Roles Scenario Summaries Scenario 1: You are an independent external consultant. The client, a president of a small east coast software development firm, asks you to help her. Scenario 2: You are an external consultant and have been asked to provide team building for an executive retreat. Scenario 3: You are an internal consultant and have been placed on the implementation team for a Six Sigma initiative. Significant resistance is expected and several top leaders have a lot riding on the success of the project. Scenario 4: You are the sole internal consultant in a manufacturing plant. The fabrication manager asks you to look into a number of issues. Scenario 5: You are an external consultant and have been contacted to run a number of focus groups in support of a larger project. Scenario 6: You are a new internal consultant and have been assigned to assist with a performance management redesign project. Scenario 7: You are an external consultant and have been asked by the new Executive Director of a non-profit organization to provide input on issues related to an "incompetent" board and a low morale workforce. Copyright 2011 Organization Development Network 1
Scenario 1 You are an independent external OD consultant. The client, a president of a small east coast software development firm, asks you to help her. In your initial meeting, she describes her firm s situation to you: The firm is 5 years old and experienced explosive growth during the first 3 years of its existence. Growth has leveled off since then. She was hired as president of the firm 8 months ago from a competitor in Silicon Valley Turnover has increased from 18% annually three years ago to 27% currently in the software development team There are serious conflicts between the software development team and the quality assurance team Productivity measures have steadily deteriorated since the Director of Product Development was hired 28 months ago Customer satisfaction surveys suggest that key software features promised are not always delivered on time and within specifications It is apparent that the Director of Product Development is barely on speaking terms with the Director of Business Development She wants to know what you can do to help. She is very interested in finding out exactly what is happening, and is sincerely interested in solving the problems. She tells you that she desires long-term relationships with the consultants she hires, and that she s not expecting any quick fixes. She wants to work closely with whomever she hires. 1. Which of the consultant role(s) is most appropriate in this situation? Why? 2. What would you want to clarify about your role in your meeting with this potential client? 3. What advantages or disadvantages would you have as an external consultant in this scenario? What advantages or disadvantages would an internal consultant have in this scenario? Copyright 2011 Organization Development Network 2
Scenario 2 You are an independent external OD consultant. The client, the VP of Human Resources at a mid-size regional bank, calls you and says he was visiting your web site, and noticed that you offer team-building services. He states he has been asked by the bank s president to find someone who can run a team-building session at the senior management team s retreat scheduled in three weeks. There is 3 ½ hours carved out of the busy retreat schedule for the team-building activity. However, they would like you to come and observe the interaction of the team in the morning before the team-building session. The president wants something that will be highly interactive and will forge stronger bonds between the team members. The president and his team are all extremely busy at this time of year and will not be available to you prior to the session. You describe your expertise with team building and provide a couple of examples of where you ve worked with senior management teams in the past. The VP of HR states that he is sure you will do a great job and wants to hire you. He assures you that he trusts you to do "the right thing" with their team, and wants to wrap up the arrangements with you on the phone right now. 1. If you accepted this engagement, which of the consultant roles are most appropriate? Why? 2. What would you want to clarify about your role in your discussion with this potential client? 3. What advantages would you have as an external consultant in this scenario? What advantages would an internal consultant have in this scenario? Copyright 2011 Organization Development Network 3
Scenario 3 You are an internal OD consultant in a large oil and gas distribution corporation. Your office is located in the corporate headquarters. There are more than 10,000 employees in the organization, 7,500 of whom are spread out across more than 15 locations throughout the Gulf States. Your manager, the VP of Organization Development, has informed you that you have been placed on the corporate implementation team for the new Six Sigma initiative. The initiative will involve all production areas of the company. A contract was signed last week with an outside consulting firm that specializes in designing Six Sigma initiatives. You will be the primary internal OD person assigned to this project. Your manager tells you that the consulting firm predicts that significant cultural and value issues will arise as this initiative moves from design and development to the implementation stage, and she is counting on you