The Growth of DSS Consulting - Case Study Example

? Case Study, Marketing DDS Consulting Introduction DSS consulting was founded in 1997 with an objective of providing administrative support to the institution or school districts within mountain west and Midwest. It was an initiative of retired administrators of school districts that saw the need of assisting small school districts with administrative support especially those with limited staffs dealing and specialized problems on the administration. The DSS consulting plays a fundamental role in facilitating duties such as setting up with a reliable and effective procurement system along with assisting in negotiation on labor agreements. The growth of DSS is as a result of the complex challenges that faced the small school back in 1990s. This comes as the complex challenges forced the school districts to reduce the administrative cost thus calling for a consultation firm or specialist to solve the situation. DSS responded to its growth by subdividing it organs into different practice department mandate to perform distinct duties. These include the information technology, procurement, and system, facilities planning and contract negotiation. The activities of the different department took place with the help and contribution of its members. That is, a selected manager who reports to the general manager of the company heads each department. However, the groups are subjected to get any technical support from the external sources, for instance in case of any query on the way to apply a certain strategy an individual or group should seek assistance from the specialist and the general manager. The manner or the level of understanding and cohesiveness amongst the member determines the effectiveness and efficiency of the groups. Situation - Change at DSS How DSS unfreezes old behaviors and moving to a new system The transition of DSS consulting was triggered by the changes of the management strategies. This after the founder decided to cut back the engagement of the management of the organization. The new appointed chief operating offer took the duties and responsibilities of overseeing the entire transition process. She instructed the establishment of a new system that is she felt that it is important to expand the organization operation beyond the traditional customer and strive to deliver more services to the target group (large districts). Its objective was accomplished through the development of new reorganizing and service in a customer-focused and cross-functional approach. The two phases of change, and discuss how this transition influenced Chris, her team, and the feedback she received from Meg. The first phase of change in the company took place immediately after the founder cut back their engagement and involvement in the company. The action of the founders forced Meg to come up with strategic planning on how to maintain the company’s position and realization of its success. The chief operating officers therefore went ahead to promote Chris as the head of the Southwest Region team. The other phase of changes that took place is the decision by Meg to transform the organization’s operation that is her decision to reorganize the departments into a cross- functional team entitled to work on different projects. This influenced the realization of the company’s objective due to the commitment of the member of the group. The team members welcomed the new system because it gave room for diverse ideologies target common goals, which in turn was evident through some positive feedback from the districts and the specialist. Mega also supported the changes and commented Chris efforts to work as a group despite the many challenges they encountered. The feedback from Meg was not the expected result after the hard and committed of the group but the group went ahead in accomplishing the projects into the beta testing. Situation: Manager Profile (Chris) Identify the management functions that best reflect Meg’s strengths. Meg stands out as a strong manager with exemplary outstanding managerial skill. This is evident in the event where she was promoted as a chief operations officer. She brought different management system in the organization through the establishment of a cross- functional and reorganizing approach in an effort of ensuring the organization remains successful. Meg’s decision to subdivide the department into distinct groups with potential and capable leaders is among the management function that best reflect Meg’s strengths. The other very significant management function of Meg that reflects her strengths is the decision she made on the project done by Chris and her team. This showed how she used her managerial skills to evaluate the relevance of the project to the current demand on the market. Regarding managerial competencies, which competency best describes Meg and her approach to her new position. Meg competency is vividly described in the entire text through her management approaches. However, the best competency is her decision as a chief operating officer to change the approach or the way of management in the organization. She transformed the company from its past management plan and replaced it with a cross-function approach. This show how competent she was on matters of management. She allocated each team their responsibilities thus enabling the motive of reorganizing DSS into a hybrid structure. What managerial role (e.g., Informational, decisional, informal) best describes Chris, and how did this role influence her decision-making? Chris role as the head group influenced the entire decision making process. Primarily she made a decision to select close member terming it, as the best move since misunderstanding among the member would deter realization of the set goals and objectives. She decides to seek for a location for the group in order to assist in developing a close and friendly cohesion among the member. Chris would even invite the team member to her home for lunch as the sort out issue concerning the progress of the group’s activities. Situation: Chris Leader Profile Chris Peterson is an ambitious and competent leader in her professionalism. She was a teacher in a high of a small district school in Lowa. In 2001, DSS recruited Chris and as an information technology expert. At the time of her enrollment in the organization, there was a deployment of computer in the district thus giving her an advantage of heading the implementation in the schools. After a smooth and successful working as a full time teacher, she seeks a position as consultant in DSS consulting. She was successful got the position in the information technology group. The management recognized her effort and positive result and she was promoted to a project manager of the same group. The group has been very successful in its entire project. This contributed to her appointment as the head of the southwest region west team. The changes I the management system of the DSS consulting has influenced the managerial skill of Chris in the sense that she given a heavy task to work on and faced with numerous challenges from other members of staffs. She went ahead to select a suitable team that would assist in the projects with the help of other relevant bodies within the organization. She studied the individual in the organization who work best when put together. At challenging time, she would stand up for the group and come up with a suitable measure that should be adopted or implemented to curb or solve the situation. Her efforts and experience enable her team to finish up with the project of “developing the Planning and Budgeting System” despite the challenges they encountered. She was still capable of uniting the team member for the common goal of achieving or accomplishing the project. Situation: Chris Change Program Identify and discuss Chris’ vision for her team Chris