Organization Development and Change - Essay Example

MILESTONE: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION of the organization I used to be employed with an organization that teaches the English language online to non-native speakers. The company’s main office was located in Southeast Asia and its clientele were mostly Asians. It provided English language learning to learners of all ages and kinds; i.e., all levels of students, professionals, housewives, etc. Unlike the traditional method of acquiring a second or third language in a classroom set-up with other learners, the company provided one-on-one teaching using Skype’s video call feature and provided the textbooks in PDF form to both student and teacher.

There is a marketing office which is tasked to employ marketing techniques to get people to enroll in a class or classes. Courses offered varied from Basic English to special-type classes like IELTS or TOEIC. Teaching positions are open to anyone who can speak English fluently, has stable Internet connection and can work within the offered class hours. Weekly, teachers would plot their own schedules; that is, select the times they can be online and provide classes. I did not work for the company for a long time because the teaching hours took its toll on me.

Although I only worked whenever a student would book a lesson with me, the knowledge that someone was waiting for me at a set time became a source of stress because when something came up at school or at home, I would worry about my online class. Also, there were instances when I would adjust my other tasks around my online class but then the class would be cancelled at the last minute. This left me disappointed since if I had known earlier about having no class, I could have scheduled other tasks during those hours.

Overall, the experience was a good one though as, through my students I learned tidbits about the culture and life in Korea and China. Context of the problem and the explanation I can say the company has a few problems. Based on the Weisbord Six-Box Model, (Weisbord, M., 1976), my previous employer’s problems had to do with Structure, Leadership and Rewards. As per Structure, there were really just one or two persons who interacted with the online teachers and these were not the ones with authority to make decisions.

So, whenever I had problems with, for example, students or schedules the resolution would take a while and then it was only temporary because when the same thing happens again, there would be a different solution. The next problem would be in Rewards. There was really no such thing as rewards in the organization, I believe. Teachers were only given their compensation. There was no bonus if the teacher was able to acquire enrollees or if there was good feedback for the teacher from his or her students.

I was waiting for any token of appreciation, even virtual like a star or points, but I did not get anything. Lastly, I think it ultimately boils down to a problem with Leadership. As I gathered from people at the main office, the operations manager was not very hands-on and his decisions were not the best most of the time. This would explain why the problems were not resolved with efficiency and why the other teachers had good things to say only about their immediate supervisor, the head teacher.

I still had the same issues weeks before I left the company. The purpose of the business is sound as well as the relationship among the teachers who are really the income generators and the head teacher. It is unfortunate that the problems boil down to the leadership skills of the operations manager since, from what I know, everything would flow smoothly if there is good leadership. (Cummings, T. & Worley, C., 2008)Reference:Cummings, T. & Worley, C., 2008). Organization Development & Change (9th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Weisbord, M. (1976). Organizational Diagnosis: Six Places to Look for Trouble with or without Theory. Group & Organization Studies, 1 (4), 430-447.