Module- Case: Congruence Model of Organizational Behavior

Assignment Overview

XCG

The Excellent Consulting Group

Communication from Art:

I reviewed your report regarding Organizational Diagnosis, and I thought you did a nice job. I presented your recommendation to ABC Company and Whole Foods Market, and had several discussions with them.

They've finally decided that they want to use the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model to analyze the overall congruence in the company - they like the Input and Output analysis that this model provides.

First, the company's executives are interested in the Inputs, including the strategy. They are interested in getting an objective opinion of what their critical inputs are and how they align with their strategy. So I suggest that you very quickly brush up more on the Congruence model, particularly for this assignment on inputs.

Second, we need to analyze how Whole Foods Market has been doing in terms of its performance and how it stacks up against its goals. We will do this at three levels: the overall organizational level, the group level, and the individual level. The Congruence Model explains this well. You should be up to speed on this model.

The executives also want to know how congruent the outputs are across the three levels. Given your analysis of performance at each of the three levels, are the interactions of these outputs congruent - highly, somewhat, or very little? Make this determination and support it with a logical argument using the information that you obtain about Whole Foods Market's goals and performance.

REQUIRED READING:

Nadler, D. A., & Tushman, M. L. (1980). A model for diagnosing organizational behavior. Organizational Dynamics, 9(2), 35-51. doi:10.1016/0090-2616(80)90039-X

Case Assignment

Using the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model, conduct an analysis of Whole Foods Market's inputs and how they align with the strategy, as well as its outputs.

For the analysis, I suggest that you start with strategy, since you have already done some work on this aspect in your first report. Review Whole Foods Market's strategy and then determine which one of Porter's competitive strategies fits with this strategy. Then review the company's inputs and determine one or two specific critical inputs from each input category: environment, resources, and history.

Ultimately, I want you to determine how aligned the critical inputs are with the strategy. Is there high congruence (alignment), some congruence, or little to no congruence? I expect you to support your claim with a good, logical argument using the information you have collected.

In order to make this case, you first need to review the strategy and then classify it as one of Porter's competitive strategies. Then identify the Key Input factors in the first three categories. Explain why these are the critical input factors. Then determine how congruent the three input factors are with the strategy.

Then use the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Module to analyze Whole Foods Market's outputs. Start with the Organizational Level. Identify the Outputs - what does it produce and sell? What are its goals? How has it been performing? Then go the group level. What are some groups that Whole Foods Market identifies, and the goals and performance of these groups. Finally, discuss the Individual level. Here you will find it difficult to get much detailed information, so identify five to seven key jobs and their outputs. How can the performance of these jobs be measured? Finally determine the congruence of the outputs and make a strong argument for your case.

Be sure to include references. Turn in the 6- to 8-page paper by the end of the module.

KEYS TO THE ASSIGNMENT:

1. Discuss the organization's strategy and classify it according to Porter's three generic competitive strategies.

2. Identify the most critical inputs in each of the first three categories and justify why they are critical. Also explain what effect the inputs from one category have on inputs from the other categories. How well does the strategy fit with the environmental, resource and historical inputs you identified?

3. Make a Case for your proposition as to how the Key Inputs support (are congruent with) the Strategy. Specifically make a claim: "The inputs at Whole Foods Market consisting of Organizational Environment factors, Internal Resource factors, and Historical Tradition factors are [highly, partially, or minimally] congruent with the company's strategy."

4. In order to make your case you need to identify the outputs of the organization at each of three levels. Also identify the goals that it has set and its current performance. Include the following:

• Outputs at the organizational level are the products and/or services that it provides to its customers. What are these and how does the company categorize them? How does it measure its organizational performance (e.g., sales, net profit, return on sales, return on assets, market share, customer satisfaction, etc.). Provide some specific performance data.

• What are some ways the company identifies groups? For example, are there geographic groups (or divisions), functional groups, etc. What are the outputs of these groups? How does it (or how might it) measure performance of these groups?

• What are some of the key individual functions, and what are their outputs? How do these outputs contribute to the group outputs? How do they measure individual performance?

• Evaluate how the outputs at the different levels interact with each other. Determine if you think the congruence of the outputs is high, medium, or low. Then make a strong case. It is very important that you support your position with evidence and information that you have discussed earlier in the report.

5. Support your analysis with objective evidence. Sources of information for the entire project may include interviews, organizational documents and reports, articles in newspapers, and trade publications. Be sure to cite your sources and provide a list of references.

Write up your report in a 6- to 8-page paper and submit it by the end of the module.

Assignment Expectations

Your paper will be evaluated on the following seven points:

• Precision - Does the paper address the question(s) or task(s)?

• Breadth - Is the full breadth of the subject, that is, the Keys to the Assignment, addressed?

• Depth - Does the paper address the topic in sufficient depth and include the background readings and other background resources as references?

• Critical thinking - Is the subject thought about critically, that is, accurately, logically, relevantly, and precisely?

• Clarity - Is the writing clear and are the concepts articulated properly? Are paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts the primary means of responding to the questions or are points conveyed through excessive use of quotations?

