Assessment 2 & 3: ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’: Political dynamics of implementing change
Overview:
As consultant to the board and executive management you have been tasked with providing recommendations on the future of the organization. Assessment 1 provided you with an overview of the structural components of the organizations design and environment based on organizational theories. This assessment focusses on the ‘practice’ or ‘doing’ of strategy and change with a focus on a) analyzing the people and culture within your case organization, b) considering ‘how’ and ‘why’ change is necessary and c) deciding how to communicate these messages appropriately to senior management and the board of directors. In particular, you are to assess the power, politics and leadership within the organization and analyze the influence these factors have on decision making and culture. The purpose of this assessment is to make practical recommendations based on the theoretical foundations you have learnt within this unit. Whilst the focus of this assessment is on modules five and six, you are expected to ‘join the dots’ to earlier modules and link theory to practical implications for the organization via clear recommendations supported by logical rationales. In addition to the content outlined below you are expected to update your executive summary, introduction and conclusion and to reflect the entire range of content for both assessments.
Part 1 Module Content – 1500 words
Module 5: Power, politics and conflict in sport
13. Critically analyze the sources of individual power (i.e. of a board member or CEO) and organizational power in your case organization.
a. How is power legitimized or delegitimized within the organization?
14. How does your role as a consultant influence power and politics within the organization?
15. Analyze the political landscape of the organization. How does your case organization leverage political networks to produce organizational outcomes?
16. Identify cases of conflict in your organization.
a. Choose one incident and explain the process in which conflict manifested itself in the organization?
b. What were the sources of conflict?
c. What strategies were used to manage conflict?
Module 6: Organizational Culture and Decision Making: The leadership imperative
17. What is decision making? Explain the conditions under which decisions are made in your organization.
a. Using an example from your organization, explain the differences between the rational model and the administrative model (bounded rationality) of individual decision making?
18. What is organizational culture? Explain how culture manifests itself in your organization. Provide examples.
19. Peter Drucker once stated ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ – do you agree with this statement, provide justifications for why or why not.
20. How is the organizations culture managed? Does the organizations culture need changing? If so, why and how?
21. Select a behavioral approach to leadership and use it to explain a prominent leader within your organizations senior management or board.
a. How does this leadership facilitate and/or hinder the organization (e.g. culture, strategy, change, inclusion)?
Part 2 Recommendations, Rationale and Implications – 1500 Words
Based on the situational and cultural analyses of your case organization select 3 key recommendations for the organization to guide them toward their organizational goals in the next 3 years. You are to provide the board of directors and senior management with a clear rationale(s) (i.e. a clear and logical set of reasons supported by evidence for the actions you suggested to the organization) for each recommendation. As an extension of this rationale you are to detail the anticipated implications, or outcomes, the organization can expect from implementing these recommendations. Throughout this section you should consider the pro’s and con’s of the implementation process as well as the outcomes. Each set of recommendation-rationale-implication should consist of approximately 600-700 words and link theories, models and concepts to actionable outcomes for the organization.