Organizational Behavior and Human esources Management of DSS Consulting Company - Case Study Example

DSS Consulting Company – OB and HRM The DSS Consulting Company provides administrative Information technology support for the school districts of mid-western USA. The Company’s IT department has been organized into various cross-sectional teams under different leaders. The Southwest Region team of DSS’s IT department under the leadership of Chris Peterson was working on an integration project. However, after putting in months of hard work, the company decided to abandon the project in the implementation stage. This paper has tried to analyze the operations of the Southwest Region IT team from the point of view of Organizational Behavior Theory and Human resources Management Theory. It has highlighted the strong points as well as the weak points of the team and presented a recommendation for the team’s future strategy. DSS Consulting Company DSS Consulting was established in the USA in 1997 as an administrative support firm. Its primary objective consisted of providing organizational support to the local school districts located in the mid-western part of USA and also the mountain west region of the country. The company had been formed by three retired administrators of the local school districts. The local school districts of this region used to employ a limited number of staff who were not well equipped to deal with the various administrative problems faced by the educational institutions. The three founders of the DSS Consulting had already spent long years in the service of their respective institutions and by the time they founded the company, all of them had completed their years in service. However, experienced as they were, they were quick to realize the various administrative difficulties encountered by the modern schools. This was especially applicable in the case of the small local district schools which usually had limited staff members to deal with the multifarious organizational difficulties. The district administrators realized the need of a separate firm which could lend administrative support to these local district schools. This was the objective behind the setting up of the DSS Consulting Company. (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.1-2) DSS helped the district schools in negotiating agreements with the labor organizations, establishing their independent procurement system and so on. During the latter half of the 1990s decade, the local school districts encountered more complex administrative challenges. They were also put under pressure to curtail the costs of administration. DSS viewed this as an opportunity to showcase its potentials and tried to help these schools in all possible ways. As the schools benefitted from DSS’s expertise, the company used this opportunity to expand its operations. As the firm grew externally, DSS also organized its internal operations into four main practice departments: Procurement and Systems, Information Technology, Contract Negotiation and Facilities Planning. These departments were equipped with adequate infrastructural and human resources to handle different types of challenges encountered by the local school districts. The founders of DSS had developed reliable networks of contacts during their service tenure and this network helped the company to secure business projects from the various local school districts. A district school wanting to secure the expertise of DSS for a particular project was required to negotiate with the company first. Once DSS was engaged in the project, it assigned the project work to the Head of its respective departments.The departments were decided according to the requirements of the projects. The Department Heads then allocated their departmental consultants to the different functionalities of the projects. (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.1-2) The Southwest Region Team of DSS Consulting Chris Peterson was the leader of the Southwest Region Team of DSS Consulting. Peterson had begun her career a high school teacher of computer and later joined DSS as a consultant in the Information Technology group of the company. He became a team leader in the IT department and was later entrusted with the responsibility of leading the IT department. As an IT team leader Peterson had been required to coordinate among different individuals and assign with appropriate short IT consulting projects. However, his profile changed as the leader of the IT Department. Here he had the opportunity to lead a permanent team instead of a makeshift team assigned on a temporary project. The management of DSS also gave Peterson the complete freedom to formulate and implement his own strategies for the department. The Heads of the Departments were also given the liberty to select their desired human resource for their respective teams. Peterson welcomed this opportunity with both arms for it gave him the freedom of building his own group consisting of the persons whom he wanted to work with. He had in mind three essential criteria for the selection of his team members. First of all he wanted employees who had a proven technical expertise in the IT domain. This was definitely the most essential criteria for being a part of DSS’s IT department. Next, Peterson selected employees who had experience in the company’s consulting practices. This would prove to be invaluable to the overall expertise of the IT department. The experienced consultants would be able to provide the guidelines required to proceed on the future consulting projects. This in turn would help the IT team to operate efficiently and achieve success in their upcoming endeavors. Finally Peterson also realized that he needed employees who could function as responsible team members in the IT departments. Most of the IT projects were handled by individual teams of consultants. Each of these teams again had a team leader to supervise the overall workings of the team. However, it was important for the other members of the team to be cooperative and carry out their duties with responsibility. She also realized that in selecting the members for the IT department it was important for the company to have employees who had an earlier experience of working in a team. This is how Chris Peterson went about choosing the members of his IT Department. She implemented her pans efficient and was able to put together a new team for the company’s IT functionalities. (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3) The theories of the Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management There are quite a number of theories in the field of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management