Simon riha dss report - ms word2010

CHRIS PETERSON AT DSS CONSULTING

Top Management Report

July 10th, 2012

Author
Simon Riha
Student No. EAC0212171

Emirates Aviation College
Aviation Management, Cohort 13
(ECM62BUS—Organizational Behavior & HRM)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................2
CASE INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS .................................................................................3
Leadership Perspective ........................................................................................................3
Management Style ...............................................................................................................5
Communication Perspective ................................................................................................7
Teamwork ............................................................................................................................9
Organizational Culture and Organizational Change ..........................................................11
Training ..............................................................................................................................13
FINAL RECCOMENDATIONS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT PLANS ............................14
CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCE LIST .......................................................................................................................17

i

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report analyzes a dispute between Ms. Cooke, DSS‘s COO and Ms. Peterson, Southwest
Region‘s team leader, whether there may be a more profound problem related to the entire
DSS organization. Cooke decided that Peterson‘s project would be discontinued, her team
wouldbe reorganized and not involved in product development any more, though Peterson
was convinced that her and her team‘s jobs were excellent.

The examination reveals that there may be a significant problem related to company
transition and Cooke as COO. The analysis from seven OB & HRM perspectives reveals that
Cookeactually has substantial deficiencies in the areas of leadership, management style,
communication, teamwork and change management.

Regarding Peterson, her otherwise exemplary team management and teamwork resulted in
so-called ‗groupthink‘ causing that her team lost unbiased decision-making and evaluation of
risks and alternatives. She needs to improve her communication skills towards her superiors,
too.

The report collected all the necessary evidence and elaborated each OB & HRM area. It
offers particular recommendations how to mend the problems using proven theories and
techniques. Further details can be found in the report body.

HR department recommends that the Board will pay adequate attention to this case. The
Board is advised to interview Cooke on her management and transition techniques and
hitherto achievements. The Board is also advised to consider the introduction of management
skills trainings at DSS. As a pilot project, HR department is going to design suchrespective
trainings for both Cooke and Peterson.

1

INTRODUCTION

DSS Consulting‘s Human Resource department has recently received a serious complaint
from Ms. Chris Peterson, head of the Southwest Region team, about the abrupt removal of
her responsibilities by Ms. Meg Cooke, DSS‘s Chief Operating Officer.Cooke is Peterson‘s
direct manager.

Peterson declares that she has formed a new successful and efficient team within the
company reorganization. This team has designed and created a new integrated budget and
planning system with their solely own team effort in past six months.

When Peterson has recently discussed this new product, its marketing and marketing of other
new DSS‘s consulting services in a final review meeting, Cookedid not express any
objections. After a few days, Cooke suddenly changed her mind advising Petersonthat her
system project would be discontinued. Furthermore, Cooke decided that Peterson‘s team
would not be involved in any product development any more and that team‘s composition
would be changed. In the end, Cooke asked Petersonwhether she was ready to lead her team
in a new direction or to be rather downgraded.

Severity of this complaint attracted HR department‘s attention. The department decided to
investigate this case. Both involved persons belong among the key top managers. Their
dispute may not be related only to their personal and interpersonal behavior, but may also be
associated to or be a consequence of the recent substantial strategic and organizational
changes at DSS.Hence, this report may be of high importance to the Boardin order to reveal
larger hidden problems eventually affecting the entire company organization and
performance.

This report examines the Peterson—Cooke case and associated broader issues from the
organizational behavior and human resource management point of view using multiple
perspectives, that is, in particular, (a) leadership, (b) management style, (c) communication,
(d) teamwork, (e) organizational culture, (f) change management and (g) training. Using OB
& HRM theories and concepts, it clarifies what went wrong, how the problem may be
resolved and how such situations may be avoided in future. The report also offers
recommendations and suggests future plans for Cooke, Peterson and her team.

2

CASE INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS

Leadership Perspective

Leadership is investigated first, since Mullins asserts that it is a central feature of
organizational performance (2005, p.280). His statement is supported by Chowdhury(2000):
―In the twenty-first century, leaders must create an atmosphere in which people believe in
strategy, believe in management decisions, and believe in their work. … Such an atmosphere
makes an organization prosper.‖

HR department analyzed Cooke‘s leadership using Blake Mouton Managerial
Grid(MindTools, n.d.). This concept considers two behavioral dimensions:

Concern for people – the degree to which leaders think of needs of subordinates, their
interests and areas of personal development when deciding about tasks.
Concern for production – the degree to which leaders put emphasis on particular
objectives, efficiency and productivity when deciding about tasks.

