Assignment: Organizational Development Strategy

The scenario:

You have recently been appointed as the training manager for the southeastern division of a major supermarket chain in the U.S. Your territory includes fifteen retail stores and your responsibility involves working directly with store managers and other stakeholders to develop training solutions to meet the specific needs of the employees in the various stores. This includes, but is not limited to, performing needs assessments, determining appropriate instructional design and training delivery methods, and implementing and evaluating training initiatives.
Three of the stores in your territory have missed their sales goals for the last two quarters. All three stores have received low customer-satisfaction scores and are experiencing increased employee turnover rates. The high employee turnover has resulted in the store managers hiring many new and relatively inexperienced sales associates, which further contributes to the problem.

The senior management team of this major supermarket chain believes that training and development may help alleviate these problems. You have been asked to assess the training needs and develop a proposal to address the situation in the three stores.

Directions:

For the organization referenced in the scenario, create an organizational development strategy that addresses the organization's competitiveness over the next ten years. In contrast to the more immediate needs that you have addressed in the earlier assignments, focus on how the training department can prepare employees to enable improvements in organizational effectiveness. Make sure to address the importance of having high employee retention rates and high levels of employee satisfaction.

In preparation for a formal presentation to senior management, create a 15-18 slide Microsoft PowerPoint presentation in which you explain your organizational development strategic plan. Use the slides to highlight your key points and provide details for each using the Speaker's Notes feature. Make sure your plan includes the following:

• Assess the organization's competitiveness over the next ten years.

• Identify the potential gaps in organizational effectiveness related to staffing.

• Identify and explain the potential employee needs that can lead to improved organizational effectiveness.

• Propose an organizational development strategy that takes into consideration the needs of the employees as well as the needs of the organization in order to maintain and develop its competitive edge. Make sure you have at least one example of each and explain how it will lead to improved organizational effectiveness.

o Formal education
o On-the-job training
o Special assignments
o Mentorship model
o Coaching
o Career planning and development
o Organizational practices to help employees develop careers
o Assess return on investment of training resources

Make sure you write in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrate ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; display accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.