Create proposal you will deliver to the organization's leaders at a second meeting as a response to what you heard during your first meeting.

What major organizational change are you addressing in the proposal? (What was the presenting issue?)

Project Background

The Stoltzfus Manufacturing Company is a family-owned business in south central Pennsylvania. Over the 50 years the company has been in existence, it has grown from a garage-based, single-proprietor business to a large, 1,530-employee operation generating $50 million in sales per year and providing excellent pay and benefits to its employees. The founder of the company, Amos, is recognized as an ethical entrepreneur who is credited for contracting with and retaining several large, profitable, long-term customers. The company's excellent reputation is directly related to his participation in, and the leadership of, the business. Neither of the founder's two children have had an interest in participating in the business, nor do they have, or have they had, a vested interest in the business (they work for other organizations outside of the state). The founder decided last year to relinquish managing the day-to-day operation of the business and 6 months ago hired a seasoned CEO/president (referred to as the CEO in this scenario). The founder has begun transitioning to the position of "founder/owner" and has placed the day-to-day operations in the hands of the CEO Jason and the operations manager Brian.

The founder and the CEO agreed that the CEO would use the first 6 months of his employment to learn and to evaluate current state of the business. The CEO met with and redefined the needs of the customers. Additionally, he looked at the organization's supply chain to determine the financial stability and quality performance of the major suppliers. He connected with employees on a one-on-one basis as well as in small groups to hear their opinions about the business. He reviewed the succession plans and the affirmative action plan to assess progress made to increase the organization's bench strength, to improve the organization's diversity, and to determine the strength of core competencies of the management team and professional staff. After the 6 months of meetings, discussions and evaluations, the CEO shared his observations with the founder. Founder Amos and CEO Jason then agreed to discuss the observations with the operations manager (Brian, who has served as a change agent within the organization) and the organization's OD manager Isabela (who has assisted various parts of the organization with implementing changes and is a protg of Brian) for their feedback.

At the meeting, Jason thanked the owner for the opportunity to spend 6 months to learn the business from the bottom up, for time to meet with customers and suppliers, and for providing time to meet with employees throughout the organization. Jason then reported on his findings from his 6-month assessment:

The Stoltzfus Company has developed a niche product that is high quality, patented to protect duplication by others, low cost to produce, unique in the marketplace, and in high demand by customers; the potential for sales to continue to grow over the next 10 years is very high.

Morale is high across the organization and the turnover is low. Applicant flow for open positions is very good with highly qualified, diverse candidates possessing critical competencies that will help the company achieve greater success.

Pay is above average for the marketplace, and the benefit package includes health insurance with no deductible or co-pay and a retirement program that contains a defined benefit plan and a 401(k) with a 1-1 match for the first 6%. Vacation pay matches other local companies, and the company offers an additional 5 days of family/personal leave at 50% pay per year.

Because many of the earliest-hired employees were paid wages and salaries offered by the owner based on relationships and family needs versus a formal compensation plan, there are a few issues involving internal equity of pay among employees.

The company has several hundred long-term employees (some who started several years after the start of the business) who are very dedicated to the owner and to the business; many of these employees are limited in what they know and what they can do, and in some cases (especially in leadership positions) block the promotions of individuals with competencies critical to the growth of the business from assuming strategic leadership positions.

In some cases, suppliers' and vendors' financial health were marginal in that organizations had leveraged themselves heavily to remain in business; likewise, some of their suppliers'/vendors' suppliers were equally heavily leveraged and a failure of any component suppliers would impact the Stoltzfus Company's ability to deliver high-quality finished product on time. The supply chain, in Jason's opinion, needs to be expanded and each supplier needs to go through a certification annually.

Many employees have very good ideas for improving processes, reducing waste, reducing costs, expanding the product lines, acquiring new/additional customers, and so on. Many of these employees have made suggestions in the past to their leaders but felt that the leaders "heard but dismissed" their ideas because, as one leader said, "If it was so good, we would have thought of it already."

While employees work collaboratively, and the work environment is very good, the company does not create teams of employees to address safety, quality, and so on, even though a good number of employees have been members of successful high-performing work teams in other organizations where they worked.

Company leaders communicate information in monthly department meetings, and that communication is typically top-down in nature.

The default decision-making process, especially when managers disagree with each other on how to handle a situation, is to approach Amos, who then makes the decision.

All agreed that the organization was at a significant point in its history, when the right decisions and the right actions could create tremendous business opportunities for the organization. All also agreed that obtaining assistance from an outside OD consulting group would be a good resource to bring in to assist the organization with change processes that could explore the opportunities of success.

Your group of OD practitioners is called by the OD manager of the organization. The Stoltzfus Company is a large manufacturing concern. The OD manager, Isabella, explains that members of their organization's leadership team have heard about your group's work to improve business planning, business processes, and communication for other companies. Isabella invites your group to the company. When your group arrives, your group meets with Amos (owner/founder), Jason (president/CEO), Brian (operations manager) and Isabella (OD manager). Your group listens to the observations shared by Jason, and the three other members of Stoltzfus leadership group add additional comments and information that align with Jason's observations and comments. Your group agrees to write a proposal for next steps to help the company.

Your group works with the OD manager, Isabella, to get answers on questions that surface during the development of the proposal and a contract for consulting work. During this step, your group also signs a nondisclosure agreement (NDA).

Also need case conclusion along with the answer