certain work. tencies of individual organization members through commit- The contract typically identifies roles, expectations, resources, ted support, feedback, new views of work, new visions of the and other information required to successfully carry out the organization, and new ways of relating to people. consultation process. Collateral organization A parallel, coexisting structure Core job dimensions These are the five basic dimensions that can be used to supplement the existing formal organiza- of work, including skill variety, task identity, task signifi- tion. It is generally used to solve ill-defined problems that do cance, autonomy, and feedback. not fit neatly into the formal organizational structure. Corporate culture This is the pattern of values, beliefs, Communication, one-way and two-way One-way com- and expectations shared by organization members. It repre- munication describes an interaction in which one or both sents the taken-for-granted and shared assumptions that parties are paying little attention to what the other is saying people make about how work is to be done and evaluated or doing. In two-way communication, presumably both par- and how employees relate to one another and to significant ties are engaging and responding to each other. others, such as suppliers, customers, and government agencies. Competency The skills and knowledge necessary to carry Cost of quality The financial impact of poor quality. The out some specific activity or task. cost of quality consists of the cost of conformance, nonconfor- Conflict management Management\u2019s task is to manage mance, and lost opportunity. The cost of conformance includes conflict by reducing or stimulating it, depending upon the expenses associated with prevention measures, inspection, and situation, in order to develop the highest level of organiza- appraisal. The cost of nonconformance is the dollar impact of tional performance. not meeting customer expectations. The cost of lost opportu- Conformance The outputs produced as a part of work and nity is the revenue forgone when a customer leaves or does not passed on or delivered to the customer that will meet all the renew a relationship with the organization. requirements to which the producer and the customer have Customer The person who receives the product of work. A agreed. customer may be either internal or external. Confront The process by which one person attempts to Data-based intervention A specific technique in action make another person aware of aspects of behavior of which research. It follows some data collection phase and is an input he or she seems unaware. It is used increasingly in the phrase into the system using the data that have been collected. Alter- a confronting style to describe a person who habitually gives natively, it can be the act of presenting the data to members of such feedback to others. the system, thus initiating a process of system self-analysis.","786 GLOSSARY Defensive A term widely used to describe any kind of resis- information flows, rewards, and knowledge and skills in an tant behavior. organization. Also known as quality of work life. Development organizations See Global social change Encounter An entire collection of interventions or techni- organizations. ques that aim to bring people into close and more intimate Diagnosis The process of collecting information about a relations. client system and working collaboratively with it to under- Enterprise resource planning (ERP) An information stand the system\u2019s current functioning. Diagnosis follows system that collects, processes, and provides data and infor- entry and contracting, and precedes action planning and mation about a company, including order processing, prod- implementation. Diagnosis is expected to point to possible uct design, purchasing inventory, manufacturing distribution, interventions to address system effectiveness. human resources, procurement, and forecasting. Differentiation The extent to which individual organiza- Entry The process that describes how an OD practitioner tional units are different from each other along a variety of first encounters and establishes a relationship with a client dimensions, such as time, technology, or formality. High system. uncertainty leads to the need for more differentiation, and Environment The physical and social context within which low uncertainty leads to the need for less. any client system (a person, group, or organization) is Dissonance A term reflecting the behavioral consequences functioning. of knowing two or more incompatible things at one time. Ethics Standards of acceptable behavior for professional Dissonance may be used to describe incompatibility in a per- practicing in a particular field, such as law, medicine, or son\u2019s point of view. OD. In OD, it concerns how practitioners perform their help- Diversity The mix of gender, age, disabilities, cultures, eth- ing relationship with organization members. nic backgrounds, and lifestyles that characterize the organiza- Evaluation feedback Information about the overall effects tion\u2019s workforce and potential labor pool. of a change program. It is generally used for making deci- Dominant coalition That minimum group of cooperating sions about whether resources should continue to be allo- employees who control the basic policymaking and oversee cated to the program. the operation of the organization as a whole. Expectancy The belief, expressed as a subjective estimate Double-loop learning Organizational behaviors directed or odds, that a particular act will be successful. at changing existing valued states or goals. This is concerned Expectancy model A model of motivation