Figure 1: Blake Mouton Managerial Grid

Using the axis to plot leader‘s concern for people against concern for production, the concept
recognizes five different leadership styles.

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Analysis of the evidence shows that Cooke‘s leadership style corresponds with
‗Impoverished Leadership‘ characterized by low regard for creating systems for getting the
job done and for creating a satisfying and motivating work environment. The outcome of
such leadership style is disorganization, dissatisfaction and disharmony.

Collected evidence confirms thatCooke provided very little leadership. Peterson and many
other consultants felt anxious for uncertainty how the new company strategy would
unfold.Cooke was only little interested in what Peterson and her team were doing for six
months.Cooke did not pose any questions, did not ask for any reports or status meetings.
When Peterson asked Cooke for support her team needed to tackle difficulties with functional
departments, Cooke did not take any direct action. Some consultants feel that Cooke makes
political decisions and that she plays favorites.

According to Blake and Mouton model, HR department recommends that Cooke shift her
leadership style from ‗Impoverished‘ to ‗Team Leader‘. Both production and peoples‘ needs
shall be emphasized highly. The idea is to involve employees in understanding organizational
purpose and determining production needs. When employees are committed to and have an
interest in the organization‘s success, their needs coincide with production needs. This creates
a team environment based on trust and respect, which leads to high satisfaction and
motivation and, as a consequence, high production.(MindTools, n.d.)

4

Management Style

The importance of management style analysis may be underlined by Mullins: ―The behavior
of managers and their style of management will influence the effort expended and level of
performance achieved by subordinate staff. … Management style and behavior can be as
important as management competence.‖ (2005, p.237)

HR department‘s investigation of the Peterson—Cooke case found the evidence that, despite
the entire company reorganization,uncertain environment and change in strategy, Cooke gave
a great deal of flexibility to team leaders. Thus, Petersoncould choose her team members,
team office location and which product the team would develop, whereas Cooke seemed to
be in passive agreement. Later on, when Peterson occasionally discussed her matters with
Cooke, meetings were just brief. Cooke never expressed any objections. When Peterson
raised a problem to receive support from other functional units, Cooke asked a few questions
and left it for later or showed her sympathy and advised that Peterson‘s team should keep
working.

Thismanagement style can be described by the Control and Freedom Factorsconcept
depicted in Figure 2(Thirlwall, 2012).

Figure 2: Control and Freedom Factors

Depending on how intensive managerial control is and, at the same time, how much
individual freedom to act subordinates enjoy, there are four resulting outcomes:

1. Apathy: Subordinates feel indifferent, lacking interest and enthusiasm.

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2. Alienation: Workers feel alienated, detached, separated from the organization.
3. Anarchy: Colleagues may work freely without any respect to corporate strategy, its
vision and mission.
4. Achieving: Ideal balance between control and freedom

Analysis of theabove evidencesuggests that Cooke‘s management style towards Peterson and
herteam led to‗Anarchy‘. Her managerial control and direction were minimal, whereas she
provided maximum individual freedom to act. Hence, Peterson wasallowedto develop a
specific product for small school districts, though the new company strategy actually
refocused on large school districts.

HR department recommends thatCooke adjust her management style to free Peterson from
‗Anarchy‘ and encourage her to ‗Achieving‘,for the task of management (and leadership) is
to achieve the vision and the mission of the organization, that is, to provide direction and
strategy, and to integrate the individual and the organization (Thirlwall, 2012).Peterson
proved by creating an entire new product that she could act having individual freedom. From
this conceptual point of view, it was just lack of control and direction from her manager that
resulted in the clash between the two.

6

Communication Perspective

In a recent survey conducted by University of Pittsburgh‘s Katz Business School,
communication skills were cited by recruiters from companies with more than 50,000
employees as the single most important decisive factor in choosing managers.
Communication skills are the main factor contribution to job success. (MindTools, n.d.)

Based on the evidence, Peterson and Cooke communicated scarcely and poorly. No regular
meetings were detected. Peterson occasionally updated Cooke on the project. However,
meetings were short. Their meetings did not have any clear conclusions and actionable items
either (for instance, ―… Meg [Cooke] responded by asking a couple of questions and saying
that she and Chris [Peterson] would talk about it later. …‖).

Communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same
information as a result of communication. (MindTools, n.d.) HR department proposes that the
concept ofDownwards and Upwards Communicationwill be introduced for rectifying the
communication problem between Cooke and Peterson.

