The Keyboard Company
Case: The Keyboard Company
Question 1.1
PROBLEMS:
• John Zoltan, founder of The Keyboard Company attended an executive seminar and based on his experience there, he decided to hire an outside OD team without adequately educating his management team as to the purpose of his decision and the implementation of this new division.
• This has caused misunderstanding,
• Lack of trust, and
• Confusion within the company employee structure.
• Some managers believe the group is using money from other more important functions pertaining to these manager’s divisions, causing overspending on budgets.
• The fact that the “chosen ones” are still young and fairly inexperienced in the industry has left the rest of the company wondering how “they” will be able to design a “best system” based on their limited knowledge of the companies operations.
• The OD group also has it’s own problems – On the one hand it looks as if the group has developed some sense of cohesiveness, yet, on the other hand we find that they have in actual fact split into two distinct groups. • The one group advocates rapid change to the production operations by being more confrontational and aggressive in their approach.
• The other group feels that they need to be accepted first and would prefer to implement gradual changes to the production operations.
• In the beginning John Zoltan was very involved with the OD group, but has since been less forthcoming in his attention to the group.
• Yet, JZ gives all his attention to one of the group, Kay, and this leads to the other members making jokes
(with serious undertones) about this fact.
• Don also holds weekly briefing sessions with JZ when he is in town, yet the other members of the group can not get to see JZ.
• John Zoltan never has time for the group, yet his secretary calls Kay to join him for coffee on occasion.
• Kay and Don dismiss the attention from JZ as saying that they were merely trying to maintain and develop the
Question 1.1
PROBLEMS:
• John Zoltan, founder of The Keyboard Company attended an executive seminar and based on his experience there, he decided to hire an outside OD team without adequately educating his management team as to the purpose of his decision and the implementation of this new division.
• This has caused misunderstanding,
• Lack of trust, and
• Confusion within the company employee structure.
• Some managers believe the group is using money from other more important functions pertaining to these manager’s divisions, causing overspending on budgets.
• The fact that the “chosen ones” are still young and fairly inexperienced in the industry has left the rest of the company wondering how “they” will be able to design a “best system” based on their limited knowledge of the companies operations.
• The OD group also has it’s own problems – On the one hand it looks as if the group has developed some sense of cohesiveness, yet, on the other hand we find that they have in actual fact split into two distinct groups. • The one group advocates rapid change to the production operations by being more confrontational and aggressive in their approach.
• The other group feels that they need to be accepted first and would prefer to implement gradual changes to the production operations.
• In the beginning John Zoltan was very involved with the OD group, but has since been less forthcoming in his attention to the group.
• Yet, JZ gives all his attention to one of the group, Kay, and this leads to the other members making jokes
(with serious undertones) about this fact.
• Don also holds weekly briefing sessions with JZ when he is in town, yet the other members of the group can not get to see JZ.
• John Zoltan never has time for the group, yet his secretary calls Kay to join him for coffee on occasion.
• Kay and Don dismiss the attention from JZ as saying that they were merely trying to maintain and develop the