Kenworth Motors Assignment help
INTRODUCTION
Denton invited consultant to his office for meeting, the consultant had not done any home work before coming for the meeting, however consultant should always come prepared before meeting potential client. He had no focused agenda for the meeting and knew little about the firm; therefore he just came and talked to the client (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
The client himself was not clear about the problem that he was facing at Kenworth; however he was motivated and enthusiastic individual. He was well versed about everything going on in the company and thought that everything was going good. He informed consultant about various things at the company like the daily production rates, cost, sales, department heads and much more. He gave very factual information to the consultant. The only concern that he showed was that he thought everyone at the firm had not “jelled together as a team”.
Also both the parties had a positive attitude toward everything; however the case shows an ineffective way of consulting. Although, the first meeting went well and they decided to keep a modest retreat, to identify the problem, the consultant did not have any plan of how the retreat would help their problems and there was no sufficient time (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
BRIEF SUMMARY
Denton is the plant manager for Kenworth Motors Settle truck manufacturing operations, for last eight months; he contacts the consultant over the telephone and invites him to visit. The consultant was suggested by Charlie who was consultant’s client. Since the consultant lived far away they decided to meet after three weeks, however consultant had not done any home work before coming for the meeting, he had no focused agenda for the meeting and even did not knew much about the firm however it was an opportunity for the consultant. Finally both the parties meet and try to find out the problem. Denton explained that everything was good and in shape. They decided to keep a communication workshop after 1 and a half month for effective problem identification (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
CASE STUDY QUESTIONS
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How well did the OD Consultant prepare for the meeting with Denton? Would you have done anything differently?
In my opinion OD consultant was not well prepared for the meeting with Denton, as mentioned in the case he had no focused agenda for the meeting and knew little about the firm. Moreover in the case it is clearly mentioned that he was about to talk to a man and go to a firm that he knew nothing much about. Firstly the consultant was busy with many other things that he kept meeting after three weeks; additionally he intentionally waited until his travel time to think about the meeting. He did not collect any background information, financial information or any other information about the company. Being a consultant, I would have prepared well before the appointment, as I did not knew much about the firm. I would have done research about Kenworth motors and about Denton. Specifically I would have done some preliminary research about the company; shed light on nature of organization’s functioning, made an agenda for the meeting and submitted a proposal report to Denton about what can be done. Additionally I would have contacted Charlie, who suggested my name to Denton; I would have inquired why my name was given. Also I would have created a list of questions for the meeting.
Burke (1982) explained that research is important for organizational development, and hence I would have done research for sure. Furthermore Tushman & O’Reilly (1996) explain that, organizational and management skills are required to manage change in order to compete in a market, which is very right even in this scenario.
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In the discussion between OD consultant and Denton, what was effective and ineffective about the consultant’s behavior?
Lippitt (1997) explained, OD Practitioner Selection Criteria that shows OD consultant should have, interpersonal skills, degree of focus, skills relative to the task, clarity of role and outcome, professional status and association memberships, client references and demonstrable previous success in OD roles.
His behavior was effective in a way that he had interpersonal skills, as he asked Denton first about the plant and production, after which Denton was able to give him sufficient information. OD consultant was able to learn some things about firm that he did not knew. They were able to communicate effectively with one another also both had a positive attitude.
The consultant’s behavior was ineffective in a way that he was unable to focus as mentioned in the case he said, that he was not quite sure about anything…. However he felt things have not jelled together as a team. Moreover real development occurs when an organisation works actively with a change agent (Beer, 1980).
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How effective was the contracting process described in the last part of the case? What is the scope and clarity of the argument?
The contracting process described in the last part of the case is not effective; OD consultant was not sure about anything and suggested a modest retreat, which was a communication workshop. The agenda of the workshop was to identify the problem. The idea was to meet somewhere else, may be in a country club or lodge and sit together outside of business environment to find out the main issues. Since nothing was written, I find it ineffective. The argument was not clear as OD consultant himself was not clear and had no plan. Different things are involved in bringing about change, it is very important to effectively and clearly bring the change ( Marshak, 2005).
As explained in chapter 3, contract must be made once a consultant has been finalized, as it gives focus for the process, establish mutual expectations and ground rules. Being external change agent it is very important to develop the contract (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
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How would you design the upcoming retreat?
I would start with the research about the company, in order to develop the focused agenda for the communication workshop. Then I would have developed a contract in order to mutually decide on the expectations, as it is a crucial step.
Additionally, I would have met some employees working at the company as employees might know something that both parties are missing out right now. Furthermore there are various sources of resistance at various stages of change implementation (Pardo del Val and Martinez Fuentes, 2013, Table 4.2) hence all of them will be identified.
Change management model is an effective way of managing change in any organization and hence that will be used to come up with an effective design for the upcoming retreat (Philips, 1983). It is very important that communication workshop is designed carefully by keeping the objectives of the retreat in mind. It will require extensive planning and homework.
