GROUP ASSIGNMENT 1

Team Members:
Atif Ahmad
Md Sohif Mollah
Niharika Mishra
Shantam Kanungo
Suraj Singh
Tanay Niwant
Q1. Write
A] What’s the issue in the case? What is the nature of the problem
the case highlights? (Not more than 150 words)

The significant issues with the case at hand were the following things:
 There was a soaring need to fill the gap between the standard MBA curriculum
offered and the demands of management in modern organizations.
 Increasing need to align the curriculum with modern management needs and
develop leaders equipped to handle such situations.
 Desire to establish the Yale SOM as a role model in management education by
adopting an integrated curriculum.

The nature of the problem is that Yale was concerned about losing the uniqueness of
its pedagogy as others too jumped on the bandwagon. SOM prided itself in providing
a unique mix of cases of the public sector organisations in addition to standard
courses. The other thing which points out the nature of the problem is Yale wanted to
increasingly align their mission and culture of the school in their curriculum which they
felt that their old curriculum lacked.

Figure 1

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B] What were the major individual elements of work as described
before Dean Joel M. Podolny led changes at Yale University?
The major individual element of work before Dean Joel M. Podolny led the changes in
the curriculum that the SOM was following traditional disciplined-based courses such
as finance and marketing. The pedagogy was focused on providing and preparing the
students for leadership positions in government, non-profit and for-profit organisations.
The school also believed in attracting students who would go on to make positive
contributions to society. The case studies taught earlier in the old curriculum only dealt
with the traditional cases and focused on a single issue to provide information on a
single function. The case studies given to students earlier provided the students with
cooked data which did not really challenge students to seek out data and solve the
cases. In the earlier course curriculum, the junior faculty were heavily involved in the
teaching of the core courses and thus did not get time to invest in research. The
method research was restricted to within one’s domain/ sector which did not really
align with the mission of SOM of delivering leaders capable of working in different
facets of the organisation. The batch size also in the earlier curriculum was greater
than what was initially started in the newer curriculum. These were some of the
differences in which the SOM operated before Joel M. Podolny took charge.

Figure 2

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C] As a group, if Yale were to hire you as a consulting team, how
would you approach your intervention? For what reasons? (Not
more than 500 words)
After analysing the case at hand, we as a group decided that we would be using
Kotter’s 8 step model to approach this intervention in order to bring in the new
curriculum at SOM.
Our reason to select this particular model is because of the following reasons:
 This model uses a step-by-step approach and it inculcates a clear
understanding of the need for change and the end result post the change in all
the stakeholders.
 The model also helps by staying focused on one step at a time resulting in
better implementation and end results.
 This model focuses on the preparation for the change which results in a higher
success rate.
 It emphasizes stakeholder involvement and acceptance.

Figure 3

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While designing the intervention, we would plan and design the steps as follows:

Step 1- Creating a Sense of urgency:

Since the curriculum was not aligned with the modern management demands And the
staff as well as the students were not really satisfied with the curriculum Urgent need
for change was felt by the Institution and our group were hired as consultants to help
them guide towards a new curriculum. We also believe that reassessing and
revamping the curriculum was the most important way to address and change the
demands of the current business scenario.

Step 2- Building a guiding coalition:

As a consultant, we would have suggested the Dean form a strong coalition with the
senior faculty members, students and alumni to design a new curriculum that would
cater to the modern management needs and thus would help in easier buy-in of the
intervention.

Step 3- Form a clear vision and strategy:

We would have conducted multiple brainstorming sessions including the key members
of the coalition to develop the plan for designing a new curriculum based on the
perspectives of the internal and external stakeholders drawing upon multiple
disciplines of management while also preserving the mission of Yale.

Step 4- Share the vision with the entire team:

The plan for the new curriculum which would have come up through the discussion
with the leadership group would have been shared with the faculties, alumni and a
committee would have been set up to drive the initial change and test out the waters.

Step 5- Removing the obstacles and empowering the team:

When the new curriculum would have been in place initially for the first-year students,
we would have given the junior faculty members the autonomy to make adequate
changes during their lectures depending on the situation in the class. This would
empower them to remove the kinks in the new program and ultimately improve it.

Step 6- Creating short-term wins:

To track the impact of the intervention and its progress in the right direction, the SOM
leadership could test the performance of students as per the new curriculum in
comparison with the old and also take feedback from the industry experts on students’
performance during internships and various learning sessions. This would help in
gauging the fresh initial outcomes of the new curriculum and assess its effectiveness.