suggesting that with radically transforming an organization\u2019s structure, cul- people are motivated to choose among different behaviors or ture, and operating procedures. (See Single-loop learning and intensities of effort if they believe that their efforts will be Organization transformation.) rewarded in a meaningful fashion. Downsizing Interventions aimed at reducing the size of the Experiential A kind of learning process in which the con- organization. Although typically associated with layoffs and tent is experienced as directly as possible, in contrast to being reductions in force, downsizing also includes attrition, early simply read or talked about. The term applies to a wide vari- retirement, selling businesses or divisions, outsourcing, and ety of training techniques. It is often used in the phrase expe- delayering. riential level, in contrast to cognitive level. Dyad Two people and their dynamic interrelations; more Expert power The power and influence that a person has informally, two people. Its usage has been extended recently in a situation by virtue of technical or professional expertise. to triad, or three people. (See Power.) Dysfunctional Those aspects of systems that work against External validity A research term concerned with asses- the goals. The term is meant to be objective but is often used sing the general applicability of interventions. This helps to subjectively to refer to the bad parts of systems. (See identify contingencies upon which the success of change pro- Functional.) grams depend. (See Internal validity.) Empathic From empathy; to be able to project oneself into Facilitate A process by which events are \u201chelped to another\u2019s feelings and hence to understand the other person. happen.\u201d Facilitating is a kind of influence role that is neither It is used relatively interchangeably with sensitive and authoritarian nor abdicative. understanding. Feedback Information regarding the actual performance or Employee involvement Any set of technostructural inter- the results of the activities of a system. In communications, it ventions, such as quality circles, high involvement organiza- concerns looking for and using helpful responses from tions, or total quality management, that adjust the power, others.","GLOSSARY 787 Filtering A barrier to communication that occurs when the together, increasing members\u2019 liking for each other, and dif- sender intentionally shifts or modifies the message so that it ferentiating the group from its environment. will be seen more favorably by the receiver. Group task activities Activities that are directed at help- Fishbowl An experiential training technique in which some ing the group accomplish its goals. Successful groups are members of a group sit in a small inner circle and work the more able to properly combine group maintenance and issue while other members sit in an outer circle and observe. group task activities than are less successful groups. Force-field analysis A qualitative tool that analyzes the Groupthink A form of decision making that occurs when forces for and the forces resisting change. It implies two the members\u2019 striving for unanimity and closeness overcomes change strategies, increasing the forces for change or decreas- their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of ing the resistance to change. action. Formal (leader, organization, system) A term intro- Growth A term reflecting theorists\u2019 and practitioners\u2019 con- duced originally in the Hawthorne studies to designate the cern for improvement in personal, group, and organizational set of organizational relationships that were explicitly estab- behavior. Identification of growth stages, rates, and directions lished in policy and procedure (for example, the formal orga- is a major focus of contemporary theory and research. nization). The term has been prefixed to many types of Growth needs The desire for personal accomplishment, organizational phenomena. learning, and development. An important contingency affect- Functional The term describes those parts of a system that ing work design successes; for example the greater people\u2019s promote the attainment of its goals. It comes from a mode of growth needs, the more responsive they are to enriched systems analysis that seeks to explain systems by understand- forms of work. ing the effects that parts of the system have on one another Hawthorne effect When workers\u2019 behavior changes and and the mutual effects between the system and its productivity increases because the workers are aware that environment. persons important in their lives are taking an interest in Gain sharing This involves paying employees a bonus them. based upon improvements in the operating results of an Hidden agenda An undisclosed motive for doing or failing organization or department. It generally covers all employees to do something. For example, a plant manager began to use working in a particular department, plant, or company and team-building sessions, not because he wanted them but includes both a bonus scheme and a participative structure because he knew that his boss was in favor of such sessions. for eliciting employees\u2019 suggestions and improvements. Human resource systems These comprise mechanisms Gatekeeping A term from group dynamics that describes a and procedures for selecting, training, and developing person in a group who regulates interaction patterns by ask- employees. They may include reward systems, goal setting, ing people for their ideas or suggesting to others that they career planning and development, and stress management. should talk less. Ideal future state An articulated vision of the