Case Example 3:
Improving Organizational Effectiveness

Scenario

The client is a 100 year-old, third generation company that has become a major supplier of costume jewelry stones and components. With a general decline in domestic jewelry manufacturing, the component supply industry has become extremely competitive. The company has succeeded largely due to excellent tooling and outstanding customer service.

The founder's granddaughter has been running the company for the past 15 years, although her father, a paternalistic manager, remained quite active and involved until his death a few years ago. The father's presence resulted in loyal employees, a very stable workforce with extremely low turnover. However, at the same time there were some instances of people acting with insufficient regard to their impact on other parts of the organization and employees taking very little personal accountability for job-related decisions or results.

The President felt that some of the former operating and cultural characteristics were no longer acceptable in today's increasingly competitive and demanding environment. She wanted to "tighten" up work practices, develop clearer roles and expectations from her management group, and get employees to recognize the realities of today's operating climate, which require a simultaneous focus on both excellent customer service and efficiency. She wanted the management team to develop a greater sense of accountability and she needed to be confident that the organization was positioned to handle future growth.

What We Did

To learn how the current organization operates and to understand its operating culture, we held in-depth confidential conversations with a cross section of management and hourly employees. The purpose was to learn how the company now operates, their roles, and their perceptions about what is and is not working well, and explore ideas about how things could be done better.

We developed and distributed a Position Description Questionnaire (PDQ) and completion guide for the purpose of documenting position responsibilities and organizational relationships. We also developed materials and procedures for Performance Planning and Appraisal tailored to both the historical realities and future objectives.

Outcome

We introduced and explained the PDQs to all employees, each of whom was to complete and discuss it with his/her manager for revision and approval. We also introduced all managers to Performance Planning and Appraisal, including training exercises intended to increase their comfort and confidence levels. Then we arranged for the creation of an employee handbook to describe the work ethic and work environment expectations, as well as the usual compliance policies, compensation and benefits information. All this was part of establishing more discipline and personal accountability into the management culture.

We recommended specific, practical, leverageable directions for improving organizational effectiveness and decision-making that will help build a more solid management foundation to support and manage future growth. These revolved around Organization Staffing and Development, Management Style and Operations Improvement, and Business Development. We also made specific recommendations regarding the CEO's leadership style to both show that she trusts and values employees and also to send clear signals that things will be different and better going forward.

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