• Organization - Is the paper well written? Are the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary appropriate for graduate-level work? Are headings included in all papers longer than two pages?

• Referencing (citations and references) - Does the paper include citations and quotation marks where appropriate? Are the references from the background readings and assignment present and properly cited? Are all the references listed in the bibliography present and referred to via citation?

TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS

• You may use a simple diagram to highlight important factors. However, do not use the diagram in lieu of valuable analysis (or to take up valuable writing space) - it should be in addition to your paper of 6-8 pages of analysis.

• Just because you have written the minimum four pages does not mean that you have adequately covered the topic. Err on the side of writing more rather than less.

• Choose the data you use carefully. Is it relevant and important?

• Include a cover page and reference page, in addition to the 6-8 pages of analysis described above.

• Include headings within the paper.

• Cite and reference all sources that you use in your work, including those that you paraphrase. This means include citations and quotation marks for direct quotes of more than five words, and citations for that information which you have "borrowed" or paraphrased from other sources.

Module- Background

Congruence Model of Organizational Behavior

The background reading for the Case in this module focuses on the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model. You will be using this model to complete the case.

David Nadler is the founder and CEO of Mercer Delta Consulting Group. An internationally recognized expert in organizational change, Nadler has written seven books and numerous articles for practicing managers. Michael Tushman is a Full Professor at the Harvard Business School. He has written or edited eight books and is widely published in academic and practitioner journals.

Required Reading

Nadler, D. A., & Tushman, M. L. (1980). A model for diagnosing organizational behavior. Organizational Dynamics, 9(2), 35-51. doi:10.1016/0090-2616(80)90039-X

According to the authors, "Our congruence model of organizational behavior is based on how well components fit together - that is the congruence among components; the effectiveness of this model is based on the quality of these ‘fits' or ‘congruence.' (p.39).

From the reading, you will note that there are four input categories. They are as follows:

1. Environment (factors external to the organization);
2. Resources (factors internal to the organization);
3. Organizational history (Persistent Traditions); and
4. Strategy (goals, objectives and strategic initiatives).

If the link to the article does not work, it is probably because your computer does not allow "cookies" which would let you connect directly to the library. In such a case, you will need to connect manually to the appropriate database.

At the same time, you will continue with the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model to assess an organization's outputs. Nadler and Tushman identify outputs as existing at the individual, group, and organizational level. They also emphasize the importance of identifying the outputs that the organization desires vs. what is actually achieved.

Outputs are not complicated to understand. At the Organization level, they are the products and services that are provided to its customers. (It can also be the value provided to its owners, but we are not going to consider this here.) The primary way that a company measures its performance is financially: Sales, Profit, Return on Sales (ROS), Return on Assets; and also via market share.

The organization is made up of various groups. One way to look at groups is by functional area: marketing, operations, purchasing, etc. Another way, if the company is large, is by its various divisions or by its product groupings. Here it becomes a little more complicated to measure performance, but it is possible by defining the goals and objectives of each group.

The bottom level of the organization is the individual. Each person has a job description and is responsible for specific outputs for that job. The main method of performance measurement here is individual productivity: Outputs/Inputs (e.g., widgets/hour, or reports/day). This is more difficult to quantify and for a specific company is difficult to obtain, since this data is not generally reported. Sometimes you can infer some individual measures, for example, by dividing Profit by the number of total employees, to get a measure of overall profitability per person.

Optional Reading

The following is an interesting, updated, and highly recommended peer-reviewed journal article relating to organizational diagnosis. Following is the Abstract:

Abstract:

Using an operational framework, the diagnostic funnel is introduced, which prescribes the appropriate actions of a process consultant in conducting an organizational diagnosis. The diagnostic funnel comprises the four actions of (a) selecting a general diagnostic model, (b) collecting data that minimizes bias, (c) analyzing the data to reduce the likelihood of error, and (d) deriving a unique diagnostic paradigm, specific to the organization under study. It is argued that the actions described by the diagnostic funnel will result in a diagnosis that achieves a high level of scientific rigor. To provide a detailed description of the diagnostic funnel, a case example of an organizational diagnosis is presented.

Gregory, B. T., Armenakis, A. A., Moates, K., Albritton, M., & Harris, S. G. (2007). Achieving scientific rigor in organizational diagnosis: An application of the diagnostic funnel. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice & Research, 59(2), 79-90. Retrieved from http://organized-change-consultancy.wikispaces.com/file/view/Diagnostic%20Funnel.pdf/113982643/Diagnostic%20Funnel.pdf

There are no reading assignments for the SLP

However, if you need a refresher on various theories (product life cycle, pricing, price elasticity, market saturation, product development, etc.) there are a multitude on the Internet.

Optional Review Materials

Once again, a small sample of Internet materials that may help you throughout the course can be accessed through the following links:

http://www.investopedia.com/university/ratios/#axzz2JNe7QCr3

http://www.sveiby.com/articles/IntangibleMethods.htm .

This can serve as a complement to previous course materials. You are encouraged to supplement this list if you need additional refreshers.