ideal state of Global social change organizations Not-for-profit and the organization; the desired culture, infrastructure, and nongovernmental organizations whose primary purpose is to operation. What does it look like, sound like, feel like? bring about change, such as ecological awareness, hunger What are people doing, with whom, and how? An ideal relief, children\u2019s rights, or political stability in a community future state serves as the direction for present-day change or society. efforts; it serves to bring the future into the present. Global strategy A worldwide strategy characterized by Implementation feedback Refers to information about goals of efficiency and volume; this strategy views the world whether an intervention is being implemented as intended. as one homogenous market. It is generally used to gain a clearer understanding of the Goal setting Activities involving managers and subordi- behaviors and procedures required to implement a change nates in jointly setting subordinates\u2019 goals, monitoring program and to plan for the next implementation steps. them, and providing counseling and support when (See Evaluation feedback.) necessary. Individualism In cross-cultural analysis, the extent to Group dynamics A set of variables, including power and which a country\u2019s culture supports individual growth, devel- influence, norms, conflict, communication, decision making, opment, and achievement. or trust, that individually and collectively describe the func- Industry structure The overall attractiveness of an indus- tioning of a group. try as determined by the power of buyers, power of suppliers, Group maintenance Those behaviors exhibited by mem- threat of entry, threat of substitute products\/services, and bers of a group that are functional for holding the group rivalry among firms.","788 GLOSSARY Informal (leader, group, organization, system) A Joint venture A separate entity for sharing development term introduced in the Hawthorne studies to designate the and production costs and penetrating new markets that is set of organizational relationships that emerge over time created by two or more firms. from the day-to-day experiences that people have with one Knowledge management (KM) A process that focuses another. Informal relationships are expressive of the needs on how knowledge can be organized and used to improve that people actually feel in situations, in contrast to needs organization performance. KM tends to focus on the tools their leaders think they should feel. and techniques that enable organizations to collect, organize, Inputs Human or other resources, such as information, and translate information into useful knowledge. Organiza- energy, and materials, coming into the system or subsystem. tionally, KM applications are often located in the information Also, more informally, used to describe people\u2019s contribu- systems function and may be under the direction of a chief tions to a system, particularly their ideas. information officer. (See Organization learning.) Institutionalization Refers to making organizational Lab A shorthand term for a wide variety of programs that changes a permanent part of the organization\u2019s normal derive from the laboratory method of training, or T-group, functioning. an approach that is primarily experiential. Integrated strategic change A model of large-scale orga- Large-group interventions Any of several techniques, nization change that integrates principles of strategic man- such as search conferences and open space, designed to agement with processes of planned change. It involves work with a whole system, including organization members, strategic analysis, strategic choice, strategic change plan suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. design, and strategic change plan implementation. Leadership A process of influence exercised when institu- Integration The state of collaboration that exists among tional, political, psychological, and other resources are used departments that are required to achieve unity of effort by to arouse, engage, and satisfy the motives of followers. the demands of the environment. The term is used primarily Leadership development A training and education for contingency approaches to organizational design. (See intervention aimed at improving the competencies of man- Differentiation.) agers and executives of an organization. Interaction Almost any behavior resulting from interper- Learning organization An organization where everyone sonal relationships. In human relations, it includes all forms is involved in identifying and solving problems, enabling of communication, verbal and nonverbal, conscious and the organization to continuously experiment, improve, and unconscious. increase its capability. Internal validity A research term concerned with assessing Management by objectives (MBO) A process of peri- whether an intervention is responsible for producing odic manager\u2013subordinate or group meetings designed to observed results, such as improvements in job satisfaction, accomplish organizational goals by mutual planning of the productivity, and absenteeism. (See External validity.) work, review of accomplishments, and mutual solving of pro- Intervention Any action on the part of a change agent. blems that arise in the course of getting the job done. Intervention carries the implication that the action is planned Management development Training or other processes and deliberate and presumably functional. Many suggest that to increase managers\u2019 knowledge and skills in order to an OD intervention requires valid information, free choice, improve performance in present jobs or prepare them for and a high