Step 7- Consolidating the change:

The new curriculum introduced to the first year students would be consolidated with
the kinks being removed. The courses and the subjects which would have proven to
be counter-productive and not helpful for the development of leaders would be
scrapped or modified according to the newer deliberations with the senior faculty.

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Step 8- Anchor the Change:
The new course curriculum should be continuously revised as it is an integrated course
and thus it must be flexible and adaptable. The students, faculties and Alumni should
take steps to institutionalize the change and any probability of going back to the old
curriculum should be avoided. This can be done by creating a multidisciplinary focus
with several rounds of corrections and adjustments.

D] How is the revised Yale University approach to management

education distinct from what you now experience of TISS? (Not
more than 500 words)

There were multiple aspects of the new curriculum at Yale University that are
distinctive from our experience at TISS some of which are:
 Platform electives - The first-year students at Yale have the option of
pursuing any of the traditional management subjects, like finance, marketing,
etc. as an elective. This option is not available to students pursuing education
at TISS. While our course touches upon the core subjects being taught in
traditional MBA schools, learners cannot choose to dive deep into these
courses like was possible through the Platform electives at Yale.
 International exposure - One unique feature about the new curriculum at this
university that is not present at TISS is the international exposure module.
Through this, the students had the opportunity to visit another country for a
few days to briefly study the industry of their choice in a setting distinct from
the environment they were exposed to so far.
 Careers course - The new curriculum included a module which enables
students to reflect on their long-term career goals rather than giving too much
importance to the immediate job that they will land post the completion of their
course.
 Customer course - The customer course consisted of various topics to better
understand the customer, a domain very different from any of the courses
covered under this program at TISS. The subject emphasised building the
concepts of different types of customers for different management roles, for
example, the external vendors may be the customers for an operations
manager while the employees are the customers for HR.
Even though our course does not have a subject dedicated to this we do have
field work modules that help the students build a comprehensive
understanding of the structure and functioning of various industries.
 Leadership as a service - While the Yale School of Management initially had
a goal of coaching students into becoming leaders who are well-equipped to
contribute towards society while following their career paths. Yet the new
curriculum lacks any module that promotes this idea. The “Leadership as a
service” module which is part of our program at TISS provides an opportunity
to briefly interact with and understand the working of a management

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 professional in the non-profit sector. This would help students and motivate
them to integrate social responsibility along with pursuing professional goals.

2] What for your group are the most salient aspects in the timeline
of OD’s history? How does OD’s heritage hold up for your group as
you see or experience your world? (Not more than 2000 words)

Part I: What for your group are the most salient aspects in the timeline of OD’s
history?
Organisation development (OD) is a process that applies a broad range of behavioural
science knowledge and practices to help organizations build their capability to change
and to achieve greater effectiveness, including increased financial performance,
employee satisfaction, and environmental sustainability.
History of Organisation Development

Figure 4

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Let us briefly discuss the history of organisation development. As currently practiced,
OD emerged
From five major backgrounds or stems. These are -
1. National Training Laboratories: This stem of OD pioneered laboratory
training, or the T-group—a small, unstructured group in which participants
learn from their own interactions and evolving group processes about such
issues as interpersonal relations, personal growth, leadership, and group
dynamics.
2. Action Research/Survey Feedback: An important feature of action research
was a technique known as survey feedback. Kurt Lewin, a prolific theorist,
researcher, and practitioner in group dynamics and social change, was
instrumental in the development of T-groups, survey feedback, and action
research. His work led to the creation of OD and still serves as a major source
of its concepts and methods.
3. Normative Approaches: The intellectual and practical advances from the
laboratory training stem and the action research and survey-feedback stem
were followed closely by the belief that a human relations approach represented
a “one best way” to manage organisations.
4. Quality of work life: This stem of OD focuses on productivity and the quality
of work life.
5. Strategic Changes: This involves strategic change and organization
transformation.

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Figure 5

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Part II: How does OD’s heritage hold up for your group as you see or
experience your world?

OD
Heritage

OD Core
OD History
Values
Figure 6

Post the commencement of the classes, our team has had the opportunity to benefit
from learning as a group. Tasks and assignments were taken up by the group. During
this period, the group was involved in various brain-storming interactive sessions to
complete the assignments. This has exposed us to the essence of working as a team
– where team members can have a varied opinion based on their experiences in life
and biases. We are a small, unstructured group in which participants learn from their
interactions and evolving group processes such as interpersonal relations, personal
growth, leadership, and group dynamics. This is similar to the T-group.

