Linda Gardner

MSOD 614 Assignment Reflection paper

February 28, 2014
My learning group had a very interesting field assignment with JDH
Pacific, a manufacturing company that was trying to determine and identify
aspects of what their existing company culture was. Their hopes were to
define the current state of their culture as of today and in turn help spur
ideas for them to mold one that would help them meet their growth and
revenue goals. They have hopes to become a $40 million company in the
next couple of years. For a company that has been around since 1989 and
profitable every year of its existence thus far, they were doing what one
would assume to be decent in the culture department. It was quite surprising
that they didnt have any established mission statement or core values. Also,
with a reasonably high retention rate of their existing employees that
majority of which had a long tenure with the company as well. We were
excited to start peeling back the onion to learn more about what makes the
employees tick and what their point of view of the culture really was.
As a learning group, we decided to identify a point person to
coordinate the majority of the communication with the client. While we were
in our contract meeting with the client we met not only the VP of Sales and
Supply Chain, Harley who is part of the EMBA program of Pepperdine and
pushed for the MSOD program to come to JDH but also the CEO of the
organization. After meeting with the CEO, we realized that he was actually

our real client in this project and expected us to deliver our findings and
reports to him exclusively and he would make the determination of whom the
information would be shared with. We decided to follow a mix of both Peter
Block and Scheins methods of consulting. To gather data from the existing
staff about their opinions on the culture we offered a large group session and
also offered small group sessions for those that would be more comfortable
speaking to us one on one or in pairs. We had created a set of interview
questions to guide our conversations with the employees. It was very
fascinating to see how open they all were with us and excited to share with
us. We did make our purpose clear to all of the employees that we were not
there to fix anything about the existing culture or to make any promises for
future change but just to help shed some light on the current state for the
CEO. After the interviews were done we debriefed together to identify the
common themes that came out in both the large and small group interviews.
That was very telling to see that the same key points came out regardless.
We created a bulleted two page summary report of our findings to deliver to
the CEO. We decided to deliver the data to him in a conversation to him first
and let him digest it that way prior to delivering it to him in writing. After we
shared the findings with him he seemed surprised about some things but
also possibly blindly aware of others. He did make the decision to bring in his
leadership team after he had time to think it over. We at that point
encouraged him to be the one to share the information with his team of
leaders to show he was serious about making changes based on the

information he now had. He gladly stepped up to not only tell them the
information he had learned but also to delegate the impact he wants them to
make as leaders going forward as the catalysts for change and by leading by
example.
Another interesting aspect of the project was dealing with people with
different cultural backgrounds. With a CEO that was from China and used to
the way business are run and managed in China it was intriguing to learn and
start to understand what his definition of company culture even was in
comparison to ours. For all of us to be in alignment and on the same page
about that was a crucial aspect to make this project a success. Some of the
differences were not only the way people from his culture perceive work life
but even the fact that he employs a lot of his own family members which in
turn affects the team dynamics and culture inherently.
I could not have been more pleased with how our consulting project
played out and how well the delivery of the findings was received. As a
novice to this process, I didnt know how the CEO would react to receiving
some of the harder news that was more difficult to hear about himself and
about how his employees felt about lack of communication in the company. It
appeared to be very eye opening for him, when he learned that his
employees typically receive their positive reinforcement from the clients and
that is who they feel valued by instead of the organization they are
employed by. Also, you could tell that while some things may have come as a
surprise to him he still took the information with grace and agreed that he

would act on improving certain things. Also, as a group we decided not to

offer our own opinions on ways to improve unless he asked for it in
conversation. At that point, we were able to offer up our own ideas for ways
to move things in the right direction.
Our team used a lot of appreciative and humble inquiry to gather our
data from the existing staff members. Had we had more time to spend on the
project I do believe that feedback from assessments such as MBTI, Firo B,
DISC, etc. would be valuable to gather additional data. This would have
provided us with more useful information about the leadership styles and the
existing personalities on their teams. Having this additional knowledge and
data would have not only given us more take-aways to deliver back to the
client but also helped with our coaching approach if were to take it a step
further to actually try and implement change as well.
It was very thought-provoking for me to see how the reality of what we
learned about the norms of group dynamics really played out throughout the
week at Dana Point. Not only did they ring true during the learning group
formation process but also the stages that took place after the learning
groups were actually formed. In regards to myself, I learned that I am not as
comfortable speaking out amongst a larger group as I am in a smaller one. I
tend to not want to ruffle anyones feathers and would rather sacrifice my
own wants for the desires of the greater group to keep everyone in harmony.
I did recognize that the one time that I actually interjected was once I found
out there had been talk about the learning group that I was a part of. I felt

betrayed and hurt but also nave at the same time as I had been completely
oblivious to this going on all week. I think that my reaction of anger wasnt
the appropriate response at the time though and that had I taken the time to
process it more that I could have reacted more calmly. I feel like to some
extent I let a lot of my feelings and emotions bottle up throughout the week
until I hit a point where I had so much to say and then I didnt even articulate
it the way I would have wanted to. I think that my feelings were that if people
had an issue with our learning group that it should have been addressed
much earlier on and not on the last day of the trip.
I felt like the way we would normally operate in the real world went out
the window during the learning group formation process. What I would
consider acting like an adult and not always acting out emotionally based on
my feelings was something that definitely didnt apply during this
assignment. We seemed as a group to placate to the minority and try to
cater to everyones individual needs rather than the majority of the group.
This was very strange to me and I think the more this started happening, it
seemed like we were enabling people to completely derail us from the real
issue or task at hand. I think in regards to myself, I have always considered
myself a very empathetic person that caters to the needs of others and
wants to please everyone. In this scenario I felt the opposite way and that we
were too far on the other end of the spectrum almost encouraging people to
object and create something out of nothing. That was something surprising
for me to realize about myself. Maybe I am not as empathetic as I thought I

was and actually need to work on that area in regards to group scenarios
such as this. I left the trip feeling emotionally exhausted and still so confused
over the entire process. I do believe that the process taught me how true
human nature and the fear of rejection comes into play in the formation of
groups though. Therefore, after having some time away to reflect I think I do
have knowledge gained from the experience. What I learned and walked
away with is not only about myself and how I react to large and small group
situations but also in regards to the process of decision making and how
forming groups played out. I cant decide whether I would consider it a
positive or negative experience just yet. Either way, I do appreciate the
experience at this point none the less and feel I am walking away a stronger
consultant because of it.