Final Project: Organizational Development Strategy Proposal

Vanessa Pecly

Arizona State University

OGL 300- Option A: Case Study

August 9th , 2022

Final Project: Organizational Development Strategy Proposal

 In this proposal, I draw on my observations based on the case study "The Case of Ted

Shade," which led me to the documentation of pain points and proposed solutions.

Proposal Description & Objectives

The proposal suggests implementing an Organizational Development program that

focuses on improving the company's capabilities through the alignment of structure, management

process, and the development and experience of the employees (Mohrman, 2007, para. 5). The

proposal is based on the Transformational, Situational, Adaptive, and Path-Goal theories learned

from the text Northouse Leadership: Theory and Practice.

The program aims to develop, encourage, and foster individual and organizational

effectiveness by creating and delivering various company goal-oriented, creative, and diverse

initiatives supporting the organization's commitment to employee development, partnerships, and

organizational success (Mohrman, 2007). The program monitors the heartbeat of employee

experience, satisfaction, and engagement. It aims to foster inclusion, motivation, and retention

through meaningful team-building activities and personal and professional development

initiatives (Qurtuba University of Science & IT., 2019, p.71).

Furthermore, the strategy aims to promote productivity, team performance, and

satisfaction. In addition, it provides solid project planning and management strategies to avoid

miscommunication and promote uncertainty avoidance, results-driven culture, follow-through on

projects, clear communication, documentation, and expectations (Badewi, 2016, p. 763). The

design of the program encourages a collaborative and feedback-oriented culture. However, it

seeks to avoid overlapping, workload imbalance, and burnout. Nonetheless, within that structure,
leaders and their teams have the freedom to create and adapt their internal operations as they see

fit to meet the goals and needs of their teams.

For the Organizational Development program to be successful, this proposal suggests the

creation of a People Team to support the HR team efforts led by Alex Donovan (Option A: Case

Study, 2022, p. 2). The People team serves as the advocates and mediators in the employer-

employee relationships.

Current State Pain Points

I have identified the following pain points based on the employee interviews in the case

study "The Case of Ted Shade" (Option A: Case Study, 2022). These pain points highlight Ted

Shade's and the company's absence or lack of leadership styles, processes, and strategies that are

causing the current state issues at Galactic Chips.

Individuals like Ted Shade, who led teams of people, lack interpersonal relationships and

people management skills. Therefore, they cannot coach, develop, motivate, identify

performance and skill gaps, and course-correct employees, jeopardizing employee satisfaction.

In addition, these leaders lack ownership and accountability for their unacceptable behavior.

● "I don't like to wave people in if they're passing by because I don't want to waste their

time.”

● "… most supervisors and managers were exposed to great stress, but TI would help by

facilitating transfers, and in other ways.”

● “Some people could get a know it all impression from him.”

 ● “ He shows no interest in the person or what they are saying. People would stop him and

ask him a question and he would not give them an answer.”

● “ The best way of handling a problem is getting rid of people who should be let go. You

can't keep deadwood. It wastes resources.”

● “I really prefer communicating with others via e-mail. I don't like speaking to people one-

on-one.”

A total absence of sensitivity, workplace harassment, workplace etiquette, diversity and

inclusion policies, and training. Acceptance and promotion of toxic and abusive workplace

behavior.

● “… a shouter who berated subordinates even for small errors. “He got things done”,

Shade remarked.”

● “At meetings he would sometimes attack people, even calling their ideas or thoughts

stupid. He's very insensitive about people's feelings.”

● “His grooming is poor. His hair is always messed up and I think he goes for months

without a haircut. I don't even think he showers every day.”

● “And he used to curse a lot to the point where people really got turned off. That's

inappropriate for a vice president and especially in public at meetings.”

● “When he got mad, he used to pound his fist.”

 ● “He also uses words to hurt people. For example, at a meeting with the planning group,

he told them they didn't know how to forecast.”

● “Ted uses a lot of sexist comments such as “the girls in sales” or “the little ladies in

Taiwan”.

● “As a manager, I dislike that I show my frustrations easily. I'm quite open and people can

read me like a book.”

● “ In other words, those people who are not very bright. Also, I know people say I don't

work well with others in the company, but I disagree with that. I work well with others if

they work well with me”

A lack of teambuilding activities and employee experience and development efforts.

Acceptance and promotion of a toxic workaholism environment. It leads to high turnover rates

due to inflexible requirements and unfair treatment.

● “I didn't spend enough time with my two daughters as they were growing up... Now it's

too late. They're grown up and have their own lives.”

● “ He has the best interests of the company in mind, even to the extent of hurting himself.”

● “We were surprised to hear some of the reasons. We had always assumed people were

leaving for promotional opportunities or compensation, but we discovered that it had

more to do with the quality of leadership and the enormous job stress they were feeling.”
● “The most damning responses centered on inaccessible management, which was viewed

as very strict and highly authoritarian.”