degree of ownership by the client system of the promotion. Increasingly tied to career planning and course of action. development. Jargon Overly specialized or technical language. Marginality The degree to which an individual or role Job diagnostic survey (JDS) A questionnaire designed must straddle the boundary between two or more groups to measure job characteristics on such core dimensions as with differing goals, values systems, and behavioral patterns. skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and Matrix organization An approach for integrating the feedback. activities of different specialists while maintaining specialized Job enrichment A way of making jobs more satisfying by organizational units. increasing the skill variety, task identity, significance of the Mechanistic organization This type of organization is task, autonomy, and feedback from the work itself. highly bureaucratic. Tasks are specialized and clearly defined. This is suitable when markets and technology are well estab- Joint optimization The goal of the sociotechnical system lished and show little change over time. theory approach to work design that states that an organization Merger The formal and legal integration of two or more will function best only if its social and technical systems are organizations into a single entity. (See Acquisition.) designed to fit the needs of one another and the environment.","GLOSSARY 789 Microcosm group A small, representative group selected Openness Accepting the communications and confronta- from the organization at large to address important organiza- tions of others and expressing oneself honestly, with tional issues. The key feature of the group is that it is a authenticity. microcosm or representation of the issue itself. Open space meeting See Large-group interventions. Mission A statement of the organization\u2019s purpose, range of Open system The need to take into account relations activities, character, and uniqueness. between a system and its environment. This concept in sys- Model A simplification of some phenomenon for purposes tems theory is borrowed from the biological sciences. It refers of study and understanding. The concrete embodiment of a to the nature and functions of transactions that take place theory. To behave in an idealized way so that others might between a system and its environment. learn or change their behavior by identifying with and adopt- Open-systems planning A method for helping organiza- ing those behaviors displayed. tions or groups to systematically assess their task environ- Motivation The conditions responsible for variation in the ment and develop a strategic response to it. intensity, quality, and direction of ongoing behavior. Organic organization This type of organization is rela- Motivation-hygiene model Originally developed by tively flexible and relaxed. The organic style is most appro- Frederick Herzberg and associates, the model describes priate to unstable environmental conditions in which novel factors in the workplace that dissatisfy people and factors problems continually occur. (See Mechanistic organization.) that motivate them. Organization design Involves bringing about a coherence Multinational strategy A worldwide strategy with goals or fit among organizational choices about strategy, organizing of local responsiveness and specialization; views the world- mode, and mechanisms for integrating people into the organi- wide market as heterogeneous and requiring product and ser- zation. The greater the fit among these organizational dimen- vice customization. sions, the greater will be the organizational effectiveness. Need A central concept in psychology, referring to a biolog- Organization development (OD) The system-wide appli- ical or psychological requirement for the maintenance and cation and transfer of behavioral science knowledge to the growth of the human animal. It is used among practitioners planned development, improvement, and reinforcement of chiefly to refer to a psychological demand not met in organi- the strategies, structures, and processes that lead to organiza- zational life, with the emphasis on the search for ways in tion effectiveness. which more such wants can be satisfied. Organization development practitioner A generic Need hierarchy A particular theory about the operation of term for people practicing organization development. These human needs introduced by Abraham Maslow. The model of individuals may include managers responsible for developing motivation describes a hierarchy of needs existing within their organizations or departments, people specializing in OD people. The five need levels are physiological, safety, social, as a profession, and people specializing in a field currently ego, and self-actualization. The theory says that higher needs being integrated with OD (for example, strategy or human cannot be activated until lower needs are relatively satisfied. resource management) who have gained some familiarity This particular theory also was the basis for McGregor\u2019s with and competence in OD. Theory X Theory Y formulation. Network organization A newly emerging organization Organization effectiveness An overall term that refers structure that involves managing an interrelated set of orga- to the outputs of organization strategy and design. Typically nizations, each specializing in a particular business function includes financial performance, such as profits and costs; or task. This structure extends beyond the boundaries of any stakeholder satisfaction, such as employee and customer sat- single organization and involves linking different organiza- isfaction; and measures of internal productivity, such