During our role-play as a consultant, we were exposed to survey feedback. As a

consultant, we were involved in gathering data from our client related to their
organization’s functioning, to analyse it for causes of problems, and to devise and
implement solutions. This is similar to the Action Research/Survey Feedback
stem of OD.

If we consider our group as an organisation, we can say that our group functions a
participative system. This system fosters high degrees of member involvement and
participation. Team is coherent, everyone is involved in decision-making and have a
say. We find a common ground and go with the best possible solution.

Coming to the productivity and quality of work life, we have realised that playing to
each individual’s strengths and giving ownership to a member increases his/her
productivity.

Let’s now discuss some core OD values and how are they relevant for our group.
1. Democracy and participation: The group gels well as a team and there is
participation from all the members. There is no manager or group leader as
such. We sort of follow “situational Leadership”. We believe that there is no one
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 best style of leadership. The best style of leadership will depend on the task to
be performed and the makeup of the team performing the task. For instance,
owing to our diverse background, we have had exposure to different areas in
our lives. There might be a situation when one member of the group might have
more clarity and idea on a situation or a problem. We try to ensure that we take
his/her input seriously when working on the same.
2. Openness to lifelong learning and experimentation: One of the key learnings
from this course so far is that an OD practitioner has to approach any situation
with an open mind and without any prior bias. It is important that we read books
to widen our horizon of thinking, gain theoretical knowledge and while we are
solving for customer, we are mentally prepared to experiment while we are
solving for customers. To illustrate an example, as a non-seasoned consultant,
our first interaction with our clients was way off our expectation and we could
not come out with anything concrete from the meeting. However, before our
second meeting with the client, we had restructured our approach. We tried
experimenting with 2-on-2 conversations with the client group and had also
collected data on Google forms to understand their pulse. This was helpful as
we were able to gather sufficient data to identify their problem areas.
3. Equity and fairness – the worth of every individual: Each individual is
unique, comes with a different line of thinking and brings something unique to
the table. We also understand two members of the team might have different
needs. We try to ensure that the needs of the individuals are carter to, in order
to ensure equity and fairness. A team member might need n number of hours to
complete a task while someone else in the team might require n+1 hours to
complete the same task. This is well understood by all the team members.
4. Valid information and informed choice: It is very important that as an OD
consultants that our choices and decision are well informed and calculated as
our decisions might have impact on or client’s workforce and business. It is
important that we analyse without any bias and judge a situation based on what
it is rather than what we think it is. To ensure this, we may refer to journals,
sources on the internet etc.
5. Enduring respect for the human side of enterprise: As an OD consultant, we
are likely to design interventions to increase the overall effectiveness of the
organisations. The people in a business might go through a transition as a result
of such interventions. It is of utmost important that one has respect for
individuals around – team-mates, clients, and client’s workforce.
6. All human beings have the right to attain their potential: A helping hand
goes a long way. As mentioned before, all members bring something new to the
table. At the same time, it is most likely that we are far from our individual
potential. There is where a team culture plays an important role in pushing the
individual and team to reach their potential. Some of our team members were
not comfortable with Google forms, excel while some of us were. It is a good
gesture to guide other team-mates and help him/her in his/her weak areas. Also,
as an OD consultant we have to ensure that the client and client’s workforce
attain their potential.

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3. What for your own group stands out from your immersion in
learning as a group regarding the way it has coordinated itself as a
learning unit? What aspects of your assigned consulting model are
useful in your group's reflection of itself, especially with regard to
members in class asking for an extension in group assignment
submissions? (1000 words)
--------------
 Values - Through our conversations, we identified each other’s values and this
aided us in forming a high-level understanding of what is more important to
each group member.
 Coordination - Time management plays an important role in performing well as
a group. While each individual had to be involved in various activities, our team
was able to coordinate well to set the ball rolling for the work. We worked in a
way that tasks and learning continued even if some resources were caught up.
We learnt that better coordination can often drive better efficiency.
 Co-learning - Our team proactively engages in co-learning sessions and
discuss our ideas post individual reading sessions to share members’ thoughts
on what they understood from the readings
 Open to each other’s views
 Mutual respect
 Great rapport
-------------------

When we convened as a learning group for this course, we were new both to the
course and to each other. During the forming phase, we initially exchanged our views
and past experiences with reference to the subject matter and this helped us to better
understand the concepts being shared. This also helped us build solidarity amongst
our team as we began to know each other. Some aspects that helped us grow and
improve ourselves as a learning unit are:

 Values - Through our conversations, we identified each other’s values and this
aided us in forming a high-level understanding of what is more important to
each group member.
 Collaboration - Our team has been collaborating really well on the tasks
assigned to us. We were able to work in a way that tasks and learning continued
even if some resources were caught up. We learnt that better coordination can
often drive better efficiency.
 Peer learning - While the groups’ development is important, it is equally
important that each individual learns through the process and no member feels
left behind in the journey. The members of our group come together to discuss
their ideas and understanding from the readings provided which has enhanced
co-learning immensely within our group
 Democratic decision-making - The members of the group hold mutual respect
for each other and we tend to deliberate and discuss amongst ourselves before
coming to any decision while accounting for each individual’s point of view. The
discussions are meant to understand the unique perspectives and then come
to a consensus.