to ensure that we do "whatever is necessary" to make this initiative work. She says that there are a lot of people in the field who will not like the idea of corporate "ramming" this down their throats. This will affect several layers of production processes and will even impact some of the things we do at headquarters. She states that there is a lot riding on the successful implementation of Six Sigma. A number of large contracts are being negotiated right now that stipulate certain quality targets must be met, and if they are not met, substantial financial penalties will be assessed against us. It is anticipated that you will be assigned to this project full time for a minimum of 24 months. You will be working directly with a number of senior technical and operations staff to plan and implement the initiative. Your manager impresses upon you that you will have to "negotiate" your role with the rest of the team, and that it will change as the project moves from design and development to implementation. If you need help from other OD consultants from our OD team you will need to let her know. 1. Who do you see as your client(s)? 2. Which consultant role(s) is (are) most appropriate in this situation? Why? 3. What would you want to clarify about your role in this situation? 4. What are the advantages of being an internal consultant in this scenario? What are the disadvantages of being an internal in this scenario? 5. As a consultant, what would your major areas of focus be in attempting to meet the client's Copyright 2011 Organization Development Network 4
Scenario 4 You are a newly-hired (and the only) internal OD specialist at a non-union plastics manufacturing plant that employs 500+ employees. Stewart, the Fabrication Manager, has asked you to meet with him. Stewart tells you that it is taking too long for new production workers to get up-to-speed on the production line. He rattles off a number of issues: 60% - 70% of new hires speak English as a second language. The hiring process is not organized very well. Training for new hires is "catch-as-catch-can" there is no formal training program. Annual turnover is running at 33% on the production line. Scrap rates are at 1 ½ times the industry standard. Machine downtime is running 20% higher than three years ago. Production team leaders were promoted primarily for their technical and production skills. There is no performance appraisal process. Pay increases are based on longevity. Stewart asks you to investigate and let him know what needs to be done. 1. Which consultant role(s) is (are) most appropriate in this situation? Why? 2. What would you want to clarify about your role in this situation? 3. What are the advantages of being an internal consultant in this scenario? What are the disadvantages of being an internal in this scenario? 5. How would you describe the approach you would take? Copyright 2011 Organization Development Network 5
Scenario 5 You are an independent external OD consultant in a west coast city. The client, the Director of OD for a large federal agency in Washington, D.C., calls you. She has heard that you are a skilled facilitator. She states that she is contracting with a number of independent consultants who will be tasked with running 20 focus groups each in 20 cities across the country. The federal agency has more than 100 offices, and has more than 25,000 employees. Recently, due to budget cuts, there have been significant staff reductions throughout the agency. Additionally, there have been major reorganizations and changes in systems and procedures. Anecdotally, the OD Director has been getting reports that morale has "tanked" agency-wide. She thinks she knows what the issues are, but she wants to "get her arms around" the problem, so she wants to get the focus groups started as soon as possible. She already has a plan of action in the works to solve the problem, but she wants the focus group data to verify her diagnosis. She will provide you with the questions that you are expected to ask each focus group. You will be expected to document the results of the focus groups and e-mail them to her within 48 hours of each session. Facilitation of the focus groups and filing summary reports will comprise the entirety of the contract. 1. Which consultant role(s) is (are) most appropriate in this situation? Why? 2. What would you want to clarify about your role in your discussion with this potential client? 3. What are the advantages of being an external consultant in this scenario? What are the disadvantages of being an external in this scenario? Copyright 2011 Organization Development Network 6
Scenario 6 You are an internal OD consultant within a 24,000+ employee financial services corporation. There are more than 16,000 employees in the Home Office, and operations in all 50 states. Your position reports to the Director of Corporate OD, who in turn, reports to the Senior VP of Human Resources. The SVP of HR has a mandate from the Corporate Executive Committee to design and develop a new corporate-wide performance management (PM) system. The new PM system will comprise totally new performance appraisal, compensation, and career development subsystems. Each of the three projects will require substantial staff and budget resources, and each will be assigned a 15-member team composed of a combination of subject matter experts from the human resources area and operations staff representing the internal customer areas