Organisational Development & Change

Organisational Development & Change

The Case
The Quay International Convention Centre (QICC) is a renowned and credible convention centre located in the prime area of Circular Quay, within the Sydney CBD. The QICC was established in 2013 and had a few very strong years of performance as it offered top-notch services inclusive of efficient and reliable customer care to all clients regardless of the size and type of events. It is a popular venue for international conferences, conventions, fairs and exhibitions, all year round. In particular, the operations crew showed clients substantial care and attention, and worked together to ease workloads especially during peak seasons. High levels of employee satisfaction were also recorded, with employees feeling motivated and engaged with their work, and empowered to make decisions without immediate supervisor approval. All employees of the convention centre displayed good relationship during and after work hours.
In the last twelve months, however, the convention centre’s performance has been hindered by employees with low leadership capabilities and overall low functioning teams. Employee satisfaction in the operations department has decreased significantly. Through initial problem identification, QICC has found a number of issues that may be affecting the organisation’s internal operations:
i. Employees lack communication skills required to interact with each other during busy or high stress situations. Tensions within the teams are high, resulting from past misunderstandings and miscommunications that were not resolved as they were deemed too confrontational. ?
ii. Employees lack cooperation and communication when performing tasks due to pre- established social groups. Knowledge relating to the job is often shared within the group as they feel the need to outperform other groups of employees at work. ?
iii. Manager’s approach towards employees is strict and rigid due to an ‘over organised’ hierarchy. The manager and supervisors implement a top-down approach in the daily operations and communication of the department, demonstrating high levels of micro- managing. Employees’ ability to make decisions and respond to changing situations are restricted as a way of preserving power. Employees are feeling bored with the monotony of their work tasks which lacks challenge and autonomy. ?
iv. Managers frequently reprimand employees in front of clients and attendees, which is demotivating for the employee and does not help them to understand areas of improvement. ?
v. Occasionally, senior employees do not abide to the policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) during busy periods. Short cuts were taken as long as the desired outcomes were achieved. However, newer employees who were found not following the SOPs are often given verbal warnings by the manager, leaving them confused about acceptable practices. ?
vi. Performance management and skill development of employees is minimal once they are on-the-job. Career progression was not clearly communicated to employees, regardless of the commitment and enthusiasm displayed at work. Besides that, employees do not feel they are learning how to improve and grow in their role. ?
The operations department is responsible for event coordination, food and beverage arrangements, guests’ reception, housekeeping, audio-visual support, engineering, maintenance and altogether, ensuring timely service regardless of unexpected or unplanned situations. The employee’s satisfaction with their job and ability to function collaboratively in a fast-paced environment is vital for the specialised nature of work required.
Subsequently, QICC decided to embark on a process of organizational development. The vision for this organizational development is to target three pillars: service excellence, knowledge growth and service leadership. To enable innovative progress towards this vision, QICC has decided to employ an organizational development practitioner with strong change management competence in the private service sector.

Assume the role of a successful service-based OD practitioner (external change agent), who has been employed to improve QICC’s organisational effectiveness. One year after forming an initial contract with the organisation, you have now completed the significant organisational development process. You are required to construct a report on the organisational development process and activities taken for QICC.