Week three homework

1. Week Three Case Discussion

Overview of the Case:

It is described as a classic “Prima Donna” doctors vs. nurses and staff situation. It is a typical hospital (even academic) scenario of the battle between the highly educated specialists bringing in the work and doing the work and those supporting them. On the physicians side there is a newly appointed, representative chief of surgery, Don, who is at war with Mary, the 13-year veteran OR director. Mary has been working at Lincoln for 13 years, getting the job done with no complaints and no nonsense. Not only are Don and Mary at war but their respective staff’s are described as being at odds as well.

A third party is invited in to intervene and interviews Don, Mary, and their respective staff. The interviews reveal a lot of finger pointing and a lot of blaming the problem on one person or one group (i.e., the physicians or the nurses). The practitioner decides the conflict between the leaders was the root of the more systemic problem. The intervention chosen was third party conflict resolution.

Meetings were conducted with Don and Mary separately to provide their answers to three questions to the third party. The questions were:

1. What does he or she do well?
2. What do I think I do that bugs him or her?
3. What does he or she do that bugs me?

The mere act of answering the question seems to soften each towards understanding their part in the problem. Then they share their answers with each other with the practitioner present. Hearing the answer to the first question of what they did well softens them further and paves the way to resolve their differences. The two then agree on changes they were willing to make to their own behavior and practices and agreed on ways to support the other to be successful. Three VP’s were present along with the practitioner and the two leaders and agreements were documented. Four periodic meetings were scheduled after this with all six involved to assess progress. Significant improvement was noted.

Is third-party intervention an appropriate intervention in this case? Other possible OD interventions?

2. Week Three Assignment – PowerPoint Questions
   1. What are the major diagnostic activities of the OD practitioner?
   2. Explain what an “intervention” is and how it fits into the organizational development process. What are the key considerations when deciding on an intervention?
   3. Describe the key elements of an effective change management program.
   4. What are the two kinds of feedback involved in evaluation and what do they tell us?

Week four homework

1. Week Four Case Discussion

Overview of the case:

In an effort to stem declining service department revenues and low customer satisfaction index (CSI) ratings, Bob Deshane, the Service Director of Sharpe BMW had devised a new plan that changes the way service technicians are compensated. The plan calls for a bonus to be paid to service technicians when they perform a repair job that is covered by manufacturer’s warranty. Because warranty jobs pay a technician less than repair jobs paid for by the customer, Deshane hopes that the bonus plan will motivate technicians to perform warranty jobs well so that the dealership’s CSI ratings will go up. The task of implementing the bonus plan falls to Tom Dunn, the newly appointed Service Manager. Dunn has to come up with a detailed plan to implement this organizational change.

What do you see as the pros and cons of the proposed bonus plan?

2. Week Four Assignment – PowerPoint Questions

1. Discuss the performance management model. How does performance management relate to employee involvement and work design?
2. Describe the four career stages discussed in this chapter. Discuss how various individual employee development interventions might apply to each stage.
3. Discuss methods to diagnose employee stress and the specific OD interventions aimed at alleviating it in the workplace.