● “ He really respects the people who work hard and put in long hours.”

● “He saw many people over in the corporate building that would come in at nine and leave

at five. He thought that was wrong and spoke to their managers about it.”

● “He's really not a bad guy, but I would rather not work for him. He's too strict especially

on specifications and procedures.”

● “He's so gung-ho on work that I think he lets his personal appearance go. He takes a great

deal of pride in being in at 6 am and working every Saturday.”

● “An organization needs to be run in a very tight manner. There can be no variance

allowed.”

● “At Galactic, people tend to abuse other people. They beat the heck out of them. That's

why there are unions. Unions are there to constrain people policies.”

● “We place too much stress on objectives/goals achievement. Instead of commanding

people, they should be given the support they need.”

● “But here, when I tried to organize one, I had to send out a memo and get it cleared with

a lot of people who didn't care. After a while it became too much and we stopped it. I

sure miss those days when we were all in one building.”

 Employees lack the confidence to challenge authority or processes not aligned with the

organization's standards. Therefore, they are unable to act without direction to determine the best

strategy to achieve their goals.

● “ He's often a nitpicker, always involved in the small details. It is often better for

someone to solve a problem without going to Ted. He would be prone to blow things out

of proportion.”

● “He stands by his people. He supports them if they follow his advice.”

● “Ted is a good soldier. He listens very well to directions and orders given to him from the

top.”

● "He has a lot of preconceived notions about the way things should be. He usually has his

mind made up, although he thinks he practices participative management.”

● “He doesn't question management, just follows them.”

● “He's very much a chain-of-command type of person. He's very rigid on follow-ups to

previous items.”

● “There must be rules and boundaries not only in work, but in life. Rules don't change

every day.”

● “He's very much a chain-of-command type of person. He's very rigid on follow-ups to

previous items.”
 There is a lack of structured goals, expectations, and responsibilities. There is a total

absence of project planning and management, including a lack of documentation, timeline, risk

assessments, and strategy. It is causing burnout and inefficiency in the organization.

● “You need to be direct and not try to put one over on him. He many times will be unclear

in what he wants. He doesn't get to the point and doesn't focus on concerns. He goes off

in different directions and at times is ambiguous. This wastes a lot of time.”

● “Ted doesn't communicate well. He doesn't let his people know the systems, procedures,

and policies he has in his mind.”

● “Meetings are terrible with him. If it's his meeting, we don't have agendas; nobody takes

minutes so we don't have a record.”

● “ Our planning is terrible. Management doesn't see the small stuff and how things get

done. They are only concerned with the results.”

Lack of Quality Assurance in products and client interactions.

● “They were also beginning to have some quality problems and needed to deal with the

resulting customer concerns.”

● “He has his own set of priorities and doesn't realize that the product is important.”

● “… he told the suppliers that he and the suppliers didn't have very competent people

working for them and to call him personally and immediately if it happened again.”
 Proposed Solutions by Leadership Theory

Transformational Theory

Provide personal and professional development opportunities that promote knowledge,

develop skills and enrich the organization. Create, promote, and foster an organizational

environment that values professional and personal development, diversity, and growth

opportunities for all employees (Qurtuba, 2019). Promote the establishment and achievement of

innovative organizational change interventions to quickly resolve conflicts and course correct

unproductive processes and toxic behaviors (Mohrman, 2007). Promote coaching and mediation

sessions with leaders and their teams in areas of leadership, team management, strategy, and

organizational development (Mohrman, 2007). Promote Employee Satisfaction to ensure

employees put their best effort into the organization's success and desire to continue to grow

within the company (Davis, 2015). Establish the People Team as the employee's advocate,

conducting regular vibe checks to identify their personal and professional challenges, needs,

ideas, concerns, etc. Increase Employee Engagement through employee engagement tools and

team-building activities (Davis, 2015).

Situational Theory

Facilitate organizational development by reviewing the current company's and each

team's processes and protocols to evaluate their efficiency, effectiveness, relevancy, and the need

to create or update them. Empower leaders to research, develop, and execute projects aligned

with the team’s stage of development and organization's goals (Northouse, P. G., 2020).

Facilitate leadership strategy meetings to ensure the training, strategies and career paths align

with the organization’s business and employee experience goals. Gather data with trends on
client's needs, quality assurance gaps, and training opportunities. Actively update, design, and

develop product quality improvement strategies and standards.