had great plans for her team I terms of achieving the objective and goals set by the chief operating officer (Meg). She always advocated for teamwork among the group member since it is the key factor for realization of the success. She allows a free and friendly working atmosphere for each individual. This creates an avenue for team members to share their experience in connection with the project in progress. It is clearly outlined that Chris had the vision of having their projected approved by Meg in order to show the entire district what they accomplish using the database or the project. As a driving force for change, why didn’t Chris meet with any resistance? Chris took a humble and ethical approach to the changes taking place in DSS consulting. She was aware that resistance would deter the smooth progress of adapting to the new system. She also excited about getting an opportunity to lead a permanent group hence became cautious of any action that may strike resistance by the group member. She managed to avoid any form of resistance by selecting people that get along. This played a major role in eliminating any chances of misunderstanding. In occasions where there was misunderstanding of conflicting ideas from the member she would invite them over for a relaxing conversation and decide on the suitable measure to set in place to solve the conflict. Reflect on why the lack of resistance to change should have been a signal to Chris. Lack of resistance to change should have signaled Chris because it is the driving force for change. It should have indicated that the people are not against the changes taking place either because they like or because they do not understand the impact that comes with the changes. In this case, should have served as a signal to Chris that their project may be having issues that need to be taken into consideration. Lack of response from the specialist should have indicated that the program does have much impact or is complex to be implemented. Problem The changes that were experienced in DSS were part of the problem that strikes the staff and the management. In other words, the withdrawal of management support by the founder was a challenge to the newly appoint officers because she is required to attain the organization goals and objective. It thus meant that the manager has to restructure the entire management system, which in turn inconveniences some staff who had specialized in a particular field of operation. It is also a problem convenience both the small and larger district of the importance of changing to the planning and budgeting system. The other major problem is the misunderstanding of the group member. This influence or rather affects the coexistence of the people and a smooth decision making process. The disagreement between members would make difficult to reach a final decision on a matter concerning the development. It affects the effectiveness and the completion of the projects. The other problem is the lack of support from the specialist. The resistance to offer their devoted support to the team member creation of a reliable database system or project that would be servicing the district without causing any inconveniences. The other major problem that emerged during the operation of the group is the fact that the feedbacks from the district were in conflict. This led to the emergences diverse ideologies on which feedback to be considered as important and the one that are to be disregarded. This interrupted the normal decision making process though the situation was settled by Chris with immediate effects. Consequences The consequence of the misunderstanding among the member of different teams leads to the collapse of the organization. It also associated with delaying of the completion of projects. It is essential to note that operating as a team gives the manager an easy team to develop and implement new ideas into the system for high productivity and quality service and products whereas lack of an effective system on how the colleagues contributes for the best of DSS consulting. There are negative implications if their manager does consider people who are driven by a common objective to work together because they end up causing shortcoming in the process of achieving the organizational goals. The changes in the management affect the aggregate production rate mostly in a negative way. This comes because of the resistance by members of some other groups. The fact that Chris teams did not get full support from the specialist and other relevant bodies has led to the rejection of their project by the chief operating officer. The teams were not in a good position to determine how the large district would utilize or find it relevant to implement the planning and budgeting structure. Chris was under the risk of losing her position as the head of the southwest region west team. She opts to either take her team in a different managerial direction or getting back to her initial position. The team was disburdened from doing any other projects for organizations and instead should seek a different field that would apply their experiences. Solution Having gone through numerous challenges the management team has to come up with a lasting solution to the problems for maintaining the success of the organization. The head of the southwest region west team responded to the problem that came because of difference in ideologies on the feedback from the district by inviting the entire member for a brief meeting in her place. They harmonized on the best way to approach the problem at stake to avoid any misunderstanding amongst them because they believe teamwork is a driving force for the success of their project. On the matter, concerning the unwillingness or lack of support from the specialists was solved by reporting the matter to Meg but not much was done. Chris therefore went ahead to advocates her team to remain focused on accomplishing the project despite the challenge. The problem deterred the teams from easily achieving their goals. For instance, the new structure that was introduced by the management slowed down the process because there was a complete reshuffle of the workforce. The manager comes up with a different approach of running thing in the company. Meg established five departments that we are entitled different function and she went ahead to develop the cross- functional and reorganizing structure. Action Plan The most suitable action that was incorporated by the chief operating officer (Meg) is the introduction of the cross- functional and the reorganization structure. She introduced a variety of groups that worked on a number of projects in order to maintain the company position in the market. The action plan on how to overcome all the challenges facing the southwest region west team is through a team and combines efforts of the team member. It implies that the team member along with their leader would have to disregard factors that are acting as an obstacle to the achievement of the goals and objective that is the completion of the project. On the other, they should take into account the relevant factors that would enhance the cohesiveness of the member thus facilitating completion of the project. The chief operating officer established a cause of action for the southwest region west team having worked on a project, which does serve the purpose of the company. She requested to find a different direction of operation and should not be involved in any other project. References Ancona, D., & Caldwell, D. (2010). Chris Peterson at DSS Consulting. California: MIT Sloan School of Management. Chanda, N. (2008). Bound Together: The Future Of Globalization. New Perspectives Quarterly, 25(2), 14-18. Chico, D. (1994). DSS - working together for the future. N.Z.: Acemark Consulting Group. Freeman, M. A. (2009). DSS Consulting. BMJ, 4(5683), 617-618. Read More