as cycle tions to facilitate interorganizational exchange and task coor- times. dination. (See Transorganizational development.) Norms Rules regulating behavior in any social system. They Organization learning (OL) A change process that seeks are usually unwritten and are more specific and pointed than to enhance an organization\u2019s capability to acquire and values in that deviations from norms are followed by such develop new knowledge. It is aimed at helping organizations punishments as kidding, silent disapproval, or in the extreme, use knowledge and information to change and improve con- banishment. tinually. It involves discovery, invention, production, and Off-site Away from the regular place of work, as an off-site generalization. In organizations, OL change processes are lab or conference. typically associated with the human resource function and may be assigned to a special leadership role, such as chief learning officer. (See Knowledge management.)","790 GLOSSARY Organization transformation A process of radically Process observation A method of helping a group to altering the organization\u2019s strategic direction, including fun- improve its functioning, usually by having an individual damental changes in structures, processes, and behaviors. watch the group in action and then feeding back the results. (See Double-loop learning.) Interviews may also be used. The group (or individuals) then Parallel learning structure See Collateral organization. use the data to improve its functioning. Participative A term used to describe techniques used by a Production group A work group that is separated (by a power figure that aim to involve subordinate, lower-power boundary) from other work groups so that they can operate persons in the decision-making process of an organization with relative independence. (for example, participative management). One aim is to Profit An accounting term that measures total revenues increase the sense of commitment to organizational goals. minus total costs. Performance appraisal A human resource system Quality (outcome) Meeting and exceeding customer needs designed to provide feedback to an individual or group for both internal and external customers. about its performance and its developmental opportunities. Quality (process) The continuing commitment by every- The performance appraisal process may or may not be one in the organization to understand, meet, and exceed the closely linked to the reward system. needs of its customers. Performance management A constellation of processes Quality circles Small groups of workers who meet volun- that involve goal setting, performance appraisal, and reward tarily to identify and solve productivity problems. These are systems that guide, develop, reinforce, and control member typically associated with Japanese methods of participative behavior toward desired organizational outcomes. management. Planned change A generic phrase for all systematic efforts Quality of work life (QWL) A way of thinking about peo- to improve the functioning of some human system. It is a ple, work, and organization involving a concern for employee change process in which power is usually roughly equal well-being and organizational effectiveness. It generally between consultants and clients and in which goals are mutu- results in employee participation in important work-related ally and deliberately set. problems and decisions. Power The ability to influence others so that one\u2019s values Quasi-experimental research designs These designs en- are satisfied. It may derive from several sources, including able OD evaluators to rule out many rival explanations organizational position, expertise, access to important for OD results other than the intervention itself. They resources, and ability to reward and punish others. involve choices about what to measure and when to Power distance In cross-cultural analysis, the extent to measure; they are most powerful when they include longi- which people in a country accept large differences in status, tudinal measurement, a comparison unit, and statistical income, authority, and equality. analysis. Presenting problem The most salient reason the client Re-engineering An intervention that focuses on dramatically system has asked for help from a change agent. For example, redesigning core business processes. Successful re-engineering is a conflict between two people can be a presenting problem or often closely related to changes in an organization\u2019s information symptom that is caused by structural problems. The present- systems. ing problem is often a symptom of the true underlying prob- Refreezing The stabilization of change at a new state of lem that diagnosis is expected to uncover. equilibrium. Problem-solving process A systematic, disciplined Return on assets (ROA) An accounting measure formed approach to identifying and solving work-related problems. by the ratio of profits to total assets. Process The way any system is going about doing whatever Reward power The present or potential ability to award it is doing. Social process is the way persons are relating to one something for worthy behavior. (See Power.) another as they perform some activity. Organizational process Rewards, extrinsic Rewards given by the organization, is the way different elements of the organization interact or such as pay, promotion, praise, tenure, and status symbols. how different organizational functions are handled. Rewards, intrinsic Rewards that must originate and be felt within the person. Intrinsic rewards include feelings of Process-based organizations A type of organization accomplishment, achievement, and self-esteem. structure that uses