Free «Kenworth Motors Case Study» Essay Sample

Preparation of OD Consultant

The OD consultant has analyzed his potential before the meeting with a possible partner and client. Since the sphere of conversation has been related to organizational development, the expert pondered the possibility of helping Denton in this area. Having the three-year experience of cooperation with Kenworth Motors' project dedicated to its development in the past, the OD consultant thought how far his reputation would serve as a successful contributor after efficient boosting his former client's business, and what good Denton could hear about the consultant's abilities and competencies. The prehistory to meeting Denton and mastering the issue was a small superficial analysis of the company, the manager of which was hesitant about its further growth. In parallel with this, the consultant had his own considerations regarding the potential concern and its surrounding circumstances. The expert gave the meeting some prospects for his professional interest, so he pondered on Denton's personality. The OD consultant set forth the criteria for cooperation, according to which he expected to see the real work, effective use of working time, and a clear allocation of roles.

The OD consultant was not efficient enough and not fully prepared for the meeting despite the certainty in the vision of his role and requirements to the interlocutor. Although the phone call intrigued the expert, he did not carry out an in-depth analysis to find out more about the problem, environment or the background of Kenworth Motors. Even with the use of observational skills and psychological techniques of recognizing individual characteristics, the OD consultant only touched superficially the history of design and organizational development. Although the expert himself had little information about the problem in the company, he did not show any professional interest in studying current affairs in the business entity. In addition, preliminary conclusions of the consultant about the future meeting depended on the terms of the further transaction or Denton's personality and competence.

Doing Differently

After appealing of the company manager and his driven suspicion regarding the success of operational and organizational development of Kenworth Motors, more could be done for better preparation and clarification of the issue. This is evidenced by a too short time spent on the meeting and the identification of primary proposals for the OD consultation. However, it is necessary to pay tribute to the fact that the consultant listed all the spheres of the organizational environment where suspicions that something is going wrong could emerge. The expert showed here the knowledge of organizational design, which helped to carry out the initial superficial analysis of the organization (Cummings & Worley, 2015). It was possible to identify similar theories or suggest involving specialists of the company. This gave more results for the further consideration of the issue.

If considering that the consultant with a high recommendation of his reputation should have been more professional, then one would really have done differently. For example, the OD expert could analyze and formulate the obvious weaknesses of the company. Alternatively, he could draw up a preliminary list of criteria for interviewing Denton, as the manager who us well informed about all the socio-economic aspects of Kenworth Motors. By interpreting the knowledge of conflict management and system dynamics, the consultant could pre-analyze the financial performance of the company or possible problems with management (Rothwell, Stavros, Sullivan, & Sullivan, 2009). If the expert was a far-sighted or fortified enough to identify the dimensions of organizational development, he would give Denton some criteria for assessing current state of the business entity. In addition, it would be possible to prepare questions about internal interpersonal relations and ethics, which would reduce the search for solutions when meeting. Already then, it could pass in an unofficial place.

Effective and Ineffective in Consultant’s Behavior

Despite some omissions in the preparation for the meeting, the consultant’s behavior had several effective sides. Thus, the OD specialist admitted and promoted open communications. He agreed to meet and discuss the concerned outcomes of Kenworth Motors. This step enabled Denton to rely and ask for professional advice. Moreover, the OD specialist offered the company’s manager to involve his employees in unofficial discussion. Detailed and relatively in-depth examination of the company's internal features through Denton’s survey enabled the OD consultant to form an initial impression of how well the business entity is doing. Therefore, he established internal interdependencies between various elements of organizational design.

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Due to considerable experience in the team, the specialist could have formed a plan for future actions and adjustments more effectively, the absence of which at the meeting stage was inefficient. The OD consultant paid significant attention to internal expectations and comparisons based on the former experience of project management instead of objective estimation of current situation and initial solutions. It was ineffective to rely on oral responses without appealing to figures. It is expected from the OD specialist to exploit organization research and related tools (Burke & Noumair, 2015). He hastened to offer and organize investigative activities without a deeper quantitative assessment of the company’s performance. This could affect not only the behavior of employees, but premature unrest in the company.

Effectiveness of Contracting Process

The offer of the OD consultant to meet with all the team of managers and discuss the concerned issues of Kenworth Motors was effective but maintained some confused tones. By his own initiative, the OD expert did not provide an opportunity for Denton to develop client capability and initiate changes better (Cummings & Worley, 2015). However, he used interpersonal skills and trust of Denton to offer own terms of contracting. Nevertheless, the consultant addressed the problem of possible power distance through the creation of unofficial conditions for clarifying discussion. He has effectively determined the outcomes of future contracting meetings. In addition, he assured the client of his own responsibility for future negotiated processes.

Scope and Clarity of Agreement

Agreement conditions did not ensure mutual benefits and clear distribution of roles. The OD specialist showed good interpersonal skills but neglected clarifying and detailing actions and expected outcomes of such agreement. Instead, the latter clarified only three-day compensation of the OD consultant and creation of conditions for the next meeting for retreat. Surely, the agreement lacked the agreed aspects of the work as the final outcomes of the consultant's work, ethical issues, the clarified questions for interviews with employees, further cooperation circumstances, and other terms. The scope of the arrangement was also small to clarify and reveal any problems. In total, a weekend or three days paid to the consultant without conducted a quantitative analysis and developed research methodology would be extremely inefficient.

Design of Upcoming Retreat

Design of the upcoming retreat should follow the path forward. The retreat purpose and mission of such collaboration with outsourced consulting should be clearly determined to meet expectations, find solutions, and avoid complaints. The retreat purpose would indicate its objectives, design, outcomes, informational sources, and contributors. Next, the manager should enlist and resolve internal conflicts in interpersonal relationships and organizational aspects to ensure some sense of objectivity and neutrality in delivering organizational information (Cummings & Worley, 2015). The facilitator, like the OD consultant, should have clearly determined functions and limit of intervention in the company’s affairs, despite of trust and respect showed by the manager. One of the most important aspects is the research design reflected in outcomes and future managerial decisions.

Any concern should be checked by various methods and clearly determined agenda. Involvement of the outside expert should be supported by the identified salient issues, time schedule, sample of participants, analysis of their roles and influences, and the methods of interviews. The retreat should be based on applicable and adjusted methodology. It would be effective to engage diverse labor, from the CEO to technical personnel aware of the company from ongoing operations (Liteman, Campbell, & Liteman, 2012). Retreat would be efficient when choosing sites of immediate surveys and of examination of the company’s performance. The sequence and context of the retreat should be formalized and documented.