that could be applied in the operations of the Southwest team of the DSS Consulting Company. Below, we give a brief outline of the theories and then present the cases in relation to the theories. The Issues Faced by the Southwest Region Team The Information Technology (IT) Department of DSS Consulting had decided to reorganize itself into cross-functional teams. One such team was designated as the Southwest region team and Chris Peterson was chosen to lead this group. Peterson’s strategy for the Southwest region team was a perfect example of Taylor’s ‘Theory of Scientific Management in OB’. This theory advocated the scientific method for describing the best way for accomplishing a task within an organization. This entailed selecting the appropriate person for the particular task and providing him with the necessary resources, formulating a standardized procedure for accomplishing the task and also providing an economic incentive to the employee for doing the task. Peterson was allowed to select the IT consultants whom she wanted to be a part of her team. She chose two consultants each from three different DSS Departments: Contract Negotiations, Procurement and System and IT, and one consultant from the Facilities Department. Peterson appointed them as members of the Southwest team as she believed they were the right people who could carry out the work-related responsibilities of the team. She also immediately arranged for the necessary provisions to bring the team members to work together.The newly formed Southwest region team sat down together and planned their new project: implementing an integrated system of planning and budgeting for the local school districts. The consultants had observed that the school districts were devoid of a comprehensive IT system that integrated their future plans with the budgets allocated for these plans. Chris’s team then formulated a detailed plan of developing such an integrated system. This plan was put to work at the appropriate time and the team members started working together on the new project. The DSS management ensured that the team employees were adequately compensated for their efforts. Thus,Peterson followed a somewhat scientific approach in building the Southwest region team and directing them to work unanimously towards a common goal (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3; Thirlwal, n.d, pp.18). Chris Peterson, as the leader of the Southwest region team played a proactive role in getting together her team and charting out the course of their work. The principles of Fayol’s“Theory of Administrative Management” can be discerned in Peterson’s efforts in managing her own team.Fayol identified ‘managerial efficiency” to be one of the key components of success in organizational behavior. He recognized managers as the supreme co-coordinating authority of a company. They remain responsible for preventing problems within the organization and thinking of ways of recovering the organization in case it encounters a crisis situation. This theory further distinguished between two levels of managerial activities. The day-to-day managerial responsibilities included the supervising the technical, commercial, financial, accounting security-related issues within a particular group or the within the organization. Apart from this, managers also had a governance responsibility which required the overall monitoring of all these activities. Peterson’s endeavors as the leader of the Southwest region team were instrumental in ensuring the success of the group. When the IT Department of DSS Consulting was restructuring itself, it appointed Chris Peterson as the head of the Southwest region team. Further, Meg Cooke, DSS’s Chief Operating Officer permitted a considerable amount of flexibility to Peterson in selecting the members of her team. Thus, DSS’s management recognized Peterson’s role as the authoritative leader of her team. Peterson was also successful in carrying out the responsibilities bestowed on her. She herself selected the consultants whom she wanted to be a part of her Southwest Region team. She made the necessary arrangements in bringing the team together as soon as possible and organized regular team meetings for the members to get acquainted with one another. On one hand, Peterson regularly supervised the day-to-day activities of the team members while on the other hand, she also kept a check on the overall progress of the group. Thus, Peterson’s managerial efforts contributed significantly towards the success of the Southwest region team. (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-6; Thirlwal, n.d, pp.20). When Chris Peterson set about building the Southwest region team of the IT department, she first selected consultants from four separate DSS departments and approached them to join her team. All the consultants readily obliged and became a part of the new team. Peterson’s strategy of motivating her team members bore resemblance to Maslow’s “Theory of Hierarchy of Needs”. This Theory advocated that the employees of an organization had multifarious needs. For the employees to perform well, their respective needs had to be satisfied according to the level of hierarchy. Staring from the basic level, the organization management is required to cater to the physiological and safety needs of the employees. The workers must have access to basic food and water in the company and feel safe and secure in their workplace. At the second level, the managers are required to satisfy the employees’ needs for belongingness and self-esteem. The workers must feel that they belong to a particular group of the organization. Managers are also required to boost the employees’ self esteem by showing confidence in their abilities. Finally, at the third level, the organization is required to cater to the self-actualization needs of the workers. When the managers trust the employees and assign them with specific duties, the workers feel the need to live up to their full potential and deliver the task at hand. In this way, employees are able to win the acclaim of their managers. Similar to the principles of the theory Chris Peterson had also started motivating her employees by fulfilling their hierarchy of needs. When consultants from other department were gathered together to form the Southwest region team, many of them were skeptical about the ongoing restructuring policy of DSS. Peterson felt that she needed to dispel this apprehension from her team members. She arranged for a new working place for the group and organized regular team meeting to generate a feeling of belongingness among the members. Most of the tea members knew each other from before, although they might not have worked together in the past. This generated a sense of camaraderie among the team and the members set out on their new tasks at hand. Peterson showed confidence in each of the member’s individual abilities. Everyone was allowed to contribute their own opinions towards the planningof the new project. Finally when the new integration project was formulated, all the team members were eager to contribute their best towards the success of the project (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-7; Thirlwal, n.d, pp.22). Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Needs Right from the formation of the Southwest region team, Chris Peterson tried to build the different team members into a cohesive unit. In this respect, her strategy was similar to one of McGregor’s Theories regarding Organizational Behavior. McGregor’s Theory X proposed that usually employees do not like doing work. Thus, the organization management must apply punitive measures to force the employees into working. Gregor’s Theory Y advocated another approach to encourage the employees. According to this theory, the employees do not really dislike working. However, they may have certain reservations which prevent them from giving their best efforts. Gregor advises the company management to develop a team approach with the organization so that employees find pleasure in doing their work. This is exactly what Peterson aimed at when she started building the Southwest region IT team. During the selection process, Peterson made sure that the chosen team members had prior experience of working in a group. Though the members were still employed on other projects, Peterson made the necessary arrangements to bring them together. She also arranged regular team meetings where the members interacted freely with each other. All these generated a strong feeling of unity within the group and encouraged the members to contribute their best towards their respective tasks (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-8; Thirlwal, n.d, pp.23). It is beyond doubt that Chris Peterson’s efforts as the leader of the Southwest region team, made a significant contribution towards the team’s success. Peterson had to perform a variety of roles while carrying out her managerial responsibilities. An explanation of her multifarious functions can be sought in ‘The Contingency Theory of Organizational Behavior’. This theory states that role of the organization management should be contingent upon the individual and environmental situations. The managers were required to take up different roles according to the changes in the organization’s size, the alterations in the production technology, growth in individual differences between the employees and the development of uncertainty in the surrounding environment. These were known as the contingency variables of the organization. Peterson’s role in DSS and the Southwest region team has also changed according to the alterations in the individual and environmental situation of the company. Just after the inception of the Southwest region team, she concentrated on building up a unifying spirit among the team members.Peterson had regular meeting with DSS’s COO Meg Cooke, to update her about the development of the new team. Once this was done, the team consultants got busy formulating their new project plan. During this phase, Peterson tried his best to keep the team focused on working out the details of the new integration plan and not get distracted by other preoccupations. She also started interacting with outside school district administrators to create awareness about DSS’s new upcoming product. As the manager of a contemporary organization, Peterson was required to assume different responsibilities to ensure the success of his team(Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-8; Thirlwal, n.d, pp.24-26). Proposals for the Development of the Southwest Region team The Southwest Region team of the IT Department of DSS Consulting was working towards the development of a new integrated IT system of planning and budgeting for the local school districts. Team leader Chris Peterson and the other team consultants had put in their best efforts to develop the new product and were on the verge of implementing in the various school districts. At this point, DSS’s COO Meg Cooke conveyed to Peterson that the company had decided not to proceed with the project. This naturally came as a shocking news to Chris Peterson (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-8). There were certain intrinsic difficulties in the operations of the Southwest Region team. These proved to be a deterrent in their working processes. Though Peterson had tried her best to adhere to the basic principles of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management, there were some flaws in the management strategy of the team. Since it was a new team, Peterson probably found it difficult to implement a rigorous structure in the operations. Nevertheless, it is important to consider where Peterson had gone wrong and how these loopholes can be addressed to avoid these mistakes in future. Chris Peterson had abstained from implementing a very strict framework for the functioning of the Southwest Region team. However, Weber’s ‘Theory of Ideal Bureaucracy’ has advocated organizations to administer six strict divisions with respect to the operations of team or a company as a whole. Weber declared that a team/organization bureaucracy should have six essential components: an authority hierarchy, formal selection procedure, formal rules and regulations, career oriented managers,impersonality among the members and division of labor among the employees. Chris Paterson’s management strategy with respect to the Southwest Region teamdid not adhere to all the six principles of Weber’s Theory.The team was somewhat subject to a hierarchical authority in the DSS, where Peterson, the team leader used to report directly to the company’s COO. However, Peterson had not followed any formal selection procedure in choosing the members of her team. She had identified certain consultants from the different departments and had personally gone and requested them to be a part of her group. Peterson never wanted to propagate an impersonal relationship among her team members. In fact she organized team meetings within the organization, outside the company: in any relaxation spot, in her house to encourage the members to be friendly with each other.Encouraging too much of informality may have led to confusion among the members of the Southwest Region Team. This may have reflected in their professional work (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-8). Weber’s