teams focused on the accomplishment of core work processes. Role A set of systematically interrelated and observable behaviors that belong to an identifiable job or position. Role Process consultation A set of activities on the part of the behavior may be either required or discretionary. consultant that helps the client to perceive, understand, and act upon the process events that occur in the client\u2019s environment.","GLOSSARY 791 Role ambiguity A result of inadequate information regard- Social construction of reality An approach concerned ing role-related expectation and understanding. This occurs with the processes by which people, their values, and common- when the individual does not clearly understand all the sense and scientific knowledge produce meaning and reality. expectations of a particular role. Sociotechnical system A term that refers to simulta- Role conflict A result of a conflict between managerial or neously considering both the social system (human) and the individual expectations and managerial or individual experi- technical system in order to best match the technology and ences with regard to performance of the role. the people involved. Search conference A 1- to 3-day meeting involving as Stakeholder A person or group having a vested interest in many organizational stakeholders as possible to reflect on the organization\u2019s functioning and objectives. the past, appreciate the present, and envision the future. Strategic change An approach to bringing about an align- The search conference specifically avoids a problem-solving ment or congruence among an organization\u2019s strategy, struc- approach in an effort to energize the organization toward a ture, and human resource systems, as well as a fit between new way of working. (See also Large-group interventions.) them and the larger environment. It includes attention to the Selective perception The tendency to perceive only a technical, political, and cultural aspects of organizations. part of a message, to screen out other information. Strategy A plan of action defining how an organization Self-awareness A positive goal of most training techni- will use its resources to gain a competitive advantage in ques that aim at behavior changes. Self-awareness means the larger environment. It typically includes choices about becoming aware of one\u2019s existing patterns of behavior in a the functions an organization will perform, the products or way that permits a relatively nondefensive comparison of services it will provide, and the markets and populations it those patterns with potential new ones. will serve. Self-designing organizations A change program aimed Stress management Activities aimed at coping with the at helping organizations to gain the capacity to fundamen- dysfunctional consequences of work-related stress. These tally change themselves. It is a highly participative process, generally include diagnosing the causes and symptoms of involving multiple stakeholders in setting strategic direction, stress and taking action to alleviate the causes and to improve designing appropriate structures and processes, and imple- one\u2019s ability to deal with stress. menting them. This process helps organizations to learn Structure The structure of a system is the arrangement of how to design and implement their own strategic changes. its parts. Also, jargon for a change strategy that focuses on Self-regulating work group A work group that has a the formal organization. This is a particularly important class clearly defined series of tasks and a clear boundary so that of interventions when the target for change is an entire the group can be generally responsible for its own output, organization. quality, and work space. Also known as a self-managing team. Subsystem A part of a system. A change in any subsystem Self-serving activities Activities that satisfy individual has an effect on the total system. needs at the expense of the group. Survey feedback A type of data-based intervention that Sensitivity training A method of helping individuals to flows from surveys of the members of a system on some sub- develop greater self-awareness and become more sensitive ject and reports the results of the surveys to the client system to their effect on others. Individuals learn by interaction for whatever action appears appropriate. with other members of their group. System A set of interdependent parts that together make Single-loop learning Organizational behaviors directed at up a whole; each contributes something and receives some- detecting and correcting deviations from valued states or thing from the whole, which in turn is interdependent with goals. This is concerned with fine-tuning how an organiza- the larger environment. tion currently functions. (See Double-loop learning.) Six sigma A quality standard that specifies a goal of no T-groups A method of helping individuals to develop more than 3.4 defects per million occurrences of an activity greater self-awareness and become more sensitive to their or process. Also refers to a management initiative emphasiz- effect on others. Individuals learn by interaction with other ing the pursuit of higher quality and lower costs. members of their group. Skill training Training that is more concerned with improving effectiveness on the job than with abstract learn- Task control The degree to which employees can regulate ing concepts. their own behavior to convert incoming materials into fin- Smoothing Dealing with conflict by denying or avoiding it. ished (or semifinished) products or other outputs. Task force A group established to solve a particular prob- lem (it may be disbanded when its work is accomplished)."]