Application Essay: Organization Development and Change

This course's application essay involves identifying a problem that is amenable to analysis and possible correction using the principles of organization development and change. The result should constitute a first step toward carrying out an actual change initiative in your organization, if feasible, or in a prior organization in which you have experience, if applicable.

A feasible problem may involve any structural or processural characteristic that seems to merit improvement. In selecting a feature of interest, consider potential problems of quality, process integrity, structure, communication practices, leadership (e.g., leader-member exchange), team functioning (e.g., team member exchange), or employee knowledge, skills, or abilities. Your case will constitute abona fideexample of organization development and change if the intervention considers multiple domains of organizational functioning (i.e., as depicted in the Six-Box model or 7-S framework) and is therefore consistent with a systems approach to organization change.

Your selected problem may be large or small in scope. It may involve the entire organization, a division, a department, a production or support unit, a team structure, or a single job. Note the three primarily levels of analysis in this disciplinary field: (a) the organization level; (b) the group or team level; and (c) the level of the individual job (hence a job design intervention).

The executive summary is the same as an abstract, but with a managerial audience in mind. After the abstract, include the following sections (at least one paragraph per section or subsection):

Introduction(no header). Describe the organization, its mission, and its market or purpose. Identify the feature to improve. Explain why the proposed improvement is necessary.

Analysis(primary section header). Subsections (secondary section headers) as follows:

Strategic analysis. Perform a SWOT analysis. Start with a PEST analysis, followed by industry KSFs, and finally your identification of strengths and weaknesses.

Diagnostic model. Select either the 6-Box model or the 7-S framework. Start with thelocus(location) of your feature of interest (i.e., the problem). Then review how this feature affects other components or is subject to any effects from those other components.

Structural dilemmas. Describe your organization in terms of Bolman and Deal's (1984) six structure dilemmas. Review how each dilemma may affect the feature of interest.

Formulation(primary section header). Conclude by justifying a strategy to solve the problem. Your strategy may address any functional area (e.g., supply chain management, human-resource management, logistics, operations, or marketing). Refrain from addressing implementation.

Standards.