Org. Dev.docx

Analyzing Opportunities for Organizational Development Work at Northern County Legal Services Donald L. Anderson (2015). Organization development: the process of leading organizational change

1. What is it like to work in this environment? How do you respond to Julie as a leader? Compare Julie as a leader with some of the descriptions of leadership styles. Northern County Legal Services (NCLS) is a non-profit organization who assisted people that cannot afford for legal counsel or a lawyer. The service is mostly free to clients, thus, funding is highly required for the organization to continue its services, and it can be noted that funding is indeed an issue for NCLS. The office located outside a downtown district is small and crowded with no air-conditioning system. The setup is taking up walk-in clients and also accepting appointments at the same time with no organized time and duration for each service. This resulted to longer queues for the walkin clients and also delays in appointment time for scheduled clients. To work in this environment can be stressful and demanding. There is no proper orientation and training which resulted to repetitive questions regarding the task which is very much frustrating. There is a staggered or no growth in terms of work since the tasks are repetitive and there is little or no chance of making a decision due to lack of delegation and trust of the manager. Moreover, there is a mismatched of specialization since there are some tasks assigned to the employees which they don’t specialized. Julie, as a leader, I can say that she is somewhat authoritative. I can sense that she doesn’t have a trust to her subordinates. She also lacks organization skills which include creating and keeping deadlines, delegation, managing appointments, making schedules, project management, etc. As a manager, one should be able to delegate and manage tasks

of her subordinate. Moreover, prior to deployment to work, she should properly orient and train her staffs. With regards to her leadership styles, I could compare the leadership styles of Julie as exploitative authoritative. The staffs are not involved in the decision-making process. The superior has no trust and confidence in his subordinate and imposes decisions on him leaving no room for further discussions. Most of the decisions are coming from Julie and she is only concerned with the completion of work. It can also be noted that the discussion is not very participatory and there is minimal involvement from the team members.

2. What organizational, team, and individual problems can you identify? What opportunities for organization development work do you see? a. Organizational Problems 

No formalize training and orientation prior to deployment

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No proper work delegation and assignment

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Goals are not properly communicated to team members

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Procedures in the organization particularly on the intake of clients is not systematic and were not followed and monitored thoroughly

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Physical working environment is not very conducive

The organization should revisit the setup, structure, processes and polices to be able to minimize or resolve these organizational problems. The organization should constantly review the processes and procedures, and make necessary changes and improvements to be flexible with the demand. Training and development should be in

place, and the job description and specification should be properly communicated. Moreover, the physical working environment should be improved so that the members can work effectively and efficiently.

b. Team Problems 

Members cannot freely and openly express their thoughts and suggestions

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Lack of feed-backing schemes

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Minimal communication between group

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The team is disorganized and poor collaboration

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Unmotivated or don't demonstrate initiative

In problems mentioned above, it's important to encourage ideas from every team member, and not only the manager or one team member will dominate the conversation/meeting. In addition, the manager should provide for the opportunity for the members to speak up and voice their opinions. Further, for the team to continue, clear goals must be set as a starting phase of the organization, and objectives and directions must be determined.

c. Individual Problems 

The members/staffs cannot feel the sense of ownership and fulfilment in their respective tasks

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There is a mismatched of specializations or job fit

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Serving multiple functions at the same time since there is no proper management or assignment of specific tasks

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Lack of motivation and job satisfaction

The organization could make a standardized position with specific tasks mentioned and assign the employees based on his/her specialization. This will increase employee involvement and engagement. The members may agree to follow an improvement plan with specific goals for to reach, with periodic meetings or performance reviews. Moreover, proper segregation of duties and tasks to avoid mismatched of specialties of each employee.

3. How do the opportunities you have identified illustrate the values and ethical beliefs of organization development identified in this chapter? The initiatives identified for organization development helps in building and maintaining the function, development and growth of the organization. It posits that participation, involvement and empowerment of the members of the organization play a vital role in the success of organizational development and that there is a benefit of involving all organizational members in decision-making and change processes. Allowing an individual to be actively part of the organization makes them feel important and become committed to the organization which will eventually increase the effectiveness of the organization in terms of all of its goals. Moreover, the determining the importance of groups and teams contributes most effectively to the organization. By providing opportunities for each organization member, as well as for the organization itself will help develop to the full potential of the member which will in turn help the team in achieving its goals and will contribute to the overall performance.

With regards to the current setup of the organization, the opportunities identified will help in improving the processes of organization as well as the way of doing their business. This will help in the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. Through improving the process on the client handling particularly on the acceptance of clients through appointments and walk-ins, the organization will minimize or resolve concerns of the clients and the handling of the employees will also improve. This initiative will require the analysis of the current setup of the organization with the help of the members by also raising their concerns regarding the current process, and suggest for ways on how to improve.