Case Study Kenworth

Question 1

The OD consultant prepared herself by “on the open road”, which allowed her mentally to prepare herself, matching the skills with Denton, and by focusing on voice cues, his title, and his job tenure. As an OD consultant, I would have researched the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) because it would have told me the vision of Kenworth Motors and key areas of concerns such as the well being of its employees.  Lastly, I would concentrate on having the right energy when meeting with the client for the first time and having no nagging thoughts of disbelief.

Question 2

After listening to Denton, the OD was effective by grasping the nature of the problem through asking more detailed questions, as everything seemed to be going well.  The OD consultant immediately told him about her schedule for the coming months and her intuition that probably nothing major was wrong with Denton’s managers.  As a consultant and after interviewing the principal regarding the situation, you could find out why the things are going well or poorly and build upon the evaluation to make things easier for Denton to focus on possible changes.  

Question 3

After her mini-assessment of the situation, the OD consultant used a team management process to understand the team, assess strengths and weaknesses to enhance effectiveness, and affirm the value of each manager’s unique contributions.  The scope and clarity of the agreement is an intervention of leadership development to enhance motivation, cross unit work experiences, to define the purpose of working groups (to address any issues that may arise), and to sustain innovation and engagement amongst Denton’s managers.

Question 4

A well-organized retreat for your management team has the potential to rejuvenate the team of managers and Kenworth Motors. I would design the upcoming retreat to strategize planning and to encourage action-focused decision making to improve morale and teamwork across the management team by the following:

• Decide on what I want the retreat to accomplish by asking 1) What specific issues or topics to discuss, and 2) What has to happen in order for this management retreat to be called a success?
• Name the employee retreat teams--this will make the managers feel appreciated and important and will recognize their leadership.
• Establish areas for discussion and define objectives by selecting no more than three topics for discussion to set a focused agenda.
• Distribute materials for review by managers to come prepared to share their thoughts on the distributed material.
• Decide on the best place for the retreat such as a different atmosphere from the location of daily business.
• Consider alternate formats for the retreat:  arrival; early dinner; each team given an assignment will work together for 30 minutes; deliver information; and on the last day-discuss conclusions, action plans, and decisions made.
• Place ground-rules for the retreat, and then provide ideas, guide accomplishment of retreat goals, discuss conflicts that may arise, encourage sharing of ideas, and provide opportunities for successful outcome.
• Refrain from any money rewards outcome, instead using the retreat time for problem solving and sharing of ideas.
• There would be follow through after the retreat by preparing and sharing final decisions made and making appropriate follow-up assignments.
• Ask candid questions to the participants such as “How can we improve our next meeting?” should be proposed as part of evaluation of the retreat.

Reference

Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C.G. (2015).  Organization Development & Change. (10th ed).  Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.