Ideal Bureaucracy Model Chris Peterson had always focused in motivating the Southwest Region team by promoting a positive work culture and camaraderie among the team members.However, in a modern organization like DSS Consulting, this may not have been sufficient to encourage the employees to contribute their best towards their team. According to the ‘Equity Theory of Motivation’, workers become de-motivated, decrease their work efforts and look for an improvement in their situation whenever they feel their work inputs are being deprived of fair recognition from the company. Employees of an organization contribute their time, efforts, abilities, loyalty, commitment, personal sacrifice and a number of other inputs into their professional work. In return, they expect a good salary, bonus, perks, benefits, security, recognition and promotion in the company. If the workers feel they are not being sufficiently rewarded for their endeavors they may lose the interest in their jobs. Paterson was always careful in ensuring the safety and security of the Southwest Region team members. She also conveyed good reports about her team members in her meeting with DSS’s COO. However, it is difficult to evaluate the nature of financial compensation of the members of this team. Consequently, it is difficult to state whether the employees were satisfied with the financial benefits provided by DSS or not. During the formation of the Southwest Region team, many members were apprehensive about the restructuring policy of the company. Again, it is to be remembered that during the development of the integration project, there were some points of differences among the team members. In such a situation, it can be said that Peterson team management strategy might not have provided sufficient motivation to her team members(Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-8). It is difficult to form an idea about the level of job satisfaction among the members of the Southwest Region team. Peterson had contributed in her own way in motivating her team employees. When they had got stuck at a particular point of the project, she had organized recreational activities to bring their focus back to work. This had resulted in a temporary improvement in the team’s performance. However, it is a different situation in the long run. According to the ‘Expectancy Theory of HRM”, employees contribute values to their respective organizations, and consequently have an expectation regarding the instrumentality (outcome) of these values. Employees usually expect that if they are able to complete a task with accomplishment, they would get rewarded for their efforts. In the absence of any concrete data, it is tough to ascertain whether the expectations of the members of the Southwest Region team were fulfilled by the management. In their expectation were not adequately catered to, this may have de-motivated the employees in their performance towards the team (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-8). Chris Peterson and the Southwest Region team had planned to implement an integration project among the local school districts. This project was supposed to integrate the planning and budgeting structures of these districts. After putting in months of hard work, DSS’s COO Meg Cooke informed Peterson that the project had failed to earn the approval of the company regarding its implementation. This clearly indicated that Peterson and her team had not considered the long-term interests of DSS Consulting while deciding upon their plan of projects. In other words, they had not adhered to the principle of the Goal Setting Theory. This theory advocates that it is the responsibility of the managers to ensure that individual and team objectives are in concurrence with the overall goals of the company. Peterson should have made sure that the new project of the Southwest Region Team would prove lucrative for DSS in the long run. Only then, they should have proceeded with the project (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-8). During the last phase of the integration project, there were reports of disagreement among the members of the Southwest Region team. This could have been a significant deterring factor regarding the team’s performance. This disagreement could have resulted from certain hindrances in the progress of the work. Or it could also have been due to personal dissatisfaction among the team members. There is no reliable information to assure that he team employees were satisfied with their present work. According to Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory of Satisfaction, the management of a company should provide enough opportunities to the employees to maximize their satisfaction elements. They should also ensure that the de-motivators of satisfaction are kept down to a minimum level for the employees. It becomes difficult to ascertain whether Southwest Region team members were happy with the nature of their job and the recognition received from their team leader. Peterson had tried her best to ensure a friendly level of supervision among the employees. She had also tried to provide good working conditions to her team. However, these efforts may not have been adequate to maximize the satisfaction of the team members. In such a case, this might have led to an underperformance from the unsatisfied team members (Ancona and Caldwell, 2010, pp.3-8). The Southwest Region Team of the IT Department of DSS Consulting had been working on a project to integrate the planning and budgeting structures of the local school districts. However, DSS Consulting found that the project was not feasible in the long run and decided to abandon it in the implementation stage. DSS’ COO Meg Cooke has already proposed a plan for the Southwest Region team. She has advised the team to get engaged in the marketing of IT products, not venturing into product development. This seems a decent suggestion for the time being. The team can direct all its efforts towards product marketing. Gradually it can again think of foraying into the development of IT products. However, the team will have to ensure that all its project plans and proposed products get sanctioned by the central authority of DSS. Only them, it can start work on such projects. References 1. Ancona, D. & Caldwell, D. (2010), Chris Peterson at DSS Consulting (accessed on January 11, 2012) 2. Dr. Thirlwall, A. (n.d), Organizational Behaviour and HRM (accessed on January 11, 2012) 3. Walonick, D.S (1993), Organizational Theory and Behavior, available at http://statpac.org/walonick/organizational-theory.htm (accessed on January 11, 2012) 4. 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