Week 2 Assignment 1. CASE STUDY: APPLYING ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
Consider the following Quantum Leap Marketing Partners case study.
Quantum Leap Marketing Partners is a small, privately held firm with 30 employees that provides marketing consulting, advertising, and digital marketing services. The company’s founder, John Thomas, was recently ousted by the other partners, and the firm barely survived this change of leadership. Everyone in the company is anxious and the culture is “dis-eased.” Employees tend to keep their heads down, stay quiet, and try to go unnoticed for fear of losing their jobs. Many employees forego lunch and breaks so as not appear like “slackers.” Infighting is high as employees seek to ensure their own job security. Frankly, they seem depressed and unwell.
The new managing partner, Stan Simons, is very concerned about low morale, attrition, and lack of motivation. Clients are also expressing their concerns and a few who were loyal to the founder have left the firm. Employee attitude cannot sink any lower, nor can the firm afford to lose any more clients. The partners fear they may be losing control of the organization.
This case study presents a complex situation with multiple layers of organizational and behavioral dysfunction. You will likely see that many of the OD theories you read about this week can provide a framework through which you can identify and understand what is currently happening at this firm. Do you believe that different theories may provide varying insight? Which theories do you believe would be most helpful in clarifying, understanding, and mitigating the situation?
To prepare:
· Review the Quantum Leap Marketing Partners case study in light of this week’s Learning Resources.
· Consider which theories might explain the issues faced by the organization.
· How might the theories covered in this week’s learning resources be applied to mitigate these issues?
Resources
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
· Anderson, C. A., & Zaballero, A. G. (2015).
Organization development and change models
Links to an external site.
. In W. J. Rothwell (Ed.), Organization development fundamentals: Managing strategic change. ATD Press.
· Asumeng, M. A., & Osae-Larbi, J. A. (2015).
Organization Development Models: A critical review and implications for creating learning organizations
Download Organization Development Models: A critical review and implications for creating learning organizations. European Journal of Training and Development Studies, 2(3), 29–43. Retrieved from
· Austin, J. R., & Bartunek, J. M. (2012).
Organizational change and development: In practice and in theory
Links to an external site.
. In N. W. Schmitt, S. Highhouse, & I. B. Weiner (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Volume 12 industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 390–411). Wiley.
· Haynes, C. (2015).
Special issues in organization development
Links to an external site.
. In W. J. Rothwell (Ed.), Organization development fundamentals: Managing strategic change. ATD Press.
· Lynham, S. A., Chermack, T. J., & Noggle, M. A. (2004).
Selecting organization development theory from an HRD perspective
Links to an external site.
. Human Resource Development Review, 3(2), 151–172.
· Park, C. H. (2015).
The organization development process
Links to an external site.
. In W. J. Rothwell (Ed.), Organization development fundamentals: Managing strategic change. ATD Press.
· Swann, A. (2018). Getting grips with the basics. In The Human workplace: People-centred organization development (pp. 12–41). Kogan Page.
· Swann, A. (2018). Building your structure. In The Human workplace: People-centred organization development (pp. 42–71). Kogan Page.
citations must come
only from the current week’s learning resources
INSTRUCTIONS:
Submit a 2- to 3- page paper written in APA7 format and style in which you analyze and discuss which theories help explain the current issues that the Quantum Leap Marketing Partners organization is facing, and which theories could be used to help address and mitigate these issues.
Support your Assignment with references to recent (within the last 5 years) peer-reviewed, scholarly sources and this week’s Learning Resources.