Figure 3: Downwards and Upwards Communication

Downwards communication is a management strategy for cascading information downwards
to the receivers using appropriate communication media (face to face, written, telephone or
virtual). Managers pay attention that the receivers have received the message and expect their

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feedback to reconfirm their correct understanding. Feedback is provided by upwards
communication, which makes employees feel involved and help managers to understand their
concerns (Thirlwall, 2012).

HR Department recommends that Cookewill establish regular, structured two-way
communication flow with Peterson (for example, periodical status meetings, written reports,
e-mails for asking questions, memos to provide downward information to the team, etc.).
Cooke is to reassure that Peterson has received and interpreted messages by asking for her
feedback. This will make Peterson feel participating. It will also keep Cooke in touch with
Peterson‘s attitudes and values and may provide a timely alert on potential problems.

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Teamwork

Teamwork‘s importance and role in contemporary organizations have been growing. Work is
not just about technical competence, butalso about working well together, team spirit and
collaboration. Team members have to be able to support one another and to handle conflict in
a constructive manner. (Guirdham, 2002, p.12)

If Cookeis considered as the team leader of all other regional team leaders, HR department
found out very little team spirit, collaboration and constructive conflict handling with Cooke.

Investigating Peterson and her team, HR department identified very strong teamwork. She
chose her team members carefully out of consultants who already knew each other and had a
lot in common. Many of them socialized with each other out of work. The entire team
relocated into one office quickly. Some of the team said that this was the best group they had
ever worked in.The team managed to design and developed an entire new product with little
disagreement.

Notwithstanding the positive teamwork in Peterson‘s unit, HR department notifiesthe
Boardof the latentGroupthink environment, which may have contributed to Petersonteam‘s
diversion from the company strategy and refusal of their new product by other DSS‘s teams.

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within groups of people. It is the
mode of thinking that happens when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group
overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives. (Wikipedia, n.d.)

Petersonand her team locked themselves in the group by cutting off from the rest of the
company. The evidence shows: ―The majority of the team were now spending nearly all their
time working with one another and saw less and less of the other consultants. … Occasionally
people would bring up what other consultants said … but this seldom generated much interest
and was sometimes seen as almost a distraction to the group.‖

Janis identified eight main symptoms of groupthink, such as invulnerability, rationale,
morality, stereotypes, pressure, self-censorship, unanimity and mindguards. HR department
found most of the signs having evolved in Peterson‘s team. For instance,

9

Rationale, self-censorship and unanimity: The team concluded that small districts
needed a system and determined a scaled down system to be the right product based
on their experience and feelings. This project excited the team.
Mindguards: Peterson had two principal goals for the team. 1) She wanted the team to
be focused on their job. 2) She made effort to avoid distractions from outside and to
build cohesion.
Invulnerability leading to excessive optimism and risk taking: The team was
convinced of being able to do the entire job without any external help.

Groupthink, according to Kamau&Harorimana, results in defective decision-making based on
the practices such as incomplete survey of alternatives and objectives, failure to examine
risks and reevaluate previously rejected alternatives, poor information search and failure to
work out contingency plans.(Kamau & Harorimana, 2008)HR department has identified all of
these symptoms in Peterson‘s team. The result was possibly a falsely defined and designed
product with a little market potential.

Based on Janis(1972, pp.209-15), HR department recommends the following steps to mend
groupthink:

The team shall invite outside experts to their meetings. Group members shall be
encouraged to discuss with and question outside experts.
Group‘s ideas shall be openly discussed with trusted people outside of the group.
Devil‘s advocate in every meeting, that is, a person taking a position of a certain
argument to engage others in argumentative discussions.

Defeating groupthink will help the team to open, get the big picture about the new strategy,
about what other teams do and which products they intend to market in their districts. Other
teams will also better accept Peterson‘s team by getting invited and involved.

10

Organizational Culture and Organizational Change

Though it may not be obvious, organizational culture has a pervasive influence on
individuals‘ behavior and actions. Knowing that every company needs effective management
to coordinate and direct the efforts towards the achievement of company‘s goals and
objectives, the process of management does not occur in vacuum. It happens in the context of
organizational culture.(Mullins, 2005, pp.891, 896)

McLean & Marshall define the organizational culture as a collection of traditions, values,
policies, beliefs and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context for everything we do and
think in an organization.(McLean & Marshall, 1993)

Using Handy‘sclassification,DSS‘s original organizational culture can be classified as so-
calledPower Culture.(Handy, 1993)This culture is typical for small entrepreneurial
organizations like DSS has been. There has been a strong influence from the founders, who
have played a central role at managing the company and acquiring contracts from small
school districts. Power culture relies on trust, empathy and personal communication. There
are few rules and procedures, and little bureaucracy.

