Analyzing Opportunities for Organizational Development Work

at Northern County Legal Services

Donald L. Anderson (2015). Organization development: the process of leading organizational
change

1. What is it like to work in this environment? How do you respond to Julie as a leader?

Compare Julie as a leader with some of the descriptions of leadership styles.

Northern County Legal Services (NCLS) is a non-profit organization who assisted

people that cannot afford for legal counsel or a lawyer. The service is mostly free to

clients, thus, funding is highly required for the organization to continue its services, and it

can be noted that funding is indeed an issue for NCLS. The office located outside a

downtown district is small and crowded with no air-conditioning system. The setup is

taking up walk-in clients and also accepting appointments at the same time with no

organized time and duration for each service. This resulted to longer queues for the walk-

in clients and also delays in appointment time for scheduled clients.

To work in this environment can be stressful and demanding. There is no proper

orientation and training which resulted to repetitive questions regarding the task which is

very much frustrating. There is a staggered or no growth in terms of work since the tasks

are repetitive and there is little or no chance of making a decision due to lack of

delegation and trust of the manager. Moreover, there is a mismatched of specialization

since there are some tasks assigned to the employees which they don’t specialized.

Julie, as a leader, I can say that she is somewhat authoritative. I can sense that she

doesn’t have a trust to her subordinates. She also lacks organization skills which include

creating and keeping deadlines, delegation, managing appointments, making schedules,

project management, etc. As a manager, one should be able to delegate and manage tasks
 of her subordinate. Moreover, prior to deployment to work, she should properly orient

and train her staffs.

With regards to her leadership styles, I could compare the leadership styles of

Julie as exploitative authoritative. The staffs are not involved in the decision-making

process. The superior has no trust and confidence in his subordinate and imposes

decisions on him leaving no room for further discussions. Most of the decisions are

coming from Julie and she is only concerned with the completion of work. It can also be

noted that the discussion is not very participatory and there is minimal involvement from

the team members.

2. What organizational, team, and individual problems can you identify? What

opportunities for organization development work do you see?

a. Organizational Problems

 No formalize training and orientation prior to deployment

 No proper work delegation and assignment

 Goals are not properly communicated to team members

 Procedures in the organization particularly on the intake of clients is not

systematic and were not followed and monitored thoroughly

 Physical working environment is not very conducive

The organization should revisit the setup, structure, processes and polices to be able

to minimize or resolve these organizational problems. The organization should

constantly review the processes and procedures, and make necessary changes and

improvements to be flexible with the demand. Training and development should be in

place, and the job description and specification should be properly communicated.

Moreover, the physical working environment should be improved so that the

members can work effectively and efficiently.

b. Team Problems

 Members cannot freely and openly express their thoughts and suggestions

 Lack of feed-backing schemes

 Minimal communication between group

 The team is disorganized and poor collaboration

 Unmotivated or don't demonstrate initiative

In problems mentioned above, it's important to encourage ideas from every team

member, and not only the manager or one team member will dominate the

conversation/meeting. In addition, the manager should provide for the opportunity

for the members to speak up and voice their opinions. Further, for the team to

continue, clear goals must be set as a starting phase of the organization, and

objectives and directions must be determined.

c. Individual Problems

 The members/staffs cannot feel the sense of ownership and fulfilment in

their respective tasks

 There is a mismatched of specializations or job fit

 Serving multiple functions at the same time since there is no proper

management or assignment of specific tasks

  Lack of motivation and job satisfaction

The organization could make a standardized position with specific tasks

mentioned and assign the employees based on his/her specialization. This will

increase employee involvement and engagement. The members may agree to

follow an improvement plan with specific goals for to reach, with periodic

meetings or performance reviews. Moreover, proper segregation of duties and

tasks to avoid mismatched of specialties of each employee.

3. How do the opportunities you have identified illustrate the values and ethical beliefs of

organization development identified in this chapter?

The initiatives identified for organization development helps in building and

maintaining the function, development and growth of the organization. It posits that

participation, involvement and empowerment of the members of the organization play a

vital role in the success of organizational development and that there is a benefit of

involving all organizational members in decision-making and change processes.

Allowing an individual to be actively part of the organization makes them feel important

and become committed to the organization which will eventually increase the

effectiveness of the organization in terms of all of its goals. Moreover, the determining

the importance of groups and teams contributes most effectively to the organization. By

providing opportunities for each organization member, as well as for the organization

itself will help develop to the full potential of the member which will in turn help the

team in achieving its goals and will contribute to the overall performance.
 With regards to the current setup of the organization, the opportunities identified

will help in improving the processes of organization as well as the way of doing their

business. This will help in the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. Through

improving the process on the client handling particularly on the acceptance of clients

through appointments and walk-ins, the organization will minimize or resolve concerns

of the clients and the handling of the employees will also improve. This initiative will

require the analysis of the current setup of the organization with the help of the members

by also raising their concerns regarding the current process, and suggest for ways on how

to improve.