An advanced test for Organization Developers

  1. A company that installs its products before it develops them has approached you to in order to understand how OD can support their business. What are the major issues you want to emphasize in your 15 minute introductory meeting?
  2. A US based company acquired a development centre in a country in which  the culture shows respect towards elder people and women are generally in junior administrative roles. The boss of the acquired site will be a 29 year old Canadian female with a PhD from a leading university, who will manage the site remotely from Vancouver. She (the boss) has asked to meet with you for “cultural tips”.
  3. A Boston based company is about to launch an “anti-mansplaining” campaign in all 12 countries  (including Japan and Malaysia) in which the company  operates. The Human Resources Board Committee of the Board wants an OD consultant to provide a sanity check on the idea. Your approach?
  4. Frank manages a group of chemists and physicists PhDs who have a very poor level of coordination. Frank has decided that “working from home” is banned starting March 2025. The board has mandated that Frank implement his plan with an OD consultant. Your approach?

 

 

Share Button

4 thoughts on “An advanced test for Organization Developers

  1. Noodling here to get at where you may see OD and where you may see localised role, team or interpersonal interventions.

    1. How do you see your competitive advantage being sustainable if your clients understand your delivery model? What will it take to be effective in your current posture and how do you rate your organisation’s capabilities in translating client requirements into product developments of the future? If you anticipate learning and development challenges that may come in the way of relating to your clients and their options vis-a-vis your competition, how do you reckon being independent of an OD consultant, and by when?

    2. Which aspects of your role do you consider vulnerable in terms of its viability from a Vancouver perspective? How do you reason your choices in your role, light of a joining of forces between the acquired workforce and the host company you represent? Now, among these, which aspects do you attribute to culture and which aspects relate to ‘tasks’ central to your role with regard to development center of your remote site? How would you know that the dimensions you will confront in your role are to work with the culture and less with the tasks that the acquired workforce have been hired for? Now, what aspects would you signify to me, if the scope may mean you enlist support of both your top management AND your remote site leadership in order to make your role effective?

    3. Now that you’ve got transnational operations already, what set off this concern, that mansplaining has a systemic root across your company’s international work sites? When specifically did you sense this concern first? What may you be considering as even more important than established norms and operationalised HR policies, that you wish to seek an external opinion? What does the concern as a symptom indicate to you for HR and for business per se?

    4. What are the review processes that are considered acceptable already among your chemists and physicists? When it comes to interactional processes in non-review situations (where you are absent) how do you know that coordination has a ‘contact’ or ‘experiential’ component that your staff dread or wish to avoid with each other? Which other roles in the company get affected adversely due to this tendency? How do you typically deal with these roles, when your scientists have not yielded desired outcomes for your company? What in these questions may point to a potential goal, role and procedure review for you and your team, before you transition to March 2025?

  2. 1. Their strategy on the face of it sounds stupid (but consistent with the IT industry, that often goes live regardless of whether the product is really ready). Have they considered that it might be stupid? Strategy aside, I could help them with the performance of their product development (they are installing something) and with organizing their IT swat team that is going to the develop the product once it is in place. That would include structured rapid input from the end users.
    2. Your better get with the people where they are and pay your respects by allowing them to influence the direction of the company. Maybe bring an old guy along with you.
    3. Teach a critical mass starting with the leadership how to have effective conversations about work while they address actual work issues.
    4. Clarify the desired outcomes in terms of measurable goals and then work with every reporting relationship group to understand the goals and generate actions towards achieving them. Stay alert for the need for cross-functional and group to group conversations and insist that they occur and produce measurable standards (such as our dept will engage dept X at step 3 in the development process prior to proceeding to step 4, etc.).

    • Interesting Gil and very sharp.
      Ok 1…i don’t think it’s stupid… It works for entire industries. At least as long as they catch up quickly and maintain technological edge

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.