However, recent principal changes at DSS are apparently resulting in a correlatingchange in
organizational culture. The strong influence from the founders evaporated after they stepped
out of daily management and contract acquisitions. All responsibility was handed over to
Cooke as COO. The organizational structure changed from a pure functional towards a matrix
structure. Company‘s strategy alteredfrom small towards large school districts.

The recent organizational changes at DSS indicate to seek the Task Culture, which is typical
for matrix organizations. Task culture is job-oriented and project-oriented. It is to bring
together the right resources and people and utilizes the unifying power of the group.
Influence shall be largely spread and based more on expert power than on position or
personal power.(Handy, 1993)

HR department detected a fundamental problem in DSS‘s organizational and cultural
transition. The evidence reveals that reorganization and strategic change have been perceived
controversial. Numerous employees got concerned, dissatisfied and anxious. Cooke seems to
tend to make rather political than expert decisions favoring some and disfavoring the others.

11

Last but not least, HR department did not find any hints about communicating and explaining
the planned organizational changes with the shift in strategy to the employees.

Based on the facts above, HR department concludes that the planned organizational change
has not been executed appropriately.Cooke obviously ignored what, for example, Heller
explains: ―The truth about organizational change is that getting the structure and the numbers
right is the first step, and very important; but animating the structure to achieve the right
actions by right motivated people is vital. For any organization, … ,the central purpose is to
create so thriving and developing an organic activity that the organization can provide
excellent well-paid employment for all its people.‖ (Heller, 1997, p.34)

HR department stresses out that the change must be managed. It is not possible to approach
the change as Cooke did, that is, to give free hands to act with only little structured
coordination from the center based on a few random meetings. Besides, according to
Crainer‘s research, most of people naturally refuse to accept the necessity of change as such.
They tend to block to making change happen. (1998, pp.144-5)

HR department recommends that Cooke will need to master and demonstrate seven skills
suggested by Crainer to successfully lead the company throughout the transition:

1. Managing conflict
2. Interpersonal skills
3. Project management skills
4. Leadership and flexibility
5. Managing processes
6. Managing strategy
7. Managing her own development

12

Training

Training and development of people belong to the major functions of HRM. Considering the
recent substantial organizational changes at DSS from a functional towards a hybrid
organization, Mullins points out that this process needs an environment of coaching and
support. Mullins further opinions that training is necessary to ensure an adequate supply of
staff who are technically and socially competent, and capable of career advancement into
specialist departments or management positions. (2005, p.756)

When HR department analyzed Cooke‘s and Peterson‘s skills, the evidence revealed that both
Cooke and Peterson were skilled senior experts. Cooke headed the Contract Negotiation
group in the past, whereas Peterson was a project manager leading consulting projects in the
Information Technology group.

However, there is a difference when looking closer at their soft skills (for instance, empathy,
teamwork, sociability, etc.). Peterson has been showing developed soft skills when leading
her team. For instance, she paid a lot of attention at selecting her team members so that they
would be able to work together well. She relocated the team together to support the team
spirit and collaboration. When there were problems, she made effort to fix them. When it
required approaching other heads of departments or the COO directly, she approached them
and tried to get solutions. When there was a serious situation, in particular, when her team
was stressed, anxious and in some disagreement, she successfully solved it by organizing a
team-building hiking trip with barbecue.

HR Department could identify only very little soft skills when analyzing Cooke‘s behavior.
Sir Brian Wolfson, Chairman of Investors in People UK, opinions about skills shortages that
they are often the result of short-termism and little or no analysis of present or future training
needs. He also asserts that keeping skilled workers is one of the first business goals. (1998)

Based on what has been stated above, HR Department recommends that mainly Cooke will
receive an initial training in management skills. HR Department also recommends that the
Board will consider establishing a planned and systemic approach to training at DSS, since
there has not been any here.

13

FINAL RECCOMENDATIONS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT PLANS

After having analyzed the Peterson—Cooke case from all seven OB & HRM perspectives,
HR department proposes the following actions backed up by the following reasons.