impacted by the new systems. An OD consultant from your department has been designated to support each of the three design, development, and implementation teams. Because of your experience in designing competency models and in designing performance appraisal systems, you have been assigned to serve on the performance appraisal team. In a meeting with the SVP of HR, you are given very specific requirements for the performance appraisal system which will affect the format of the new forms and many of the features of the performance appraisal system. You are not certain whether these requirements were specified by the Corporate Executive Committee, or if they are reflective of the personal preferences of the SVP of HR. Either way, it is clear what your "marching orders" are. You are expected to ensure that the new system reflects these specific requirements. As you reflect on your assignment on the performance appraisal team, you realize that your performance will ultimately be judged on whether the final product conforms to those requirements. 1. Which consultant role(s) is (are) most appropriate in this situation? Why? 2. What would you want to clarify about your role in this assignment? 3. What are the advantages of being an internal consultant in this scenario? What are the disadvantages of being an internal in this scenario? 5. What concerns would you have in utilizing the role(s) identified in #1 above as you attempt to meet the client's Copyright 2011 Organization Development Network 7
Scenario 7 You are an independent external OD consultant, and you are asked by the Executive Director (ED) of a non-profit organization that provides a wide range of social services to its membership base to meet with him. In your meeting you learn that the organization serves a regional membership of more than 12,000 members. It has approximately 110 full-time and about 85 part-time employees. The ED was hired 8 months ago after a lengthy search. The ED has recently "cleaned house" and has filled several key leadership positions within the organization in the last 5 months. The ED explains that the organization s board, which is composed of 23 members, is quite dysfunctional. The organization has been "drifting" for more than 3 years, and has lost sight of its mission, in the opinion of the ED. The ED believes there are a number of short-term and long-term issues that require attention, and is looking for outside help to get things "straightened out." Internally, there continues to be major residual morale issues. Many employees feel they are under-paid, and that there are a number of people in positions who are not qualified to do them. Turnover has been running at more than 30% per year for the last 3 years. There is no performance appraisal system, and there is "no rhyme or reason" to salary adjustments that have been given in the last few years. Communication between supervisors and their direct reports is often very poor. The "grapevine" is very active and seems to undermine everything that the ED wants to do. The Board is, in the opinion of the ED, just a "good old boy" network. Three-quarters of the board members have been on the board for more than 7 years. Seventeen of the 23 members are retired and seem to come to board meetings for social reasons. There is little in the way of business acumen within the board. Very little gets done at board meetings. The ED has been trying to establish a more business-like approach within the board, but they are highly resistant. Board meetings are sidetracked by many side conversations at one time, members arrive late and many leave early. Attention spans seem quite short. Meanwhile, the organization s budget is a mess. Development efforts are yielding less and less. While the organization draws 65% of its budget from the United Way, and another 27% from federal and state grants, the remainder of its operations is dependent on private donations. Since the board has fewer and fewer members who are working, their contacts within the business community are dwindling. Clearly, something needs to be done to recruit younger and more "connected" board members, and to somehow remove many of the current members. The ED, who is 34 years old, has never faced a situation anything like this before, and is not sure how to proceed. For the past 6 years, he previously worked for a huge, well-run non-profit as its assistant executive director. He says he is competent and well-organized, but confides that he is starting to feel "in over his head" given all of the problems. Copyright 2011 Organization Development Network 8
He wants to know if you can help him and what you would recommend be done. He says he realizes that this will be a long-term process, and he wants whoever he brings in as a consultant to get to know the organization so whatever is done will be appropriate, well planned, and well executed. He also feels he will need someone to use as a sounding board to talk through the tough issues. 1. Which consultant role(s) is (are) most appropriate in this situation? Why? 2. What would you want to clarify about your role in your discussion with this potential client? 3. What are the advantages of being an external consultant in this scenario? What are the disadvantages of being an external in this scenario? 5. What concerns would you have in utilizing the role(s) identified in #1 above as you attempt to meet the client's Copyright 2011 Organization Development Network 9