Adaptive Theory

Provide ongoing support and resources to the leadership team to promote and create

strategies to support employees that aligned with the organization's business goals and

succession efforts. Align an employee's career vision with the business goals and needs by

developing fluid career paths. Analyzes jobs and roles to determine learning needs in

technical/operational skills (Northouse, P. G., 2020).Provide the organization with the learning

tools and resources to respond effectively to current employees' needs while preparing for future

demands. Encourage employees to tackle challenges by assessing training needs with the

leadership team to identify gaps and bridge them through technical and behavioral training

methods and solutions. Implement cross training initiatives to help employees develop new skills

to perform tasks outside of their usual roles and promote independent and critical thinking skills

(Northouse, P. G., 2020).

Path-Goal Theory

Ensures employees work as productively and stress-free as possible by providing clear

goals and responsibilities (Northouse, P. G., 2020). Facilitate and promote uncertainty avoidance

and a results-oriented culture by partnering with leaders to create Path-Goal strategies with clear

goals for their teams. Then, empowering all teams and leaders to freely determine how they will

meet the expectations without further supervision (Northouse, P. G., 2020). Develop and

supervise a detailed project plane schedule and work plan by documenting meeting minutes and

creating a channel of clear communication regarding timelines and action items (Badewi, 2016).
Document and store all processes and protocols to promote team efficiency and track the

organization's development to help predict and define how it will perform over time (Badewi,

2016).

Implementation & Training Strategies by Leadership Theory

A complete organizational audit is recommended for all employees, procedures,

protocols, and operations before considering a permanent program implementation since the

proposal is based on the case study only. It will help gather better data to identify more pain

points and clarify the ones listed. At the same time, additional research and calculations are

needed to provide a complete list of recommendations and a budget proposal.

In addition, this proposal recommends three strategy implementation stages, Pilot,

Intermediate, and Ideal. These phases will assist with tracking results and feedback to adjust as

needed between stages. Also, it will help the employees ease into change and gradually adapt.

Finally, the People Team must create and facilitate training solutions tailored to the

organization's needs based on the leadership styles highlighted in this proposal.

Transformational & Situational Theories

Educate the leadership team about transformational leadership techniques based on

motivation, inclusiveness, and recognition activities to foster employee development (Northouse,

P. G., 2020). Create and facilitate training resources that supports career pathing, planning and

promotional/career advancement. Facilitate training programs that focus on the fostering of a

healthy workplace environment and appropriate etiquette. In addition, training solutions that aim
to prevent workplace harassment, employee burnout using various methods including group

discussion, lecture, simulations, and videos (Qurtuba, 2019). Encourage employees to take a

variety of personality, skills and learning styles tests to help the leadership team understand their

personalities and skills sets.

Adaptive & Path-Goal Theories

Develop unique training programs to fulfill workers specific needs to maintain or

improve job skills. Assess the success of the Organizational Development progam and help

employees make the most of learning tools and resources. Prepare and facilitate a structured

training solution that highlights clear goals and expectations (Northouse, P. G., 2020).

Implementation Outcomes by Stage & Theory

Pilot Stage Outcomes: Transformational & Situational Theories

During the Pilot stage, the People Team hosts the initial discovery sessions with the

leadership team to identify their overall current project and people management challenges,

successes, and short goals. They will also provide the leadership team with various leadership

and personality assessments to help them understand the leader’s style and identify possible gaps

(Davis, 2015, p. 30).In addition, the People Team hosts a variety of surveys and interviews with

employees to learn about their preferences in learning methods, leadership, employee culture,

project planning and management, workflow, etc. The goal is to understand their priorities and

suggestions to help design the best environment for the employees to perform their best while

having the best employee experience possible.

Intermediate Stage Outcomes: Adaptive & Path-Goal Theories

 Based on the interviews and data gathered from the audits in the Pilot Stage, the People

team will begin the design of the solutions focusing on improving the organization’s structure,

management process, and employee experience and development (Qurtuba University of Science

& IT., 2019, p.78). These solutions will provide clear goals and expectations; they will be

tailored to each leader and team to fit their needs to promote satisfaction, productivity, and

efficiency (Davis, 2015).

Ideal Stage Outcomes: Adaptive & Transformational Theories

The entire organization will become more independent and soon fully self-sufficient by

trusting the program and it’s processes. The process requires everyone to let go of the reigns

entirely and rely on the solid structure leaders designed for their teams, training strategies, and

team's capabilities (Northouse, P. G., 2020, p. 310). In addition, implementing this program will

not only promote retention but will be an excellent asset for the recruiting process in the future.

The program will promote retention and employee loyalty through the leadership styles

highlighted in this proposal that foster growth, collaboration, and development in a positive, and

empowering work environment (Northouse, P. G., 2020, p. 216). In addition, it will help promote

leadership and decision-making skills across the board, creating a solid foundation for growth

(Northouse, P. G., 2020, p. 302). The cross-training strategy increases redundancy in a team.