Cooke

She demonstrated very little leadership skills, management style, communication and
teamwork. She performed poorly in fourout of seven transition skills.Summed up, HR
department did not identify any positives.

The Board should call for a personal meeting with Cooke to discuss the entire situation to
get their own feeling and to create their own opinion for making further decisions.

HR department would like to test and analyze Cooke‘s HR capabilities in detail and from
a broader perspective to reconfirm or to refute the findings recognized in this
examination.

HR department is going to prepare an individual training plan for Cooke to address her
obvious shortcomings in order to create her understanding and improve her management
skills needed for her job.

Peterson

She demonstrated very good communication skills and teamwork inside of her team. HR
department identified many positives from OB & HRM perspectives.

However, her upwards communication was immature. Her team management led to
groupthinking.

HR department would like to plan a training scheme for Peterson to further develop her
management skills. She seems to have a great deal of management potential even for a
possible promotion in future.

14

Southwest Region team

This team showed excellent teamwork. Their achievement as such, that is, to design and
develop an entire new product up to the beta test version without any external support
fascinated the HR department.

Based on the findings, HR department is convinced that the team shall remain intact and
be still a part of DSS‘s new product development.

Nevertheless, groupthink must be cured using the previously described techniques.

15

CONCLUSION

This top management report examined a dispute between Cooke, COO, and Peterson, head of
Southwest Region team. Initially, the dispute seemed to be an ordinary bilateral incident
between a manager and a subordinate.

HR department analyzed the case from seven standard HR & OBM perspectives to check
whether there may be a more profound problem at DSS, especially with Cooke, COO. The
analysis revealed interesting facts going beyond a simpledisagreement.

‗Blake Mouton Managerial Grid‘ analysis showed that Cooke‘s leadership style was not the
right one. Her management style examined by the ‗Control and Freedom Factors‘ method
revealed that ithad led to ‗Anarchy‘ instead of ‗Achieving‘. Her communication needs to be
intensified by ‗Downward and Upwards Communication‘.Her teamwork abilities could not
be found. In organizational culture and change, she did not demonstrate any of four skills
related to OB & HRM declared byCraine as vital for transition.

On the contrary, Peterson did wellin the analysis. Some shortcomings, such as in her
communication towards superiors and ‗groupthink‘ in teamwork, were recognized.
Otherwise, under the given conditions and supervision, she and her team have done a
fascinating job.

The report concludes that Cooke shall be interviewed by the Board to report on her transition
techniques and achievements and further analyzed by the HR department to reconfirm or to
refute her management shortcomings.

HR department also found out that there had been no training in organizational behavior and
management skills at DSS, which may be one of the reasons why the problem between Cooke
and Peterson arose. Hence, HR department recommended that both managers would receive
individually tailored trainings and that DSS should adopt a structured management training
plan.

16

REFERENCE LIST

Chowdhury, S., 2000. Management 21C. Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Crainer, S., 1998. Key Management Ideas: Thinkers that Changed the Management World.
3rd ed. Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Guirdham, M., 2002. Interactive Behaviour at Work. 3rd ed. Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Handy, C.B., 1993. Understanding Organizations. 4th ed. Penguin.

Heller, R., 1997. In Search of European Excellence. HarperCollins Business.

Janis, I.L., 1972. Victims of Groupthink: a Psychological Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions
and Fiascoes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Kamau, C. & Harorimana, D., 2008. Does knowledge sharing and withholding of information
in organizational committees affext quality of group decision making? In 9th European
Conference on Knowledge Management., 2008.

McLean, A. & Marshall, J., 1993. Intervening in Cultures. University of Bath.

MindTools, n.d. Blake Mouton Managerial Grid. [Online] Available at:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_73.htm [Accessed 16 June 2012].

MindTools, n.d. Introduction to Communication Skills. [Online] Available at:
http://mindtools.com/CommSkll/CommunicationIntro.htm [Accessed 18 June 2012].

Mullins, L.J., 2005. Management and Organisational Behaviour. 7th ed. Financial Times
Pitman Publishing Imprint.

Thirlwall, A., 2012. Communication and Influencing. In ECM62BUS Organisational
Behaviour and HRM. unpublished ed. Emirates Aviation College.

Thirlwall, A., 2012. What is organisational behaviour? In ECM62BUS Organisational
Behaviour and HRM. unpublished ed. Emirates Aviation College.

Wikipedia, n.d. Groupthink. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink
[Accessed 22 June 2012].

Wolfson, B., 1998. Train, retain and motivate staff. Management Today, p.5.

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