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Over time we devised ways to make ourselves more efficient as a learning unit. As we
immersed in this activity by playing both the role of consultants and clients we learnt
a lot by gaining practical experience. Some of our key takeaways were:

 Rapport building is an important step when dealing approaching a client as

building a relationship of trust helps both the clients and the consulting group.
It enables the client to share accurate information which would facilitate better
problem identification and issue resolution. This also aids the consultant to
diagnose the issue in a better way without the fear of being misjudged by the
stakeholders.
 It is vital for the consulting group to approach the scenario with an open mind.
Being biased would hinder in diagnosing the exact root cause as they might
already have a problem in mind. The interpretation of data would then be done
in an unfair way.
 A consultant must not be influenced by past experiences as each client is
unique even if they seem to be going through similar problems. Hence an
intervention done previously with another organisation may not be effective for
the current client and the solution must be tailor-made for treating specific
issues.

The model assigned to our team uses meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of
planned change interventions by analysing 52 evaluations of such interventions. The
model primarily emphasises how planned interventions related to organisational work
settings change the individual behaviour and in turn how changes in these can lead to
the organisational outcomes that are desired. There are four subsystems under the
organisational work settings, namely physical factors, technology, organisational
arrangements and social factors.

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 Figure 7

We observed that this model fits our group’s context as well as we continue to function
together as a learning group. Initially, when we began on this journey as a team we
faced challenges in coordinating with each other and hence the turnaround time for
completion of tasks was higher. But eventually, as we began to meet more often, in
both formal and informal environments, we bonded with each other and a sense of
mutual respect developed within the group. This led to easier communication and
enhanced coordination which helped us perform better. This also enabled co-learning
which helped us complete our work faster while each individual continued to learn and
grow. On reading the paper on Dynamics of Planned Organisational Change we could
relate the model to our experience and the inter-relations between the work settings
was also evident. When the social factors of our group changed, i.e. we began to
interact more frequently and communicate more freely with each other it changed the
group dynamics. This resulted in improvement in the organisational arrangements and
technology factors as we were able to better manage our time and hence add more
value to the learning process. We unanimously came to a solution for the issue of
working together when different people had different commitments to take care of. We
began on our tasks based on when the majority were available rather than waiting for
all members to get a common free period and this enabled all members to take turns
on the work and contribute equally. The group was able to follow a schedule that was
convenient for all. Hence it can be seen that a change in one of the work settings led
to improvement in there too and this affected the individual behaviour as well, making
us all feel positive and building trust within the group.

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As illustrated by the example, the observations drawn from the meta-analysis may
help us solve the challenges we are currently facing as a batch with respect to time
management and task prioritisation. Due to the virtual setup, the members have not
been able to interact as easily as a physical setting would have allowed. It is taking
longer to adjust to student life after the professional stint and hence the batch was
facing issues in meeting deadlines. This leads to requests for an extension of dates.
An intervention for improving either the social factors (how we interact within our batch)
or the organisational arrangements (how we coordinate amongst ourselves to
complete tasks and meet deadlines) might help in a better performing group which
may in turn help in positively affecting the behaviour of each member as we learn to
cope up with all the outcomes that we are expected to deliver.

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References:

1. Dynamics of Planned Organizational Change: Assessing Empirical Support for

a Theoretical Model by Peter J. Robertson, Darryl R. Roberts, Jerry I. Porras,
The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jun. 1993), pp. 619-634
2. Organization Development, Change by Thomas G. Cummings, Christoper G.
Worley 10th edition)
3. Case on Yale School of Management by Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin, and
James Weber, Harvard Business Review, 9-308-011, Rev. Feb 29, 2008
4. OD chronology - https://my.visme.co/projects/pv0m088w-od-chronology
5. OD Timeline - https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/organizational-
development-history
6. Organization Development - A Practitioner’s guide for OD and HR by Mee-Yan
Cheung-Judge and Linda Holbeche, 3rd Edition, Kogan Page Publications

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