Cross-training ensures that if an essential employee leaves or gets sick or takes a vacation, the

business's operations won't suffer. It is also a great way to help employees develop new skills to

perform tasks outside of their usual roles and reduce the boredom that lurks after months of the

same routines. It can also be a morale booster directly tied to productivity, engagement, and

retention (Qurtuba, 2019).

Ideal Stage Outcomes: Situational & Path-Goal Theories

 The People Team will mediate between the company and the employee to ensure there is

common ground by facilitating a problem resolution session, adapting resolution to each

situation and ensuring everyone walks away satisfied (Northouse, P. G., 2020). The People team

will also analyze metrics and insights to uncover/propose solutions to bridge learning and skill

gaps, turnover/engagement, and employee development (Davis, 2015) The Project Management

solutions aim to promote clear communication and visibility across company lines to ensure that

day-to-day operations go smoothly. Improve collaboration by ensuring that everyone on the

same page and defining employee’s roles clearly and accurately (Badewi, 2016). In addition,

project management activities drive greater project assurance and control. The program will help

capture and maintain quality data that will enable accurate planning, business predictability, and

informed decision-making. It guarantees that best practices are applied and replicated and that all

projects are on track to succeed (Badewi, 2016). The program components provide visibility and

the ability to track and ensure success through a results-oriented and entrepreneurial culture. It

will help avoid unnecessary anxiety and uncertainty for both leaders and followers (Northouse,

P. G., 2020).

Conclusion& Recommendations

Although Mr. River is doing his best to alleviate the current state, if the company

continues to fight organizational development and evolution, it will not be able to reach its full

potential, or at least not soon. A technology company must move quickly, be open-minded, and

be fluid to market changes and demand. The vision of continuing to do what they have always

done and shying away from new leadership styles will not be sustainable.

Therefore, Galactic will continue to endure the pain of revenue drops and employee

retention issues if the pain points highlighted in this proposal continue to be tolerated and
unresolved. Furthermore, Galactic might risk a harassment lawsuit due to Ted Shade's

inappropriate workplace behavior by making inappropriate, racist, and sexist comments in public

and private scenarios.

Galactic may continue to recruit incredible talent; however, people will continue to leave

if the company fails to implement leadership styles to provide their employees with a supportive,

healthy, and inclusive work environment that promotes growth, development, loyalty, and

productivity.

Although it can be hard to accept and adapt to change and feel attacked by the pain points

of the current state, it is essential to educate all members of the organization in Organizational

Leadership and Development, especially the leadership team. It will help them understand,

embrace, capitalize, and adapt to the everchanging human capital behaviors and needs.

The proposed strategy offers multiple components meant to support and work together

toward the overall success of the Organizational Development program. All the processes,

techniques, and recommendations are essential to the strategy's success and projected growth.

However, it will not work if the leadership team doesn't understand, follow, and embrace it. The

people are the main component of this strategy. Everyone must understand and share the same

vision for the proposed solutions to work.

References

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practices on project success: Towards developing a project benefits governance

 framework. International Journal of Project Management, 34(4), 761–778.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.05.005

Davis. (2015). Implementing an employee career-development strategy: How to build

commitment and retain employees. Human Resource Management International Digest,

23(4), 28–32. https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-05-2015-0066

Mohrman. (2007). Having Relevance and Impact: The Benefits of Integrating the Perspectives of

Design Science and Organizational Development. The Journal of Applied Behavioral

Science, 43(1), 12–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886306298185

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice. SAGE.

Option A: Case Study (2022). Leadership Theory and Practice: The Case of Ted Shade.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mPVbkkB6j8A13W7h8oiB0FcvFM8XDP7P/edit

Qurtuba University of Science & IT, Pakistan. (2019). Employee’s Retention and Job

Satisfaction: Mediating Role of Career Development Programs. The Dialogue. Retrieved

from https://www.qurtuba.edu.pk/thedialogue/

Training & Assessment Resources

The enneagram personality test. Truity. (2022, May 21). Retrieved August 9, 2022, from

https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test?

ppcga=fixed&gclid=CjwKCAjwi8iXBhBeEiwAKbUofVxF0PsjOyQ5IDv-

LpN70zx45q6AGcFJ2xp4ngbD6FTP9J8svXVG2xoC-hUQAvD_BwE
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from https://www.indigoeducationcompany.com/product/assessment/

Learning styles. Learning Styles Assessment | Assessments 24x7. (n.d.). Retrieved August 9,

2022, from https://www.assessments24x7.com/assessments/learning-styles

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Adaptive Leadership. Leadership Instrument. In Leadership: Theory

and practice (p. 315). SAGE.

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Path-Goal Theory. Leadership Instrument. In Leadership: Theory and

practice (p. 153). SAGE.

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Situational Approach. Leadership Instrument. In Leadership: Theory

and practice (p. 126). SAGE.

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Transformational Leadership. Leadership Instrument. In Leadership:

Theory and practice (p. 218). SAGE.